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CPB CHIEF DENIES SHE DISCUSSED CENSORING KIDS SHOW EPISODE WITH PBS CHIEF Friday, February 18 2005 
Kathleen
Cox,
president
and
CEO
of
the
Corporation
for
Public
Broadcasting,
has
denied
a
published
report
that
she
had
discussed
a
controversial
episode
of
the
children's
program
Postcards
from
Buster
with
PBS
chief
Pat
Mitchell
before
Mitchell
decided
to
axe
it.
The
episode
had
been
criticized
by
Education
Secretary
Margaret
Spellings
who
objected
to
a
scene
showing
children
living
with
lesbian
parents.
Cox,
in
an
interview
with
the
Washington
Post,
which
published
the
original
report
(more)PBS STAFFERS UPSET OVER DECISION TO YANK BUSTER Thursday, February 17 2005 Public Broadcasting Service staff members were reportedly taken aback when its president and CEO, Pat Mitchell, decided to yank an episode of the children's program Postcards From Buster after it came under attack from Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings. Spellings had objected to the episode, in which Buster, an animated Bunny, visits a family headed by a lesbian couple, maintaining that "many parents would not want their young children exposed to the life-styles portrayed in (more) |
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Sunday's episode of The Simpsons, in which it was revealed that Marge Simpson's sister Patti Bouvier is gay ("Just because you're a lesbian doesn't mean you're less of a being", says Marge), and in which Homer becomes a minister and begins marrying gay couples, telling them that their union is legal in "Massachusetts, Vermont, maybe Canada ... [but] stay out of Texas," was, as expected, denounced by conservative family-activist groups and hailed by liberals and libertarians. L. Brent Bozell, president of the Parents Television Council, commented, "At a time when the public mood is overwhelmingly against gay marriage, any show that promotes gay marriage is deliberately bucking the public mood." In an interview with the New York Times, Bozell added, "You've got a show watched by millions of children. Do children need to have gay marriage thrust in their faces as an issue?" The fact that the show does reach millions of kids -- and their parents -- was also mentioned in a statement by Stephen Macias, media director for the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, who said, "What I like about The Simpsons is they use humor as a tool to educate as well as entertain. They also reach millions of people across the country, and that cannot be underestimated." Nevertheless, the episode did not produce winning ratings for the Fox series, as it came in a distant fourth in the Nielsens with a 5.8/9. ABC won the 8:00 p.m. hour with a 10.3/16 for Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.
