
Friday on PBS’s “NewsHour,” New York Times columnist David Brooks reacted to last week’s San Bernardino, CA mass shooting in his regular segment with syndicated columnist Mark Shields. Brooks first took on the idea of gun control as a measure
by Jeff Poor5 Dec 2015, 8:15 AM PST0

British Masterpiece series Downton Abbey is now “history,” but the popular show’s historical adviser says its executives banned any mention of Christianity in the drama—which would have been a central element in the lives of British aristocracy.
by Dr. Susan Berry19 Nov 2015, 6:08 PM PST0

As Dr. Ben Carson moves up in the polls, reporters across the political spectrum are zeroing in on his relationship with Mannatech, a Texas based food supplement company. But so far the discussion has generated more heat than light.
by Michael Patrick Leahy1 Nov 2015, 7:11 AM PST0

The PBS Ombudsman has called Gwen Ifill’s ‘Take that, Bibi’ tweet on the Iran deal “inexcusable,” and suggests that employees avoid Twitter.
by Joel B. Pollak3 Sep 2015, 6:38 AM PST0

Appearing on CBS’s Face the Nation Sunday, documentary filmmaker Ken Burns told host John Dickerson he believes America is still a racist nation, and those who have questioned the legitimacy of President Obama’s birth certificate, namely, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, have done so as an alternative to using the N-word.
by Kipp Jones24 Aug 2015, 11:07 AM PST0

Classic children’s television show Sesame Street has landed a new home at HBO.
by Daniel Nussbaum13 Aug 2015, 10:35 AM PST0

After twenty years on the air, Ira Glass has negotiated full ownership of his long-running PBS radio show, “This American Life” and it’s podcast spinoff “Serial.”
by Warner Todd Huston12 Jul 2015, 5:36 PM PST0

In 1992, the children’s TV series Barney & Friends made its debut on PBS. Now, the man behind the show’s inspiration will spend more than a decade behind bars for shooting his neighbor.
by Kipp Jones2 Jul 2015, 10:56 AM PST0

PBS ombudsman Michael Getler said that his public TV station did a “good job” with its internal review of the circumstances surrounding censorship of actor Ben Affleck’s episode of genealogy series Finding Your Roots, but said the show’s producers made a “deadly” error when choosing to omit sensitive information from the episode.
by Daniel Nussbaum26 Jun 2015, 12:40 PM PST0

The producers of genealogy series Finding Your Roots violated PBS editorial standards when they omitted information about Ben Affleck’s slave-owning ancestors from the actor’s recent segment on the program, the public TV station said Wednesday.
by Daniel Nussbaum24 Jun 2015, 3:25 PM PST0

A study being called the “most authoritative” review of the impact of the PBS series Sesame Street on children is scheduled to be released this month. In part, the report finds that the decades-old show is just as effective as preschool for educating little ones.
by Warner Todd Huston9 Jun 2015, 7:32 AM PST0

The wake of destruction behind Bill and Hillary Clinton is 25 years wide and deeper than any abyss known to man or beast. The latest victim is “NewsHour” anchor Judy Woodruff, and by extension, PBS itself, which now admits to burying the $75,000 Clinton Cash scandal involving ABC News senior anchor George Stephanopoulos.
by John Nolte22 May 2015, 10:29 AM PST0

The indignities continue to pile on for disgraced NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams. Back in January, before his serial fabrications were uncovered, and he was suspended for 6 months, Williams hosted an awards ceremony to honor military veterans and
by John Nolte22 May 2015, 10:05 AM PST0

Oscar-winning actress Susan Sarandon thinks former President Ronald Reagan is to blame for America’s reluctance to discuss the issue of homelessness.
by Daniel Nussbaum17 May 2015, 11:33 AM PST0

Recent research published by the Daily Beast on Tuesday suggests that Benjamin Cole may have been a slaveholder but not a slaveowner, a distinction that may not seem to be a difference to those of us in the modern era, but which would have been significant back in the 1850s. Still, the bottom line on Affleck’s great-great-great grandfather Benjamin Cole is this: he was a slaveholder in 1860, and may have been either a slaveholder or slave owner in 1850, and possibly both.
by Michael Patrick Leahy29 Apr 2015, 10:01 AM PST0

The relative ease with which Breitbart News was able to find these nine additional slaveholding ancestors of Ben Affleck calls into question the integrity of the genealogical research undertaken on Affleck’s behalf by Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates, executive producer of the “Finding Your Roots” series.
by Michael Patrick Leahy27 Apr 2015, 8:41 AM PST0

The question those conducting the PBS “internal review” of the Affleck-Gates controversy must be asking themselves now is this: how can a program that purports to present true family history be believed when it appears that much of the true history has been concealed, and some of the claimed history is simply wrong?
by Michael Patrick Leahy25 Apr 2015, 8:37 AM PST0

PBS documentary Finding Your Roots, already under internal review over claims it censored information about Ben Affleck’s slave-owning ancestors out of a recent episode, has again come under fire for inaccuracies after Affleck’s mother denied she was ever involved in the 1964 Freedom Summer.
by Daniel Nussbaum24 Apr 2015, 1:22 PM PST0

An episode of PBS’ Finding Your Roots regarding the lineage of actor Ben Affleck aired with a major omission last September: one of the star’s ancestors owned slaves.
by Kipp Jones24 Apr 2015, 11:23 AM PST0

Hollywood movie star Ben Affleck and Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gates continue to revise recent history in their public statements surrounding Affleck’s successful pressuring of Gates, executive producer and host of the PBS series “Finding Your Roots,” to remove any mention of his slaveholding ancestor, Benjamin L. Cole, from the “Roots of Freedom” episode that aired on PBS in October.
by Michael Patrick Leahy23 Apr 2015, 6:46 PM PST0

Ben Affleck revealed the name of his slave-owning great-grandfather on Wednesday, a day after saying he regretted asking producers of a PBS documentary to edit any mention of the ancestor out of a documentary television show.
by Daniel Nussbaum22 Apr 2015, 3:38 PM PST0

Breitbart News has tracked down one likely suspect for the slaveholding ancestor Ben Affleck wants to disown. It may be Benjamin L. Cole of Savannah, Georgia. In 1850, Benjamin L. Cole owned 25 slaves, according to the Chatham County, Georgia Schedule of Slaves enumerated in the 1850 United States Census.
by Michael Patrick Leahy22 Apr 2015, 2:05 PM PST0

Ben Affleck took to Facebook on Tuesday to address the controversy surrounding censorship of his segment on the PBS television show Finding Your Roots.
by Daniel Nussbaum21 Apr 2015, 9:22 PM PST0

The integrity and reputation of PBS could be damaged by the revelation that the network censored information about Ben Affleck’s slave-owning great-grandfather out of the actor’s segment on the television show Finding Your Roots, several media professors said Monday.
by Daniel Nussbaum21 Apr 2015, 11:33 AM PST0

Ben Affleck asked the producers of PBS’ Finding Your Roots television show to edit out details of an ancestor who owned slaves, according to a Sony internal email exchange leaked this week. In an email sent to Sony CEO Michael Lynton
by Daniel Nussbaum17 Apr 2015, 4:21 PM PST0