Post by Flamingo on Mar 5, 2004 18:46:41 GMT
Below is an article that conains info about a season 5 storyline, however mentions no characters.. please consider before you read
TVC Sends Protest Letter to 'West Wing' Producer Over Distorted Portrayal
By Jimmy Moore
Talon News
March 5, 2004
NEW YORK (Talon News) -- The Traditional Values Coalition (TVC) sent a protest letter to one of the producers of NBC-TV's "The West Wing" on Thursday after viewing an episode of the program that they say misrepresents their position.
In this week's broadcast of the Emmy award-winning show, a group called the "Traditional Values Alliance" was protesting grant practices by the National Institutes of Health.
In reality, TVC has been critical of the National Institutes of Health grant process just as it was described in the episode.
However, TVC Executive Director Andrea Lafferty said the producers of the "The West Wing" attempted to affect public opinion about the real life group that distorts their beliefs.
"[Wednesday] night's 'West Wing' show is another sound of the death rattle of liberalism bankrolled by federal dollars," Lafferty exclaimed in a statement.
She added, "As ABC-TV's Primetime Thursday program and other investigative reports are about to air on corrupt grantmaking practices at NIH, the liberal establishment is pulling out all the stops to defend the NIH flow of taxpayer dollars into its favorite causes."
The letter of protest was sent to "The West Wing" executive producer John Wells on Thursday in New York.
Lafferty was joined in the letter by TVC Chairman Rev. Louis P. Sheldon. Both of them were especially concerned with the seemingly purposeful misrepresentation of the group comparing it with a radical, extremist pastor.
"The problem came as your script did some asides about the Traditional Values Coalition," the letter reads. "The most fantastic was your attempt to smear us by linking us to a group which states 'The Lord Hates Homosexuals.' This sounds to me like the Rev. Fred Phelps who pops up in real life (way too often) arguing 'God Hates Fags.'"
For the record, TVC has opposed this tactic implored by Phelps and does not adhere to his methodology for spreading his message.
"It's a pity that your program could not resist the temptation of the cheap shot," they wrote in the letter. "A balanced story portraying the issues and the serious people involved in this could have been thought-provoking drama. Instead, you chose to attach some sinister motives to the people with whom you disagree."
"I suggest you stick to fiction and avoid venturing close to the precipice of real life situations," the letter recommends.
In fact, Lafferty and Sheldon said there is a fine line between distorting facts and offering a compelling work of fiction.
"Fiction which pretends it has something important to say but simply (and I mean simply in every sense of the word) presents the political bias of its writers is going to be found out sooner or later," the letter concludes.
Wells has not yet publicly commented on the episode or about the letter from Lafferty and Sheldon.
TVC Sends Protest Letter to 'West Wing' Producer Over Distorted Portrayal
By Jimmy Moore
Talon News
March 5, 2004
NEW YORK (Talon News) -- The Traditional Values Coalition (TVC) sent a protest letter to one of the producers of NBC-TV's "The West Wing" on Thursday after viewing an episode of the program that they say misrepresents their position.
In this week's broadcast of the Emmy award-winning show, a group called the "Traditional Values Alliance" was protesting grant practices by the National Institutes of Health.
In reality, TVC has been critical of the National Institutes of Health grant process just as it was described in the episode.
However, TVC Executive Director Andrea Lafferty said the producers of the "The West Wing" attempted to affect public opinion about the real life group that distorts their beliefs.
"[Wednesday] night's 'West Wing' show is another sound of the death rattle of liberalism bankrolled by federal dollars," Lafferty exclaimed in a statement.
She added, "As ABC-TV's Primetime Thursday program and other investigative reports are about to air on corrupt grantmaking practices at NIH, the liberal establishment is pulling out all the stops to defend the NIH flow of taxpayer dollars into its favorite causes."
The letter of protest was sent to "The West Wing" executive producer John Wells on Thursday in New York.
Lafferty was joined in the letter by TVC Chairman Rev. Louis P. Sheldon. Both of them were especially concerned with the seemingly purposeful misrepresentation of the group comparing it with a radical, extremist pastor.
"The problem came as your script did some asides about the Traditional Values Coalition," the letter reads. "The most fantastic was your attempt to smear us by linking us to a group which states 'The Lord Hates Homosexuals.' This sounds to me like the Rev. Fred Phelps who pops up in real life (way too often) arguing 'God Hates Fags.'"
For the record, TVC has opposed this tactic implored by Phelps and does not adhere to his methodology for spreading his message.
"It's a pity that your program could not resist the temptation of the cheap shot," they wrote in the letter. "A balanced story portraying the issues and the serious people involved in this could have been thought-provoking drama. Instead, you chose to attach some sinister motives to the people with whom you disagree."
"I suggest you stick to fiction and avoid venturing close to the precipice of real life situations," the letter recommends.
In fact, Lafferty and Sheldon said there is a fine line between distorting facts and offering a compelling work of fiction.
"Fiction which pretends it has something important to say but simply (and I mean simply in every sense of the word) presents the political bias of its writers is going to be found out sooner or later," the letter concludes.
Wells has not yet publicly commented on the episode or about the letter from Lafferty and Sheldon.