KMBH pulls plug on documentary

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KMBH pulls plug on documentary

Church-owned station decides not to air ‘Frontline' episode on child abuse scandal

By BRUCE LEE SMITH
Valley Morning Star

HARLINGEN ' The "Hand of God" reached most of the United States Tuesday night, but not the Rio Grande Valley.

This week's Public Broadcasting Service's "Frontline" documentary, anepisode called "Hand of God," dealt with the child molestation scandalthat rocked the Archdiocese of Boston. But the program did not airlocally.

KMBH-TV, the local PBS affiliate that is owned by the Roman CatholicDiocese of Brownsville, instead aired a repeat of the previous week's"Frontline," which was about the Taliban of Afghanistan, according toone viewer.

Another viewer, Gerald Brazier, a member of the church reform groupCall to Action RGV, said people who called KMBH about the missingepisode on Tuesday were told that the station's general manager,Monsignor Pedro Briseño, wanted to watch "Hand of God" before it airedlocally to see if it was appropriate for local viewers.

A KMBH staff member who refused to give her name said Briseño was ona previously scheduled annual religious retreat Thursday and was notavailable for comment.

Viewers who called KMBH on Thursday were told "Hand of God" did not airbecause PBS did not provide it to the station on time for the regular"Frontline" time slot Tuesday night.

Brownsville Diocese spokeswoman Brenda Nettles Riojas said Thursday shecould not contact Briseño, but media questions about the "Hand of God"documentary could be sent by e-mail to him and he would respond today.

Carrie Johnson, senior director of Primetime Publicity for PBS MediaRelations in Washington, D.C., said the "Hand of God" episode was fedto PBS stations in the usual manner for all the network's programs. Thefirst feed on Jan. 11 was for local programmers to review the episode.A second feed was done at 8 p.m. CDT Tuesday, the scheduled broadcasttime for "Frontline."

Phil Zimmerman, a promotions assistant for "Frontline," said theprogram's initial research showed that only one other PBS station outof hundreds in the system nationwide did not air "Hand of God," andthat "was due to a scheduling conflict," he said.

Most "Frontline" episodes are 60 minutes long; "Hand of God" is 90 minutes in length.

The local station's Web site, www.kmbh.org, shows a 90-minute block on the Jan. 16 schedule where "Frontline" was scheduled to air.

"To our knowledge, (KMBH) is the only station that did not broadcast it due to content," Zimmerman said.

Johnson said there are more than 340 stations in the PBS system. Shesaid only one other PBS station, KBYU in Provo, Utah, is owned by areligious organization, Brigham Young University, which is in turnowned by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Johnson said each station decides whether to air any episode of any PBS program.

Church reform activists who had wanted to view the missing episode were left hanging.

Brazier said part of the reform Call to Action seeks in the Catholic Church is financial accountability.

"We want to know where the money goes that we contribute to the church," said Guy Hallman, another Call to Action RGV member.

Call to Action RGV also wants to know how much of the Diocese's money has been paid to victims of sexual abuse by local clergy.

Sexual abuse by the clergy in all faiths has been a big topic in this country lately, Hallman said.

"We know there has been some abuse by clergy in this diocese," Hallman said.

Hallman blamed the head of the Diocese of Brownsville, Bishop Raymundo Peña, for the show not airing.

"I can see where this all fits together," Hallman said. "The bishopdoesn't want people to be reminded that we may have problems right herein our own diocese that haven't been brought to light.

"The bishop needs to be reminded that we're conscious of that and we're not going to let him just sweep it under the rug.

"We need to face these problems."

Peña, also at the retreat on Thursday, could not be reached for comment.