friday, October 9, 1981
page 14
daily nebraskan
CBS executive says religious shows important
By Jim Garrett
A CBS television executive said the assassination of
Anwar Sadat can be viewed in association with the in
crease in worldwide misunderstanding between peoples
and their religious and cultural backgrounds.
Pamela Uott, CBS religious and cultural news vice presi
dent, said "we (Americans) suffered too in the streets of
Cairo. It was as if we (Ameucans) were there. And be
cause the public was better educated everyone knew im
mediately what the repercussions of this would be.
Uott spoke to about 200 people attending a fund
raising dinner for the Lincoln Fellowship of Churches
Tuesday at the UNL East Union.
"The threat to peace, the instability of the world -
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this is why religious programming should be on tele
vision,' she said.
Ilott, who was born and reared in Great Britain,
received degrees in comparative religion and church
history from Durham University in London and literature
from Oxford-Cambridge. She organized entertainment ser
vices for the British Army during World War II.
"Religion is not a decorative thing to
be added to news to create publicity,
but is the fabric of life, the good
news." Pamela Ilott, CBS executive.
She joined CBS in 1959, and won the George Foster
Peabody Award in 1973 for her accomplishments on the
television series "Lamp Unto My Feet" and "Look Up
and Live."
She said the so-called "reality boys of the news depart
ments" would rather keep religion locked away in some
perfumed ivory tower and out of the day-to-day involve
ments of world, national or local happenings. But Ilott
said, "what the religious message is, is an integrated part
of our lives and we believe it."
"It is not a decorative thing to be added to news to
create publicity," Ilott said, "but is the fabric of life, the
good news."
Ilott emphasized that the religious message must be
careful to haw quality content.
Gray areas
Ilott said current religious program themes provide
morality plays dealing with the gray areas of life rather
than the clear-cut black and white beliefs.
Initially religious programming consisted of airing
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famous preachers and the nation's largest denominational
churches, she said. These were live broadcasts aimed at
children and youth.
When it was learned that the Jewish segment was left
out, the network switched to short programs dealing with
the more common moral life situations, she said.
Ilott said programmers realize the relationships with
churches had to be broadened, yet order maintained
among all the churches in America requesting their pieces
be aired.
"So we left the mainline cathedrals, which didn't seem
to represent the richness of the American religious herit
age," she said, "and broadcast live from a small Dutch Re
formed Church, with a terrible choir, which proved to be
far from a good network program."
The emphasis at the network begin to shift toward
supplementing what was being done at the local church
level, she said, "and not giving, people an excuse or
option of attending church while sitting at home in the
comfort of their slippers with a cigarette burning out of
their mouths."
"Religious programming cannot take
the place of active involvement in
communities and fellowship, but it
can provide a glimpse into what other
people are thinking." Pamela Ilott.
Ilott said religious programming cannot take the place
of active involvement in communities and fellowships, but
can provide a glimpse into what other people are thinking.
"Show the common ground between Christianity,
Judaism, and Islam," she said. "Destroy those bad myths
that have existed throughout history."
Helps neighborhoods
Religious programming should help "neighborhoods
get to know themselves, to let the ethnic communities
know the others, to make them proud of being Hispanic
or Indian. Let them all know they have something proud
to give of their heritage."
Ilott said there is a new breed of broadcasters develop
ing programs like "Quincy" and "Lou Grant" who are
finally beginning to deal with issues such as homosex
uality, divorce and abortion, wiiich used to be confined to
religious shows.
"You can't do neutral programs," she said. "You have
to deal with it, but you don't have to submit to it."
Ilott said there is a dangerous deterioration of stand-
"Show the common ground between
Christianity, Judaism and Islam.
Destroy those bad myths that have
existed throughout history." Pamela
Ilott.
ards in America which should not be confused with the
interest group rhetoric of "these are the new times," or
"it's just a characteristic of the liberation movement."
"It is not liberation, making something traditionally
accepted appear so trivial," she said. "It is something you
have to resist."
Religious advocates
"It is particularly dangerous when this deterioration
brings about a counter-action from the religious element,
like the Moral Majority," Ilott said.
"The dangers of exclusion and censorship and what
they (Moral Majority) advocate are almost as dangerous as
those that advocate deterioration and the way it came
about," she said.
Ilott said both sides are extremist and offer very
narrow approaches to solutions and problems. Religious
programming may show both of these, but doesn't submit
to their control, she said.
Ilott said it is important to send the crews to places
like Nicaragua and Guatemala to film what churches are
doing there. "These are the shows worth doing, but are
almost financially impossible except for the major net
works," she said.
Ilott stressed that religious programming must have
strong public backing in order to exist in a competitive
world. "Public service programming is struggling to hold
its own," she said.
She said the networks don't receive much favorable re
sponse to most of the programming. "It is a monument
that CBS is still making that gesture or commitment to
tfhich we all believe in," she said.
Blood. It has always been better
to give than to receive.
Red Cross: Ready for a new century.
