By Staff
Legendary journalist Bill Moyers has created a new documentary about North Carolina’s politics in 2013 titled North Carolina: State of Conflict. As of press time Saturday, UNC-TV does not have the show scheduled to air in our state – essentially blacking out the documentary to all but those who are able to access it through the internet.
“First it was Wisconsin. Now it’s North Carolina that is redefining the term ‘battleground state,’” the show’s website says. “On one side: a right-wing government enacting laws that are changing the face of the state. On the other: citizen protesters who are fighting back against what they fear is a radical takeover.”
The show’s producers visited North Carolina over the summer, when people were gathering for weekly Moral Monday protests against the agenda of the Republican supermajority-controlled legislature and the McCrory administration. In all, more than 900 people were arrested for engaging in civil disobedience outside lawmakers’ chambers.
“State of Conflict is more than a local story,” states BillMoyers.com. “It offers a case study of what may be the direction of American politics for years, perhaps decades, to come.”
CCD has contacted UNC-TV asking why they have chosen not to air the show, and has not gotten a response. We will publish that response, explanation, or statement when it becomes available. In the meantime, CCD would like to bring our readers Mr. Moyer’s excellent and illuminating documentary in full below.
UPDATE:
With a tip from a reader, CCD has found out that UNC-TV did and will air the documentary exclusively via digital cable services such as Time Warner Cable, but is not available for those who do not have the digital cable service or view through broadcast. The documentary can be found on UNC’s MX service at the following times:
01/03/2014 – 10:00pm – 10:59pm
01/04/2014 – 6:00pm – 6:59pm
As our reader put it best: Yes, however it is/was broadcast over-the-air as a digital subchannel of UNC-TV. If a NC viewer who does not have cable and gets his/her TV via a digital antenna connected to a TV with a digital tuner AND he/she knows HOW to dig in the digital tuning and actually FIND the digital subchannel for UNC-MX, then yes, they could watch it. So UNC-TV is going to say, “We DID air it.”.
UPDATE:
UNC-TV spokesperson Rebekah Radisch returned CCD’s inquiry regarding the airing of Mr. Moyers’ documentary in North Carolina. Here statement in full:
We air Moyers & Company on our UNC-MX channel (currently only available on digital cable). The State of Conflict episode aired on UNC-MX yesterday at 10 PM and airs again today at 6 PM.
CCD is glad that they are airing the show and we are also happy to announce that because of this posting 950 individuals in NC have watched the Moyers’ important documentary since Saturday morning when this piece was first run.
UPDATE:
The people of North Carolina must be interested and hungry for the information in Mr. Moyers’ documentary. As of 6:30pm on a Saturday over 1,775 individual readers have viewed this documentary through our small, local media outlet.
UPDATE:
Perhaps citizens who watch broadcast TV and basic cable were not the only ones blacked out from viewing State of Conflict. DirectTV subscribers were also not able to see the program on their service. From the comments below:
I’m glad you’re glad that it’s being aired, but since you can actually get them to respond to your questions (the general public would never have such luck), could you please ask why it’s not being aired on either their main channel or their Explorer channel, both of which are picked up by DirecTV?
