Documentary Description and Background by the Producers: The documentary titled "Islam vs. Islamists," was produced by ABG Films with $675,000 in public funds from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. It was originally slated to run as part of PBS' "America at a Crossroads" series. However, after viewing the film PBS executives told the filmmakers that it was "alarmist" and "overreaching" and that PBS would not run it. The film follows moderate Muslims who have challenged the "Islamists" who espouse a more radical view of their religion. The film shows the Islamists advocating, among other things, the imposition of Sharia law on Muslims in the West, the stoning of women who commit adultery, and even violence and terrorism.
Frank Gaffney, a former Reagan administration official and documentary producer, believes the main thrust of PBS's objections was that the Islamists portrayed in the film were not really radicals, but part of the Islamic mainstream. He said PBS tried "to change the story, to bring more of an Islamist flavor to it." Last spring the film producers and PBS reached a compromise. The PBS network would not run "Islam vs. Islamists" in the "America at a Crossroads" series, but would make the film available to individual public TV stations to run when those stations wished. According to figures provided to FOX News by the film producers, "Islam v. Islamist" has run on more than 70 public TV stations, but not in at least 15 of the top 40 markets including New York, Los Angeles, Chicago or Washington, D.C.
Frank Gaffney, a former Reagan administration official and documentary producer, believes the main thrust of PBS's objections was that the Islamists portrayed in the film were not really radicals, but part of the Islamic mainstream. He said PBS tried "to change the story, to bring more of an Islamist flavor to it." Last spring the film producers and PBS reached a compromise. The PBS network would not run "Islam vs. Islamists" in the "America at a Crossroads" series, but would make the film available to individual public TV stations to run when those stations wished. According to figures provided to FOX News by the film producers, "Islam v. Islamist" has run on more than 70 public TV stations, but not in at least 15 of the top 40 markets including New York, Los Angeles, Chicago or Washington, D.C.
