Group Protests PBS ‘Self-Censorship’ : Television: Hollywood coalition questions refusal to broadcast certain highly regarded projects.

On a day when public-television officials hoped to paint a bright picture of improved ratings and more youthful programming this year for the Public Broadcasting Service, a small group of protesters standing in the rain outside Loewe’s Santa Monica Beach Hotel Wednesday afternoon created a more somber scene.

The protest--part of a major Hollywood campaign against what the organizers describe as self-censorship on PBS--was staged on the first day of the winter television press tour, when TV critics from around the nation gather to preview new programming.

The budding Hollywood coalition includes such industry veterans as Oliver Stone, Francis Ford Coppola, Lawrence Kasdan, Mike Medavoy, Edward James Olmos and Robin Williams, who collectively have questioned PBS’ refusal to broadcast certain highly regarded projects that may offend government agencies and large corporations that provide funding for public TV.

On Wednesday, the coalition chastised PBS in a full-page ad in the industry trade paper Daily Variety for not airing two documentaries that are critical of the nuclear industry: “Deadly Deception: General Electric, Nuclear Weapons and Our Environment,� which was released in 1991 and won an Academy Award, and “Building Bombs,� a 1990 release that was nominated for an Oscar.

“The fact that a program wins an Academy Award doesn’t mean that it’s appropriate for public television,� responded Jennifer Lawson, executive vice president of national programming and promotion services for PBS. “That’s a filmmaking award. Public television applies other standards.�

Lawson defended PBS’ decisions at a news conference, denying charges that PBS caved in to political pressure.

In the case of “Deadly Deception,� Lawson said: “We declined to distribute it because it violates our underwriting guidelines. We do not permit the producer of the program to be the subject of the program.�

In that documentary, the grass-roots corporate accountability organization featured in the film helped to raise the production funding. The Hollywood coalition contends, however, that PBS regularly broadcasts programs underwritten by nuclear-weapons manufacturers, including General Electric.

“Building Bombs,� on the other hand, about the devastation of a South Carolina nuclear-arms factory, was not aired as the result of an editorial decision regarding its quality, Lawson said.

“We determined the program just wasn’t up to snuff,� she said. “We look for clarity of message (and) quality of program.�

Lawson said the ad-hoc coalition never contacted PBS before placing the Variety ad. She said that PBS has since written the organization and the National Documentary Assn. to open a dialogue with them.

PBS President Bruce Christensen suggested that PBS’ new nightly talk show, “Charlie Rose,� hosted by an Emmy Award-winning journalist, could be used as a forum for such groups to present their points of view.

In other announcements, PBS executives pointed to a more youthful direction this year, as evidenced by a flashy new logo and the addition of upcoming jazz and pop music specials by such artists as Elton John. During the March pledge drive, PBS will air biographies of filmmaker George Lucas and pop star Paul Simon.

The Corporation for Public Broadcasting, meanwhile, has set aside $1.3 million to help fund the production of 11 new programs and series, including a film history of World War II, a docudrama on Mikhail Gorbachev, a social history of disability in America and a tribute to Martin Luther King Jr.

In fiscal year 1992, funding of PBS programs hit a record $301 million, a 13.7% increase over the year before. The number of corporate underwriters who contributed more than $1 million climbed from 18 in 1991 to a record 26 in 1992.