Here is how the founder and chairman of the Discovery Channel, John Hendricks, crystallizes its mission statement:
To satisfy curiosity and make a difference in people’s lives by providing the highest quality content, services and products that entertain, engage and enlighten.
(corporate.discovery.com)
Of course, all fact-based productions, for TV and film, would do well to be guided by this mission statement.
Yet here, in part, is how I commented two years ago on the History Channel presenting producer Mark Burnett’s Eurocentric depiction of Jesus (and Satan) as historical fact:
In making Jesus White and Satan Black, Burnett is proselytizing and perpetuating insidious and pernicious racial stereotypes. It’s a canard worthy of The Clansman…
The Bible’s biggest sin is not the artistic license Burnett took with his casting. Rather, it’s the decision executives at the History Channel took to carry this greatest story ever sold. They should have sent Burnett over to the Disney Channel, where make-believe TV belongs.
Accordingly, I pray: “Let’s Bring History Back To The History Channel,” and leave all of the ‘scripted reality’ programming to the entertainment networks.
(“‘The Bible’ – Proselytizing and Perpetuating Racial Stereotypes,” The iPINIONS Journal, March 19, 2013)
And here in part is how I commented just last week on Paramount Studio presenting director Ava DuVernay’s Afrocentric depiction of the relationship between LBJ and MLK as historical fact:
No doubt Selma Director Ava DuVernay thought her revisionist version of the relationship between LBJ and MLK, during this pivotal point in the Civil Rights Movement, would pack a more dramatic punch. Only this explains her clear, formulaic intent to portray LBJ as a Pharaoh-like villain and MLK as a Moses-like savior.
No matter the commercial or political agenda, however, no artist should get away with peddling revisionist history as historical fact.
(“‘Selma’ Defames LBJ to Make MLK Look, What, Even Better?” The iPINIONS Journal, January 5, 2015)
This is why I was somewhat heartened on Friday when the new president of Discovery Channel, Rick Ross, made this promise:
Despite its ratings success with shows like Mermaids: The Body Found and Megalodon: The New Evidence, new Discovery Channel president Rich Ross said he’s getting rid of fake shows…
‘I don’t think it’s right for Discovery Channel…’
(Huffington Post, January 9, 2015)
Mind you, in addition to its fake programming, the Discovery Channel also corrupted its corporate mission by sponsoring fake cycling champion Lance Armstrong….
But, to fully appreciate this promise, just imagine the editor of the New York Times being forced to promise to stop reporting stories about alien abductions, Elvis sightings, and Kim Kardashian’s natural booty. Such make-believe stories clearly do not belong in any newspaper of record. They belong in a tabloid like the fabled Weekly World News.
Accordingly, I hope all producers, directors, and entertainment executives follow Ross’s lead. Because only respect for the thick, red line between fact and fiction will prevent so many people from believing specious, and often fatuous, assertions because TV programs presented them as historical facts.