TV & VIDEO - Aug. 24, 1988

Remember the controversy surrounding the Public Broadcasting Service in 1986 when it aired the documentary “The Africans,” with various groups charging PBS of leftist bias? Well, on Sept. 8, PBS plans to begin rebroadcasting the nine-part series, which the National Endowment for the Humanities said blamed “every technological, moral and economic failure of Africa on the West.” But Ward Chamberlin Jr., president of producing station WETA-TV in Washington, says he does not expect the rebroadcast to rekindle the debate over the show. “I think the controversy played itself out. PBS is showing ‘The Africans’ again because it is a major series and because it has a lot of support.”