The Koch Brothers, unsatisfied with controlling a plethora of coin operated politicians (they insert the coins) are now looking to control information the public sees by their attempt to buy several large newspapers as well. And now it seems that a documentary that exposed their post Citizens United involvement in politics through a focus on the Cheesehead Rebellion in Wisconsin may have been pulled due to the influence of David Koch.



Originally slated to appear on PBS stations nationwide as part of the "Independent Lens" series, "Citizen Koch" had its funding pulled after David Koch was offended by another PBS documentary critical of the billionaire industrialists.

Jane Mayer, in a New Yorker article , writes about this as an after-effect from an earlier PBS documentary which was critical of the Kochs and others.

David Kochs large donations to PBS as well as serving as a trustee on 2 of the largest public television stations in the country, WBGH Boston and WNET New York. She also unwinds the larger story about his (and other uber wealthy residents of 740 Park Ave) disapproval of a documentary (“Park Avenue: Money, Power and the American Dream") that eventually aired on PBS which contrasted their lives with the lives of those who live on the poor end of Park Avenue.

Mayer, speaking of the earlier documentary which did air in November, wrote:



In a recent phone interview, Neal Shapiro, the president of WNET, said that he grew concerned about the film, which he had not yet watched, after Ira Stoll, a conservative writer, lambasted it in the Post. On the Friday before the film’s Monday airdate, Stoll, whose Web site, Future of Capitalism, has frequently defended the Kochs, wrote, “If the station has any sense, it will use the time until then to reconsider its decision to air the program.” He added, “If it doesn’t, its trustees and donors, some of whom live on Park Avenue, may want to consider whether they want to continue supporting an institution that insults them so viciously.”

Shapiro acknowledges that his call to Koch was unusual. Although many prominent New Yorkers are portrayed in “Park Avenue,” he said that he “only just called David Koch. He’s on our board. He’s the biggest main character. No one else, just David Koch. Because he’s a trustee. It’s a courtesy.” Shapiro, who joined WNET six years ago, from NBC News, added, “I can’t remember doing anything like this—I can’t remember another documentary centered around New York and key people in the city, and such controversial topics.” PBS has standards for “editorial integrity,” and its guidelines state that “member stations are responsible for shielding the creative and editorial processes from political pressure or improper influence from funders or other sources.”

Shapiro emphasized that, by showing the Gibney film, he had made “the right call.” Still, spokespeople at WNET and PBS conceded that the decision to run the rebuttals was unprecedented. Indeed, it was like appending Letters to the Editor to a front-page article.

This seems to have led Shapiro to contact David Koch about the film and to include a roundtable discussion and request comments to be included in it to "provide other points of view". While David Koch passed on the opportunity to participate in the discussion or provide a comment (a Koch Industries spokesperson later sent a comment critical of the documentary shortly before it aired), the fact that such a call was made is troubling.The film did air unedited after some consideration about pulling the film.It's about to get stranger.