When I was a college freshman studying broadcast journalism in 1978, I watched a show on PBS that made me contemplate something that I’d never thought about before: What would I do if one day, the government took control of the media, rewarding those who spread the leaders’ propaganda and silencing dissenting voices?
Little did I suspect that in the twilight of my career, I’d face that then-fictional scenario as a real journalist in the real United States of America.
But here we are.
On Wednesday, myself and many other Wichitans who cherish independent media will be participating in a 24-hour emergency pledge drive to support PBS Kansas, KPTS Channel 8 in Wichita.
The station was recently defunded by the federal government on orders from President Donald Trump, with the willing cooperation of Kansas Sens. Roger Marshall and Jerry Moran, and Wichita-area Rep. Ron Estes.
With the recent passage of a Trump-demanded budget recission bill, KPTS has been stripped of about a fourth of its $4 million budget.
The action is grotesquely unfair, and happened for only one reason: Trump doesn’t like TV (or people, for that matter) that he can’t control.
Amid PBS’ program schedule of cooking shows, arts and crafts shows, hymn and gospel music shows, DIY shows, “Sesame Street,” “Nova,” “Austin City Limits,” “Antiques Road Show” and so on, PBS Kansas broadcasts some news and documentary programs. Trump was criticized on some of those news shows, which is a punishable offense in the USA, circa 2025.
Show from 47 years ago resonates today
The show I mentioned earlier that had a profound effect on my own life and ethical formation was a three-part miniseries called “An Englishman’s Castle.”
It was produced by the British Broadcasting Corporation and broadcast in the U.S. by PBS.
I doubt you’ve ever heard of it. As far as I know, it only ran in America that one time in 1978.
It’s been 47 years and I still think of that show, especially now.
The show is set in England of the late 1970s — but an England that had been invaded, conquered and subjugated by Germany in 1940, the second year of World War II.
The general population has settled into complacency — not overtly Nazi, but ruled by a pro-German puppet government working to purge England of minorities and political rivals. The country is economically prosperous, but morally bankrupt.
The chief protagonist in the drama is Peter Ingram, author and producer of a wildly popular soap opera also called “An Englishman’s Castle” in the show.
The soap’s stories are based on Ingram’s experiences as an English soldier who fought the Nazis and continued to resist after his government surrendered, but laid down his arms and returned to civilian life after the collaborationist government offered a general amnesty.
