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HEADLINE: Smithsonian officials defend its treatment of an exhibit before a Senate committee

ANCHORS: ROBERT SIEGEL; MELISSA BLOCK

REPORTERS: DAVID WELNA

BODY:
ROBERT SIEGEL, host:

This is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED from NPR News. I'm Robert Siegel.

MELISSA BLOCK, host:

And I'm Melissa Block.

A photography exhibit at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History in Washington has stirred unexpected political controversy. Today, the Smithsonian's top official had some explaining to do before the Senate panel overseeing that institution. Democrats want to know why the Smithsonian stripped captions from 48 photos of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. NPR's David Welna reports from the Capitol.

DAVID WELNA reporting:

The showdown may have been today, but the event some say was pivotal to this story happened two months ago. That's when during a heated Senate debate over oil drilling in ANWR, California Democrat Barbara Boxer held up a big placard before her colleagues.

Senator BARBARA BOXER (Democrat, California): This is an unbelievable photograph of a polar bear being reflected in the water. Now just cast your eyes on this; it's just pretty extraordinary.

WELNA: The photo was taken by Subhankar Banerjee, who spent more than a year documenting the Arctic Refuge's four seasons. His work is in a book called "Seasons of Life and Land," and the photos are also now on display at the Smithsonian. But at an oversight hearing today of the Senate Rules Committee, Illinois Democrat Richard Durbin charged that the Smithsonian suddenly altered plans for the show of Banerjee's photos for purely political reasons.

Senator RICHARD DURBIN (Democrat, Illinois): Everything was going just fine until Senator Boxer raised this book on the floor of the United States Senate and it all changed. Within two weeks, your lawyers were calling him saying, 'Don't refer to the Smithsonian in your book. We're going to make some big changes here, and now you will put this exhibit in a remote part of the Smithsonian.'

WELNA: Durbin pointed out that not only had the show been relegated to an obscure gallery, but captions for the photos worked out by Banerjee and the museum staff had also been removed. Smithsonian director Lawrence Small told the panel that more senior staff decided to remove those captions.

Mr. LAWRENCE SMALL (Director, Smithsonian): They did it because they felt that the exhibit would look better, and it would also avoid the issue of the Smithsonian engaging in a debate which is obviously political. It was never the Smithsonian's intention to have this exhibit be an analysis of the oil-drilling issue in Alaska. It was simply to show beautiful photographs.

WELNA: One caption Small cited as political was former President Jimmy Carter saying, quote, "It would be a grand triumph for America if we can preserve the Arctic refuge in its pure, untrammeled state." But Durbin read another caption to Small that was removed from a photo showing animal tracks in the snow.

Sen. DURBIN: (Reading) 'I spot a polar bear walking with two tiny cubs following behind her. I'm mesmerized at the sight. For the next half-hour, the bear and her cubs play on the bank running, nuzzling, sharing moments of affection before returning to their den.' Political advocacy?

Mr. SMALL: No.

Sen. DURBIN: Why did you eliminate it?

Mr. SMALL: The--as I told you, some of the captions were deemed by the staff to contain statements that could be construed to be political advocacy. At that point, they decided that they preferred to see the entire exhibit with shortened captions; an aesthetic decision.

WELNA: Alaska Republican Senator Ted Stevens, who's a fierce proponent of drilling in ANWR, congratulated Small on how the Smithsonian handled the show.

Senator TED STEVENS (Republican, Alaska): I think you ought to promote the people--or at least I would suggest we give them a reward--an award of some kind for being astute enough to know when someone had tried to use the grand institution of the Smithsonian for political advocacy.

WELNA: Stevens chairs the Appropriations Committee, and he pointedly added that the Smithsonian, which gets two-thirds of its funds from Congress, would not get money if it engages in political advocacy. Stevens insisted at the hearing that neither he nor any of his staff had anything to do with the changes in the photo exhibit, but a Democratic colleague noted after the hearing that someone clearly had decided it would be better not to antagonize people with strong interests in the matter. David Welna, NPR News, the Capitol.

SIEGEL: And you can see examples of the photos that sparked the controversy at our Web site, npr.org.