Leaders of a grass-roots effort to stop KQED from airing an anti-Israel documentary can claim Victory

KQED doesn't plan to air documentary that’s anti-Israel

Dan Pine

Bulletin Staff encourage KQED to air fair and balanced materials, rather than propaganda materials

Leaders of a grass-roots effort to stop KQED from airing an anti-Israel documentary can claim Victory . . . kind of. According to a KQED spokeswoman, Anne Wintroub, the local PBS outlet never had scheduled "Palestine Is Still The Issue" by an Australian journalist/filmkmaker, John Pilger. But that didn't stop executives from the Jewish Community Relations Council from raising the alarm, sending out a mass e-mail urging people to flood KQED with correspondence.

The July 11 e-mail from Steve , JCRC's Director of Israel programs, read in part: "We need your help to . . . . . . . encourage KQED to air fair and balanced materials, rather than propaganda materials such as this. Contact KQED and voice your opposition to this documentary." Berley took the action in response to an aggressive campaign by pro-Palestinian groups urging KQED to air the film, which portrays Israel's occupation of the West Bank and Gaza as unabashed terrorism. The film has aired in the United States on the cable network WorldlinkTV.

Wintroub said KQED received hundreds of calls, letters and e-mails in recent days for and against the airing, but it was all a tempest in a tea-pot; the station never had any plans to broadcast the special, and still has none.

The above article was published in the Jewish Bulletin on July 25, 2003. Errors and inconsistencies in this article were acknowledged by KQED, the Jewish Bulletin and Dan Pine, the reporter. Although KQED knew of these problems, they did not request a retraction. When Fred Shepherd contacted Sherwood Weingarten, the Managing Editor, and requested a retraction, such request was denied. The headline of the article was created by Mr. Weingarten, not Dan Pine. See additional documentation regarding this deception.