European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - May 6, 1989, Darmstadt, Hesse Page 10 the stars and stripes columns Anthony Lewis to needs to show some much needed Backbone Why is american television so Shal Low Why is in so rarely willing to explore controversial issues More deeply than in shout shows a Case at hand provides insight into those troubling questions. It concerns a documentary on the palestinian uprising in the West Bank and a a. Days of rage 1 he Young the 90-Minulc film was independently produced and directed by to Franklin Trout an experienced documentary Naker. Days of rage was finished in sep Ember. It has been shown abroad. In his country the Public broadcasting sen ice took it for showing in december. The Date was changed to june 5. Two of Fucks ago that Date was cancelled. The june 5 showing was scrubbed be Rausch the local station that had arranged to be the presenter of the program a practice of pcs withdrew. The station was in pc. Channel 31 in new York. In yes decision to cancel was made by its new vice president for television f bloc Aaron. She explained that she would not sponsor the documentary nor even show it. Because she found in biased. Its one sided she told a re Porter. In makes no mention of How the jews got to Israel no mention of the hoj Deaust no mention of How the palestini ans treated the jews nor How arabs treated the palestinians. It s a pure propaganda piece thai i d compare to Lacni Riefenstahl s Triumph of the will " the documentary does express the palestinian viewpoint in a serious Way. A leading television critic. Howard Rosenberg of the los Angeles times wrote after seeing it " Days of rage is a powerful Well made program that conveys a message expressed in fragments on newscasts but never before presented on american to As a documentary length statement. It s a Catalon of palestinian horror Sto Ries of broken bodies and broken Vil Lages of deep emotional scars of squalid refugee Camps of collective punishment of charges of israeli Aaron is right that the pocket history William Safire reap a thrown into the film is inadequate. But she is grotesquely wrong in her compari son to Lacni Riefenstahl. The actual tone is indicated by a scene with a Young palestinian woman. A reporter asks. What do you Hope to accomplish by the Intifada the woman answers an identity. A land. We could live together with Israel Side by the producer Franklin Trout charged that nyc had yielded to actual or perceived pressure from its viewers Many of whom arc jewish. I know Aaron and i am sure that charge is incorrect. She would not anticipate and yield to audience pressure. But Aaron s reason for cancelling Days of her statement that it was is just As dangerous. For it reflects inc View that television should show Only balanced programs a notion deadly to Freedom of expression. The first amendment Justice Potter Stewart wrote was not designed to pro decl the press As a Neutral forum for balanced to the contrary those who wrote the amendment meant to protect expression of Strong views one sided outrageous what whole idea of Freedom of express Ion is to have conflict and let the Public decide what it newspapers and television and magazines could run Only balanced or unbiased accounts we would be living in a society very different from the one envisaged by James Madison the author of the first amendment. This very Case shows the Point of the madisonian theory. The Intifada has gone on for 1 i years now far longer than anyone has had profound effects on israelis and palestinians and on the nature of their is surely right for americans to be Able to Sec an unvarnished expression of the thoughts and emotions behind the Uris course the other Side should be heard too. If television wants to put on a program giving the views of those who like prime minister Shamir oppose any withdrawal from the occupied territories Fine. Or the views of extremists who want to expel All the palestinians from the incident shows How the delusive search for balance on television leads to self censorship. The fear of real Freedom the Freedom to express a Strong Point of View has drained a powerful medium of much of its informing potential. Another new York Public station net Channel 13, has agreed to pre sent Days of rage and pcs has re scheduled it for sept. 6. We shall see whether Public television has the Back Bone needed for Freedom. C new York times so far Hungary s new Freedom mostly show Budapest what a weird May Day first hard in anybody came to the communist party Parade then the party Leader at an open town meeting was asked what happened to the borrowed $18 billion that has become an intolerable debt Burden. Finally the stale television gave equal Lime 10 panels run by the nascent opposition parties. Is this the wave of the future i came to Hungary because it is advertised As the Hole in the Iron cur Tain the nation in Eastern Europe supposedly slip Ping out of the soviet i bit. To project this image hungarian Border guards this week ostentatiously chopped Down barriers along the austrian Border handing out snippets of barbed wire As souvenirs. This was an example of baloney tactics an updating of the Salami tactics by which the communist regime sliced away its coalition partners at the Siart of Fth cold War. Although hungarians arc free to travel no soviet dissident can slip into Hungary and then across to the Wisl without papers issued in mos cow. Other changes though surface deep arc real. Communists Are preparing to share Power in a coalition government after free elections and insist they arc even willing to risk ouster. In the past year Hungary has embraced South Korea which needs tics to com mum is nations As much As Budapest needs capitalist investment next month Hungary will normalize relations with Israel. And the evils of the repressive past arc being exhumed. The Bones of Imre Nagy the Patriot who was executed three decades ago and dumped in a mass grave will be re buried in Honor on june 16, the anniversary of his execution. Some officials worry that this May trigger a new uprising. Nobody can measure the depth of latent violence because of the huge Gap Between the political Wrang Ling at the lop and inc real misery at the Bottom. Inflation is betraying aged pensioners newly marrieds have no place to live poverty afflicts one person in five and Many workers drag themselves to two jobs to survive. To Avert revolution communist leaders explain that gradual peaceful change was blessed by Gorbachev they Tell me he assured them Only last week thai the Brezhnev doctrine was dead Hal Hungary can find its own Middle Way provided it does nol mate an embarrassing fuss. But such assurances arc Ripples on the deep cur rent of events. A system based on slate ownership and Central control is bound to fail and cannot be patched or restructured in cries Oul for replacement. Political change without Basic economic ays Miklos Vasarhely last surviving Leader of the 1956 Freedom fighter revolt still residing in Hungary merely gives us the Freedom to complain about what we cannot do anything about that old hero understands what the newest class of Power jockeys cannot grasp for a nation to Prosper proprietorship must be personal. This can Range from Farmers owning their own cooperatives to entrepreneurs owning their companies. Whal Hungary shows is great underlying action. A new Stock Market opens without a base of Money convertible across Borders a handful of sentimental joint ventures offers Only the illusion of serious Busi Ness. The Nalion that lost seven out of its last seven wars is cunning enough to survive bul has produced no recent figure capable of leading in out of los Rhood. The current leadership is eager to play Host to George Bush who visited this country As vice presi Dent in 1983. Our activist ambassador Here Mark Palmer is a Young pro clued in to the new arc Csc Eastern Europe str Algy Laid Oul like Poe s purloined idler in Bush s speech in Hamtramck Mich. My guess is that the president will expound his doctrine in Poland and Hungary in mid july just after the pans economic Summit meeting. 1 Hope he delays his decision until june 16 let s Sec How this regime so fearful of what in Calls the aftermath of anarchy reacts to the big Nagy Demon stration. Having made inc wrong decision on wheat subsidies to the Sovil Union Bush May Lake the right Road on Aid to Hungary instead of lavishing govern ment Loans on the Central Bank to prop up systemic failure As the japanese and West germans have done we should let . Business take its risk and wish it and when inc . President gets Here he should ask Why does Hungary spend 4.5 percent of its Gnu on its army compared with Western Europe s 3 per cent he May find the hungarians willing to Cut Back from 120,000 to 70,000 troops in a hurry. Hungary offers a parallel in the change we Sec in inc soviet Union ferment without focus old wine in new bottles. C a few Yoth times
