'GBH won't air debate on genocide

Joining several public television stations around the country, Boston's WGBH has decided not to air a panel discussion that questions Turkey's role in the slaughter of Armenians at the time of World War I.

The 25-minute show was slated to air in April, immediately following ''The Armenian Genocide," a one-hour documentary on the 1915-18 massacre that claimed 1.2 million Armenian lives. Taped last month and moderated by National Public Radio host Scott Simon, it features four professors, two of whom deny that a genocide took place.

The Turkish government disputes that the killings, which took place under the Ottoman Empire, were genocide.

Thousands of Armenian-Americans -- and two congressmen -- have protested the discussion, comparing it to following a documentary on the Holocaust with a panel featuring Holocaust deniers. Los Angeles's KCET-TV and New York's WNET-TV are among the other stations that will not air the panel discussion.

WGBH spokeswoman Lucy Sholley said the station, which will air the film as planned, was not affected by the protests.

''We at WGBH have reviewed the documentary, and we feel that it stands on its own," she said yesterday. ''This was an editorial decision."

JOANNA WEISS