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PBS Film Controversy
Continues
The Public Broadcasting
Service (PBS) documentary www.tatgelasseur.com/pages/bts.html
"Breaking the Silence:
Children's Stories" portrayed Sadiya (Sadia)
Alilire as a heroic mom, who was abused by her
husband. Two www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,174854,00.html
controversial questions persist. Did producers
ignore the extensive court records with which they
were provided on Alilire's multiple abuse of her
two daughters -- then aged 8 and 3? Is PBS
demonstrating bias against fathers?
The headlines.agapepress.org/archive/11/142005b.asp
tension surrounding these questions is
heightening.
On November 7th, Dr. Scott
Loeliger www.glennsacks.com/pbs/loeliger-defamed-father.php
(the accused father) wrote to Pat Mitchell,
President and CEO of the Public Broadcasting
Service (PBS) to "demand that you immediately cease
and desist from rebroadcasting all programs and
advertisements relating to 'Breaking the Silence."
Loeliger's reason: "the numerous false and
defamatory statements about me."
On November 11, PBS' Vice
President of Communications Lea Sloan
www.glennsacks.com/pbs/loeliger-pbs-response.pdf
replied that the matter "is currently being
reviewed by our legal department." PBS' Director of
Corporate Communications Jan McNamara had confirmed
earlier that the accuracy of "Breaking the Silence"
was under an "official review"; PBS
www.glennsacks.com/pbs/pbs-pledges-111005.php
stated, "We anticipate concluding our review in 30
days or less (as of November 8)."
Meanwhile newspaper
columnist Glenn Sacks announced
www.glennsacks.com/pbs
"Round Three" of a campaign to convince the
publicly-funded PBS to air both sides of issues
raised by "Breaking the Silence". According to
Sacks, Round Two resulted in over 10,000 protest
calls and emails from the "Sackson Hordes" to PBS.
Round Three aims at the www.cpb.org/aboutcpb/goals
Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which oversees
the funding of public television.
Sacks explained the
campaign's goal, "We want PBS to provide fatherhood
and shared parenting advocates a meaningful
opportunity to present our side." So far PBS
Houston has responded with an even-handed
round-table discussion on its news analysis show,
www.houstonpbs.org/site/PageServer?pagename=con_children_family_court
The Connection.
The blogosphere is also
buzzing. Liberal feminist Trish Wilson has posted
trishwilson.typepad.com/blog/2005/11/fathers_rights__1.html#more
the contra-Loeliger accounts of both Alilire and
her daughter Fatima, the child whom "Breaking the
Silence" features. Both sides should be heard, and
giving children a voice is particularly
commendable.
But Wilson
members.aol.com/asherah/breaking_the_silence.html
contends that attacks on Alilire are based on
"outdated court documents"; the charge is an odd
one. If Alilire was, in fact, found liable for
multiple counts of child abuse on August 19, 1998,
then -- unless the court finding has been
overturned -- it is neither outdated or up-to-date.
The finding simply is, although additional
information may provide some insight.
Perhaps in response to
accusations, Sacks recently posted the formerly
withheld smoking gun: www.glennsacks.com/pbs/loeliger-juvenile-court.pdf
the judgment on Case No. 97-048856 of the Superior
Court of California, County of Tulare, Juvenile
Court.
(In linking to this
document from cathyyoung.blogspot.com/2005/11/breaking-silence-sorting-out-facts.html
her blog, Boston Globe columnist Cathy Young notes
"If I'm not mistaken, the juvenile court judgment
form…wasn't there yesterday." Young isn't
mistaken. The posting war is
accelerating.)
In that judgment, Fatima
and her younger sister became dependents of the
juvenile court under Section 300, subdivisions a,
b, c & j of the Welfare and Institutions Code.
The codes require a finding either of actual abuse
(physical and emotional) and neglect, or of the
risk of abuse and neglect. Alilire claims the court
actually found that she "threw a shoe at Fatima"
and "spanked her with a plastic coat hanger." She
denies both charges.
There is an undeniable "he
said/she said" aspect to the potential scandal that
threatens the credibility of PBS. But the "he
said/she said" scenario breaks down in the presence
of documents that include far more than the
Juvenile Court papers. It includes the rulings of
two judges on separate occasions (www.glennsacks.com/pbs/loeliger-judge-phillips.php
1991 and www.glennsacks.com/pbs/loeliger-judge-king.php
2003); the www.glennsacks.com/pbs/loeliger-child-abuse.php
report of a child abuse investigator for Tehama
County; the www.glennsacks.com/pbs/loeliger-dv.pdf
arrest of Alilire in 1989 for felony domestic
violence against Loeliger; and, the
www.glennsacks.com/pbs/loeliger-reidy.php
custody evaluation conducted by a clinical
psychologist for the Superior Court of Monterey
County.
If Fatima's voice is to be
heeded -- and I sincerely hope it is -- then her
earlier accounts must also be taken seriously,
especially since they were independently
investigated and verified.
In the furor of
accusations and counterclaims that may well occur,
and soon, it is wise to state what I believe the
controversy is not about.
It is not about whether
Loeliger is a good father. I don't have information
to make that judgment but I suspect both parties
behaved badly toward Fatima at different
points.
It is not about Parental
Alienation Syndrome (PAS), upon which much
attention has been focused. The Syndrome, by which
custodial parents are said to systematically
alienate children from non-custodial ones
(overwhelmingly fathers), is heralded by shared
custody advocates; it was targeted for debunking by
"Breaking the Silence." I don't subscribe to PAS as
a psychiatric category.
So what is the controversy
about? Cathy Young got it right, "It looks to me
like the PBS documentary has taken a very
complicated and messy situation in which both
parents are at fault (though the mother is the only
one with a fairly clear record of physical
violence), and transformed it into a melodrama
about a villainous father and a wronged mother. And
this melodrama is put into the service of a
narrative that vilifies fathers, most explosively
suggesting that the majority of fathers who seek
custody of their children are abusers. And that's
just wrong."
I believe the producers of
"Breaking the Silence" made an egregious error in
casting a physically abusive mother as a wronged
heroine. "Breaking the Silence" may well contribute
to misinformation on domestic violence and its
impact upon children. And that is
shameful.
©2007, Wendy
McElroy
* * *
Wendy
McElroy is the editor of ifeminists.com
and a research fellow for The Independent Institute
in Oakland, Calif. She is the author and editor of
many books and articles, including her latest book,
Liberty for Women: Freedom and Feminism in the
21st Century. She lives with her husband in
Canada. E-Mail.
Also, see her daily blog at www.zetetics.com/mac
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