The NYT has already told the story of PBS’s upcoming censorship battles, so I won’t go into the details. In short, Ken Burns’ new documentary about WWII soldiers is controversial (...stop laughing, this is serious!) because it contains a few words—spoken on the battlefield—that could trigger the newly massive FCC fines. Burns and other PBS people think the FCC rules are inappropriate for documentary subjects like this one.
This post isn’t about short film; I just wanted to say that our national culture has taken a sad turn when Ken Burns is fighting our civil rights battles for us. When Ken Burns is (1) speaking out against the system because (2) his documentary is unacceptable to the FCC, there is something seriously wrong. What is going to happen when Ken Burns completes his 14-part series on Motherhood and his 8-part follow-up on Apple Pie??? By then, broadcasters will be so afraid to air anything that every channel will be Lawrence Welk.
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