PBS suspends Finding Your Roots, citing Ben Affleck’s censorship
As you may recall, Ben Affleck and the PBS genealogy show hosted by Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Finding Your Roots, came under fire about two months ago during the Sony hack. The focus of that episode, which aired in October, 2014 was on race and ancestors who were slaves and slave owners. However emails from Gates to Sony CEO Michael Lynton revealed that their biggest celebrity “get” of the episode, Ben Affleck, had requested six months after taping that the references to his slave-owning ancestor be edited out. Gates told Lynton that this was the first time a guest had requested editorial control. Lynton advised Gates to take out that section “if no one knows“. Gates wrote that he knew that “to do this would be a violation of PBS rules,” that PBS and all his producers would be aware of the change and that this would “open the door to censorship.” He eventually gave in.
Affleck later issued a statement explaining his request to censor his ancestry. He compared it to a “creative collaborative process” in which he would lobby a director. Affleck included a kind of self-pitying defense of his actions. “This isn’t a news program. Finding Your Roots is a show where you voluntarily provide a great deal of information about your family, making you quite vulnerable.” In a follow-up statement, Affleck somewhat contradicted himself and stated that Gates told him the references to his ancestor in question would have been left out of the final cut regardless of Affleck’s request.
It turns out that PBS and the producing station, WNET, weren’t aware of the edit, as Gates stated they would be in his messages to Lynton. PBS just completed an internal review of this issue, with the finding that Gates hid the edit from PBS and that this was a violation of editorial standards. The result is that they’ve pulled that episode from their online archive and will not air again, that they’ve postponed the premiere date for the next season, which has already taped, and that they have not yet made a decision whether the show will be renewed. They’re also implementing stricter editorial standards. Damn. Here’s some of their statement, with more at the source:
On April 17, 2015, the media reported on hacked, private email exchanges between Professor Gates and Sony Entertainment CEO Michael Lynton referencing requests by actor Ben Affleck to omit from the episode the fact that slave ownership is part of his family history. These reports marked the first time that either PBS or WNET learned of this request. The next day, PBS and WNET began an internal review led by Beth Hoppe and Stephen Segaller, the executives who oversee primetime programming for PBS and WNET, respectively. As part of this process, PBS and WNET examined correspondence, production records, agreements, talent releases and other documentation regarding the episode, as well as publicly available material. PBS and WNET also interviewed the co-producers, who fully cooperated in this review. The law firm of Covington and Burling, LLP assisted in this review and provided an independent perspective.
Under the PBS Editorial Standards, primary responsibility for content “necessarily rests with the producer [which is] uniquely positioned to control its elements.” The standards require that the creative and editorial process be shielded “from political pressure or improper influence from funders or other sources.” The standards also require producers to keep PBS apprised of potential issues during the production process “to provide opportunities for early notice and resolution of problems.”
PBS and WNET have determined that the series co-producers violated PBS standards by failing to shield the creative and editorial process from improper influence, and by failing to inform PBS or WNET of Mr. Affleck’s efforts to affect program content.
Kaiser loves Finding Your Roots and she feels sorry for Gates, who was only trying to placate a big celebrity guest. So Ben Affleck just pissed off PBS enough to damage the future of one of their more popular shows. This is going to affect his brand and you know that Affleck is stewing now. His tenth wedding anniversary is coming up next week and he just suffered a huge setback. I’m just saying.
