PBS : Behind the Screen

PBS originataed with good intentions: Making the world better through education. But according to media analyst Laurence Jarvik, America's only taxpayer-supported public broadcasting network has gone astray.





" ... must reading for anyone who is interested in how the public broadcasting system was created, what it achieved, and where it has gone wrong."
— David Horowitz






In his new book, PBS: Behind the Screen, Jarvik provides the first independent, historical account of our nation's television network. Based on years of research and scores of interviews, he tours readers through PBS's evolution, from the early days, when the network was a shining vision in the minds of educators and philanthropists, to later years, when it became the focal point of a never-ending, sometimes ugly tug-of-war between opposing political camps.


PBS: Behind the Screen answers the following questions:

• Does Sesame Street really educate?
• What political agenda underlies PBS's hard-hitting documentary programs?
• Is the real Bill Moyers the carefully crafted image viewers see on the screen?
• What challenges did William F. Buckley Jr. have to overcome before Firing Line could be broadcast?
• Just how much did America's favorite chef, Julia Child, really know about cooking when she started out?

Laurence Jarvik is a writer whose articles on the media have been published in the New York Times, the Boston Globe, the Los Angeles Times, California magazine, American Film, and Newsday. He has testified before congress about PBS and has appeared on the CBS Evening News, Nightline, Crossfire, and C-SPAN. He lives in Washington D.C.