Is it time to cancel Ken Burns on PBS? Currently, it is not easy to be a white, male, and cisgender filmmaker on the tax-funded public television network. Burns has achieved immense success for his documentaries made for PBS and has been generously rewarded for his work there. A group of about 140 filmmakers and other professionals saves PBS from the lack of diversity behind the scenes. His complaint says there is too much Ken Burns.
A group of people including filmmakers, producers, directors, executives and programmers signed with their support after the Ford Foundation published an essay by an American filmmaker. The purpose was to file a complaint because PBS relied too much on Burns, the “narrator of America,” for its programming. In other words, the wokes go against their own network, because of what seems like a professional jealousy.
Grace Lee, a freelance producer, director and writer who works in both narrative and non-fiction films, according to her line-up in the essay, attributes her career to PBS. Now ask “how much does PBS reflect the audience it was intended for?” Compare the time spent on documentaries of Burns and his, which happened to Asian Americans.
In 1967, amid widespread civil unrest, CPB was created by a congressional law “to expand and develop a diversity of programs dependent on freedom, imagination, and initiative at both the local and national levels.” PBS was founded in 1969 to interconnect public television networks and distribute programs. Fifty-one years later, as we experience another social breakdown and a racial calculation, to what extent does PBS reflect the intended audience?
I take this issue seriously because I owe much of my own documentary career to PBS. In 2020, I was the producer of Asian Americans, an innovative series for which we had five hours to tell 150 years of history of the Chinese who built the railroads for the South Asian targets after 9/11. Compare that to the 16 hours of country music, which was also aired in 2020, or the 13 hours of the Roosevelts, both by Ken Burns. His 2021 list includes four hours each to Ernest Hemingway, Muhammad Ali, Benjamin Franklin and the American Buffalo. When bison deserve 80% of the airing time of Asian American history, it calls into question not only the leadership of public television, but also who can tell those stories and why.
She argues using the fact that Burns is a white man and that reliance on his documentaries for PBS programming perpetuates racial and cultural inequalities. He criticizes PBS for ignoring black, indigenous, and other color filmmakers.
“The decades-long interdependence of PBS decision-making, philanthropists and corporate funders with a white and male filmmaker highlights the racial and cultural inequalities perpetuated by this system. The amount of broadcast hours, the financial support (from viewers like who?) And the marketing muscle dedicated to the goal of a man in America has separated PBS from its roots, ”said Grace Lee.
PBS responded, but that response was not to the satisfaction of the 140-professional group.
In an email statement, a PBS spokesman noted that of the more than 200 hours in the first hour of documentaries scheduled to be aired this year, 35 percent are produced by several filmmakers. 55% include BIPOC talent, produced by various filmmakers, or address issues related to diversity, equity, and inclusion.
“For more than 50 years, reflecting the full range of the American experience has been central to PBS’ mission and work. As the home of documentaries in the United States, we use our national platform to broaden a wide range of perspectives shared by various storytellers, ”the spokesman said. “While we have a solid foundation for inclusive programming, we recognize that there is much more to be done and we welcome the ongoing dialogue on this important issue.”
The group has questions.
“As a leader in the public broadcasting system, you are responsible for engaging in an open and sustained public dialogue. Questioning whether PBS could do better should not be seen as an attack, but as an opportunity for meaningful dialogue and action and for engaging BIPOC filmmakers as we chart a course forward, ”it says. the letter, which asks:
“How many HOURS of PBS non-fiction television have been directed or produced by BIPOC filmmakers against white filmmakers over the last ten years?
What percentage has been directed or produced by BIPOC filmmakers of all EXPENSES on PBS non-fiction television over the past ten years?
Of the top 25 producing companies that have produced the most content for PBS in the last ten years when measured by budget, how many of them are run by BIPOC vs.
How many members of PBS management (including individual stations and main lines) are BIPOC vs. white? How do these figures compare to those of ten years ago? ”
The AP reports that the president and CEO of PBS said: “I feel very privileged to have the opportunity to work with Ken Burns, whose legacy is extraordinary and, as we hope, has a wide range of programs leading to public television “.
President and CEO Paula Kerger was asked Tuesday about an essay by filmmaker Grace Lee, who argued that public television’s deep connection to Burns, whose series include “The Civil War,” and “Baseball,” highlights color spectators.
“I feel very privileged to have the opportunity to work with Ken Burns, whose legacy is extraordinary and, as we hope, has a wide range of programs that he brings to public television,” Kerger said in a Questions and Answers with Television Critics Association.
“We create a lot of opportunities for a lot of filmmakers,” Kerger said. Burns “mentors several filmmakers who now have a well-established career … and has a deep commitment to mentoring multiple filmmakers.”
He said he “respectfully disagrees” with Lee’s arguments in a Ford Foundation rehearsal last fall.
When asked during a group of television critics this week, Ken Burns defended the themes of his documentaries. “The things that appear are incredibly diverse in every sense of the meaning of that word,” Burns said.
Ken Burns is not known as a liberal filmmaker in the sense that they are Michael Moore or Spike Lee. Maybe that’s why he’s assigned. PBS has the right to choose who it wants to show. Burns has decades of professional experience and deserves the credit he receives. His documentaries are popular and bring high ratings to PBS. Why wouldn’t they continue to use him as a star documentary filmmaker? Mrs. Lee was given the opportunity and even admits that she has PBS to thank for broadcasting her documentary. The relationship between PBS and Burns is beneficial to both parties. Burns is not jumping on the airwaves, but promises his loyalty to stay with PBS. PBS gives you creative freedom and fewer restrictions that, for example, Netflix or another streaming service might allow.
“I could have gone a few years ago to a broadcast channel or a premium cable and said, with my trajectory,‘ I need $ 30 million to make Vietnam ’and they would have given it to me,” Burns said. “But what they wouldn’t have given me is ten and a half years. PBS gave me ten and a half years. They gave me six and a half to Ernest Hemingway. “
It looks like Ms. Lee will have to find her own niche in the documentary production business. The blame for career and diversity for everything doesn’t always work.