From: Michael Cooley (mfcooley@shaw.ca)
Date: Mon Apr 08 2002 - 15:16:28 MDT
[Jonathan Davies]
Interesting Alert, but I must say it looks like a rather elaborate bad >
company/straw man fallacy. Nowhere does the alert criticise the content
> of the program, all it does is point out that \"Enron & other corporate > giants sponsored new globalization series\". So what?
[rhinoceros]
Yes, the alert is focused on what PBS really is -- not on the content of
the program itself. But isn\'t this important if you are considering to
> watch a 6 hour program?
[Michael] The problem seems to stem from a lack of clarity in exactly
what FAIR is trying to argue for here. Unfortunately, it seems a little
too anxious to grab attention with names like "Enron" and the fact that
the trailer "does feature footage of FedEx airplanes." As its primary
point does seem to revolve around PBS's problems concerning conflict of
interest, the article should have found a better example (or at least
presented evidence that there actually was a conflict of interest
somewhere in the show). The straw man fallacy would no longer exist if
PBS were to support its claim right?
Thanks for your feedback Jonathon, I appreciate it. It is a good
reminder than one continually needs to watch even the watchers. I hope
my rather poor introduction of FAIR doesn't turn anyone away from it, as
from what I've seen so far it is usually rather perceptive about various
media happenings.
Regards,
Michael
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