Citizen Koch

Citizen Koch is a 2013 documentary film directed by Tia Lessin and Carl Deal concerning the political influence of American plutocrats following the Citizens United ruling, and of the titular Koch brothers in particular.^[1] The film also focuses on the election of Wisconsin governor Scott Walker and his relationship with the Koch Brothers.

Citizen Koch was completed using funds from a successful Kickstarter campaign^[2] after allegations that PBS pulled funding initially promised to it. Since at least half of PBS' funding relies on donations, it has been alleged that financial support for the film was pulled because the content was not favourable to the Koch brothers, who are major donors to the network.^[3][4]

Regarding the allegations of censorship, and The New Yorker article which helped bring the case to public attention, the PBS ombudsman has stated that:^[5]

Although some of [Jane] Mayer's reporting about "Citizen Koch" is based on unnamed sources, the strength of the article does reflect the internal concerns that can or did, as the thrust of her article suggests, lead to intense internal pressures that come to equal self-censorship. The reporting and quotes throughout appear convincing. One unnamed public television official, referring to the "Citizen Koch" proposal, is quoted as saying that, "because of the Koch brothers, ITVS knew WNET would never air it. Never."

The film was accepted by the Sundance Film Festival.^[6]

References

1. ↑ Mayer, Jane (May 27, 2013). "A Word from Our Sponsor: Public television’s attempts to placate David Koch". The New Yorker. 
2. ↑ "Kickstarter Campaign for Citizen Koch". Kickstarter. Retrieved 2013-08-20. 
3. ↑ Thomas, Rob (May 21, 2013). "'Citizen Koch' filmmakers claim PBS killed their doc to please Koch brothers". The Capital Times. 
4. ↑ Fischer, Brendan (May 20, 2013). "PBS Killed Wisconsin Uprising Documentary "Citizen Koch" To Appease Koch Brothers". PR Watch. 
5. ↑ "David Koch and PBS: The Odd Couple". PBS. Retrieved 2013-05-25. 
6. ↑ "Sundance Institute - Citizen Koch". Sundance Film Festival. Retrieved 2014-09-27. 

External links

• Citizen Koch at the Internet Movie Database
• Official website

Further reading

• Mayer, Jane (May 23, 2013). "Stephen Colbert on David Koch and PBS". The New Yorker (blog). 
• Rehm, Diane (May 21, 2013). "The Intersection Of Political Influence And Journalism". The Diane Rehm Show / WAMU. 
• Robbins, Christopher (May 20, 2013). "How Billionaire David Koch Gets PBS To Dance, Monkey, Dance". Gothamist (blog). 
• Thomas, Rob (May 21, 2013). "Citizen Koch filmmakers Claim PBS Killed Their Doc to Please Koch Brothers". The Capital Times. 
• Stelter, Brian (August 12, 2013). "The Documentary ‘Citizen Koch’ Regains Money". New York Times.