Is PBS Neglecting Its Mission?

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[Commentary] PBS has drawn big audiences to “Downton Abbey,” the epic costume drama about elites in early 20th-century Britain. On April 5, it began broadcasting a new British mini-series, “Wolf Hall,” about the Tudors. Dramas like these are helping to revive the “Masterpiece” franchise and PBS’s brand. Unfortunately, PBS is now threatening, for the second time in four years, to downgrade documentaries, which are at the heart of its public mission.

As it chases ratings, PBS risks neglecting the core of its public mission and mandate. At issue are PBS’s two flagship independent documentary series: “POV,” founded in 1988, and ITVS’s “Independent Lens,” started in 2003. Both take on huge topics of public urgency. “Food Inc.” (2010), from “POV,” exposed harms in the food industry. “Me Facing Life: Cyntoia’s Story” (2011) cast a spotlight on harsh prison sentences for minors, while another “Independent Lens” film, “The Invisible War” (2012), led to changes in the military’s handling of sexual assault. At town-hall-style meetings in San Francisco, New York and Chicago, filmmakers and their supporters have called on PBS and WNET to go back to their roots: serving diverse audiences and expanding the national dialogue on critical social issues.

In a world of expanding mobile platforms, high-speed streaming, infinite cable channels, iTunes, Netflix and YouTube, broadcast television still counts. It’s still one wireless technology available to nearly every American. PBS, for almost a half-century, has been one place on the spectrum in which decisions were based on something far more fundamental and timeless than ratings and earnings: the public interest. Its member stations and programs get substantial government funding. Diversity, community and accountability are cornerstones of its founding charter. PBS should keep those principles in mind and keep independent documentary films where they belong: in prime time.

[Norman Lear is a writer and producer, and founder of People for the American Way]


Is PBS Neglecting Its Mission?