More Heat for ‘Days of Rage’ Documentary

The producer of a highly controversial pro-Palestinian documentary slated to air next week found herself embroiled in still more controversy this week when conflicting reports of her involvement with an organization supported by Arabs began to surface.

Jo Franklin-Trout, producer of “Days of Rage: The Young Palestinians,” scheduled for broadcast Wednesday at 9 p.m. on PBS (Channels 28, 50, 15 and 24 in Southern California), said earlier this week she had served on the board of an Arab-American organization for two years; on Friday, she said she had been a group member only since January, 1989.

The gaffe only added heat to the fire of allegations that Franklin-Trout accepted funding from the Arab organization to produce “Days of Rage,” a 90-minute documentary graphically detailing the Palestinian uprising to air as part of the 2 1/2-hour “The Intifada: The Palestinians and Israel.”

While acknowledging through a spokesman that she made a mistake in telling a New York Times reporter that she joined the Arab American Cultural Foundation two years ago, Franklin-Trout continues to deny that any money changed hands and that her current involvement in the organization raises any conflict-of-interest issues.

The spokesman also said Friday that Franklin-Trout plans to sue New Republic magazine over an article in its latest issue, titled “Film Slam,” which claims that Franklin-Trout violated PBS policy by allowing her documentary to be funded by the foundation. Franklin-Trout denies this.

The article, by Steven Emerson, says the foundation is “led by a friend and adviser to PLO chief Yasir Arafat,” and that the group agreed to provide “substantial funds” to the film maker after completion of the documentary if it approved of the film.

Franklin-Trout, currently at work on another project in France, could not be immediately reached for comment.

New Republic editor Michael Kinsley said of Emerson’s article:

“It’s all true. We went over that article line by line, word for word. We have tapes of the conversations between the author of the article and Hisham Sharabi, the head of (the Arab American Cultural Foundation).”

Although PBS airs many documentaries with a political bias, it draws the line at airing programs underwritten by partisan groups, believing that the producer should have full editorial control, said Neil Mahrer, executive vice president and chief executive of PBS.

According to the New York Times, the Washington-based Arab American Cultural Foundation has promoted itself as a sponsor of the film. Hisham Sharabi, the chairman of the foundation, was unavailable for comment Friday. The organization released a statement Friday urging PBS to air “Days of Rage” despite the controversy, but did not address the issue of whether it claimed to sponsor the film.

Franklin-Trout’s spokesman said the impression created in the New Republic that the Arab American Cultural Foundation backed the film from Franklin-Trout’s company, Pacific Productions, resulted from a misunderstanding and that the group in no way funded the project.

“Jo is a journalist of the highest ethical standards; there has been no involvement by a third party,” said Franklin-Trout’s publicist, Paul Costello. “The impression that it is highly conspiratorial (is untrue); there is not some Middle Eastern cabal going on, it does not exist.”

Costello said Franklin-Trout’s making an error in the date she joined the Arab American Cultural Foundation was due to the fact that she was conducting a hurried interview with the New York Times reporter from a phone booth in Europe; she later remembered the correct date she had been invited to join.

“It sounds suspicious, but it’s not,” the spokesman said.

Costello said that Franklin-Trout raised $180,000 to produce “Days of Rage” by selling videocassettes of her two previous documentaries, “The Oil Kingdoms” and “Saudi Arabia,” to universities and educational organizations. He said that in some cases, Franklin-Trout sold the videocassettes to businesses and organizations, which in turn donated them to the schools and universities.

The Arab American Cultural Foundation paid $33,000 for videotapes of those programs, Costello said. He added, however, that the organzation’s decision to purchase the tapes had nothing to do with “Days of Rage.” The spokesman added that the foundation mistakenly assumed it would receive a credit at the end of the PBS broadcast because it bought the videotapes.

“If she had done a film called ‘How Cotton Collects in Your Navel,’ they still would have bought the tapes,” Costello said. He added that, although the group was negotiating with Franklin-Trout for rights to show the film in the Middle East, that also does not constitute funding the film. Franklin-Trout also recently sold rights to the film in Australia.

“There were no promises, no transfer of money,” Costello said of Franklin-Trout’s dealings with the foundation.

Mahrer said that PBS is continuing to investigate the financing of the film and has requested copies of Pacific Productions’ financial records. He said that so far PBS has uncovered no improprieties and still plans to air the documentary next week unless the investigation reveals something “startling.”

Said Mahrer: “I think every writer-producer has a bias of some kind. How that affects the work he presents? It varies. We feel comfortable with this program we are broadcasting Wednesday night. In this case, we have the necessary documentation to satisfy us (that the funding was done ethically).”

Mahrer said that many PBS stations around the country have received letters from Jewish and Arab organizations urging them to air the documentary. Twenty-five of the 26 major-market public stations still plan to air the film.

“What we are preparing to do, if necessary, is to supplement the program with some information at the beginning, that would further explain and address these allegations.”

Mahrer added that “Days of Rage,” which PBS received for broadcast free of charge, is only a 90-minute segment of a 2 1/2-hour program, which will include what he called a “wrap-around” featuring opposing points of view. At least one PBS station, New York’s WNET, plans to add its own discussion segment to the show.