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Columbus viewers won't see SOA documentary
April 14, 1998

Mick Walsh
News Columnist

First a television documentary on William Calley, now one on School
of the Americas outspoken critic Father Roy Bourgeois.

Columbus and Fort Benning haven't received this much publicity since
John Wayne filmed "The Green Berets" here.

"The Court Martial of Lt. Calley," the inaugural offering in Court
TV's "Greatest Trials of All Time" series, aired last month on the
30th anniversary of the My Lai atrocity.

Cable subscribers could tune in to watch the Calley story and the
panel discussion that followed.

But that option won't be available to area residents who would like
to view "Father Roy: Inside the School of the Assassins," which began
airing nationally over the weekend. That's because WJSP-TV, a member
of the Georgia Public TV network, won't be carrying the program.

"Maybe at a later date," said Babette Davison, program director for
the nine-station network. "But right now we have no intention of
picking it up."

And that's a shame, said Yvonne Dilling, interim director of SOA
Watch, the group which Bourgeois founded with the specific intention
of closing the SOA.

"You would think with the local connection that one of the public
broadcasting stations down here would show it," said Dilling, an
Indiana native who is filling in for Bourgeois, now serving a prison
sentence for a 1997 protest at the Army post.

Only Atlanta's WPBA-TV, a public station not affiliated with GPTV,
will air the controversial program in Georgia. No Alabama stations
have committed to run the show. "We felt the program was strong
enough for us to invest in," said WPBA program director Nancy South.
"And obviously, there is a great local tie."

Unlike GPTV, which relies on the Public Broadcasting System to
provide much of its national programming, WPBA purchases shows from
groups such as the Independent Television Service (ITVS). "That's
probably the reason GPTV passed on the show," said South.

It's not simply a coincidence that "Father Roy" was released just two
weeks before a massive grass roots rally at the White House and the
Capitol designed to convince Congress to close down the School of the
Americas.

Though Bourgeois, the focal point of veteran director Robert
Richter's film, won't be in attendance, several thousand of his
supporters will be.

"Those who have the opportunity to watch 'Father Roy' will learn why
we want to close the SOA," said Dilling, who has run the Columbus SOA
Watch office since late March. But their vantage point will
definitely be from Bourgeois' side of the issue.

While the Corporation for Public Broadcasting underwrote much of the
cost of the project, additional funding came from the Maryknoll and
Dominican orders of the Catholic Church. Bourgeois is a Maryknoll
priest.

Dilling spent Monday handling calls from people who have already
seen the show in several major markets across the country, including
Pittsburgh and Chicago. "It's certainly struck a nerve with a lot of
people," she said. "Too bad the people of Columbus won't be able to
see it."