WOSU-TV, the university-owned television station, does a great disservice to the central Ohio community by broadcasting Jerry Baker gardening programs during its semi-annual fund-raising campaigns, most recently on April Fool’s Day.Jerry Baker, who copyrighted the title “America’s Master Gardener,” combines good gardening advice with foolish, even dangerous suggestions. His gardening “cocktails” (he hustles them during his shows) include a mixture of plant nutrients, silly ingredients (human urine, whiskey and birth-control pills) and poisons, including tobacco. Soil scientists, including some from OSU’s Extension Service, have criticized public television for running the programs. We think of public television as a source of accurate information, so it is natural for viewers to assume Baker’s notions are scientific. If you have a headache and you take whiskey, tobacco, a glass of water and two aspirin, you will probably get rid of the headache. Likewise, if you use one of Baker’s cocktails to kill harmful insects, you’ll probably succeed. However, all the beneficial insects will also die. Despite complaints, WOSU-TV continues running the shows two or three times a year because they get good ratings. Well, so do the British sitcoms they run, but at least everyone knows they are fictional. If public television should continue, and I’m not sure it should, it must provide a community service, not a disservice.
Price Robert CopeOSU staff