PBS afraid of debate?

Gordon Simons (simons@stat.unc.edu)
Sun, 21 Dec 1997 08:29:30 -0500 (EST)

For reasons unexplained, the special Fire Line debate on evolution was not
aired in our area, nor is a rescheduling planned. One would think that
with three major universities in our area (UNC, Duke, NCSU) and a large
Research Triangle Park, that the decision to air it would have been an
obvious choice. Not so. Someone in our church forum, a graduate student
at MIT, now tells me that, despite the availability of two PBS stations in
the Boston area, that he too was unable to listen to the debate. With its
many universities and research activities, where else would one find a
more ready audience?

Perhaps the naturalists in charge of PBS programming prefer knocking down
straw men. Or they are so confident they have/had the upper hand, that
they dislike anything which suggests otherwise. Or maybe they are secretly
afraid. Are we witnessing the naturalist's version of book burning?

Gordon Simons