NBC & the FCC

From
Date
I had several responses regarding contacting the FCC about the Krishna's
Mysterious Origins of Man program aired on NBC.  It would seem to be a
violation of the public trust to thrust pseudoscientific religious views on
the American Public.  Two views follow:

 1.       "I've been away almost 2 weeks and I am just getting caught up on my
email.  Long before reaching the last letter (I think it's the last), the
thought that kept coming to my mind is the violation of public trust.  The
airways are not the property of NBC.  The FCC gives them permission to
broadcast on a specific, public, frequency, but I
plan to view the next one (on the 9th?).  After that, I'll be in a position
to contact the FCC.  If the many scientists who have responded to your
wonderful circular letter would do the same, I suspect we could have more
impact from NBC.  "

2.  "I have just sent the attached to the addressees listed. If you
don't see anything libelous, feel free to share it with whomever. The
server just told me the copy to Wright bounced (no such address). I assume
the main message got through.
        Sincerely,
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Mon, 17 Jun 1996 14:18:04 -0600 (MDT)
From: DELETED
To: fccinfo@fcc.gov
Cc: rwright@nbc.com
Subject: NBC violation of public trust

     Dear sirs:
        The attached document is self-explanatory.  If you wish any
follow-up, I can be reached at the e-mail address on this message, or by
Phone/FAX at 303-443-1375.  Thank you for considering this.
        Allison R. Palmer, President, Institute for Cambrian Studies
Re: Mysterious Origins of Man, rebroadcast by NBC June 8, 1996
        This e-mail is a request for the FCC to investigate and, I hope,
seriously censure the National Broadcasting Company for crassly commercial
irresponsible journalism that seriously violates the trust the public
should have in materials that are touted as credible by a major network.
Last February they produced a program "Mysterious Origins of Man" that
purported to be scientifically based, and received massive negative
reactions from responsible scientists representing numerous areas of
science.  Following this response, instead of checking their facts (or
factoids) as any responsible journalistic organization is supposed to do,
especially before they re-broadcast such a program, they chose to use the
reactions of the reputable and responsible science community to generate
viewer interest (a la the National Enquirer) by distributing PR
announcements implying that the content of their show was science that the
"establishment" did not want brought before the public.  Their show
included some Ph.D's to establish "credibility".
        However, hardly anything they presented could stand even the most
rudimentary test of credibility.  As only one example: leading up to the
suggestion that Antarctica was the lost continent of Atlantis, they cited
buildup of ice in the north polar region that would imbalance the Earth's
crust, causing it to "slip" taking some previously warmer areas into the
polar regions.  They never bothered to note the physical impossibility of
their proposal and the clear and unequivocal evidence from paleomagnetism
that the northern continents have been in much their present latitudinal
positions for many millions of years, not to mention that ice cores from
the Antarctic continent show continuous ice for well over 100,000 years.
The February production could have been viewed as stupid, but to repeat
this without checking facts, especially when the criticisms of the show
did not come from the lunatic fringe, was the height of irresponsibility.
Such behavior only contributes to public confusion about the credibility
of almost any information.  NBC has done serious public damage that will
be extremely hard to undo.
        I submit that this sort of behavior should not be acceptable or
condoned by the regulators of publicly available network television and
that it deserves much more than a slap on the wrist.  At the very least
NBC should be required to make substantial prime- time apologies to their
viewing audience for a sufficient period of time so that the audience
clearly gets the message that they were duped. In addition, NBC should
perhaps be fined sufficiently so that a major fund for public science
education can be established.  The public is not being well served if
major networks, in the guise of presenting credible information to their
audiences, mislead the public and undermine public confidence by tactics
more akin to the purveyors of the junk available at supermarket checkout
stands.  NBC's unprofessionalism damages the credibility of all public
television.
        Please let me know if there is more specific information you may
need to pursue this violation of the public trust."


Jere