Firing Line

Firing Line (1966-1999) was a public affairs show founded and hosted by conservative William F. Buckley, Jr.. Its 1,504 episodes over 33 years made Firing Line the longest-running public affairs show in television history with a single host.

Controversy

In a 1999 Salon.com article, Weekly Standard editor Bill Kristol summarized Buckley's approach to the show:

Related Topics:
Salon.com - Weekly Standard - Bill Kristol

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:Buckley really believes that in order to convince, you have to debate and not just preach, which of course means risking the possibility that someone will beat you in debate. http://www.salon.com/media/lehm/1999/01/07lehm.html

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However, in the companion book ', Mark Achbar alleges that Buckley used a handheld buzzer to call a commercial break when a guest was getting the better of him. It shows a picture of Buckley holding the buzzer with the following note:

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:The button in Mr. Buckley's left hand apparently signaled his decision to cut to a commercial

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(an obvious impossibility considering that Firing Line ran on commercial free PBS)

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or a station break. In the film, his thumb can be observed to be hovering over the button immediately after Chomsky, having been interrupted several times throughout the program, requested sufficient time to complete his sentence. In this instance, Mr. Buckley chose to make his point without allowing Chomsky to complete his, and cut to a break. After the break, he did not respond to Chomsky's challenge. (p. 164)

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Some have suggested that such behavior would be inappropriate for a PBS-funded show that purported to be a fair debate.

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