February 28, 2006 - 17:56 AMT
Weiner: No One Should Be Given Forum to Dishonor Armenian Genocide Victims
Congressman Anthony Weiner (D-NY) was joined by Armenian National Committee of New York (ANC-NY) activists and Armenian American leaders from throughout the New York metropolitan area in front of the offices of WNET to urge the PBS affiliate not to broadcast a roundtable discussion this April featuring deniers of the Armenian Genocide. This February PBS announced plans to provide a one-hour documentary, titled "The Armenian Genocide" and produced by Andrew Goldberg of Two Cats Productions, to its nationwide affiliates on April 17th. The February 24th protest was spurred by an additional panel discussion, filmed by PBS and designed to air following the Armenian Genocide documentary, which would feature outspoken genocide deniers Justin McCarthy and Omer Turan. While PBS affiliates around the nation have the option of running one or both of the programs, The New York Times has reported WNET's intention to run the highly controversial panel discussion. Representative Weiner was unequivocal in his condemnation of WNET's decision. "The Armenian genocide is a matter of history. No one should be given a forum to dishonor its 1.5 million victims. WNET should maintain the integrity of this documentary by pulling the panel discussion," said Weiner.