Breaking the Silence, Oct 31st on Atlanta PBS Ch30

[Kent]

It will be aired at 11 pm on WPBA Channel 30.

I will watch them tonight and see who their sponsors/advertisers are, and update tomorrow.

General Comments & Television Programming Schedule- Karen Bell
[email protected]

Viewer and Member Services - Amanda Harris
[email protected]

Phone: (678) 686-0321
Fax: (678) 686-0356

Kent!

[MYSONSDAD]

Most PBS Stations aired this last Thursday, October 20th. I just went in my area and they plan on airing this again this coming Thursday.

Maybe they intend to run this garbage as often as Sesame Street.

Join the boycott, unsubscribe to their station, write to the managers.

Here is the newest from RADAR...
RADAR ALERT:

Despite Urgent Requests, PBS Releases "Breaking the Silence"

Last week RADAR requested that PBS delay the release of Breaking the Silence: Children's Stories until it could be revised to reflect basic journalistic standards of accuracy and fairness. Ignoring the thousands of e-mails, phone calls, and letters, PBS went ahead and released the program anyway.

So the evening of October 20, a group of men gathered outside the headquarters of the Los Angeles PBS affiliate. Armed with signs http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/[email protected]/detail?.dir=/d062&.dnm=4670.jpg&.src=ph and a bullhorn, they made it clear that a lot of people were very upset. This is their report:

"We just handed out RADAR's flyers to KCET (PBS) employees in Los Angeles as they entered and exited. We stood out there for two hours with signs. We got lots of honks from cars passing, including a bus driver. The best part was when the KCET van pulled up, bewildered and curious what we were about, and they took a flyer."

Breaking the Silence, which was funded by the Mary Kay Ash Foundation, has been widely criticized by editorialists and others:

"Balance was sacrificed to the political agenda of the sponsors" (Mike McCormick)
Reflects an "extremist point of view" (Ned Holstein)
"Compromise of impartiality violates PBS's own code of ethics" (Mark Rosenthal)
Promotes an "ideological dogma" (Dean Tong)
Represents a "direct assault on American fathers" (Jeff Leving and Glenn Sacks)
Program is "larded with Leftist fantasies and sweeping stereotypes" (Carey Roberts)
The most intensive campaign in the history of the American fatherhood movement is now underway. This effort is being waged at the local, state, and national levels. RADAR invites you to join this break-through campaign.

The foundation of PBS is the hundreds of affiliates around the nation. These affiliates rely heavily on local contributions and community support. So this week, we are asking you to contact your local affiliate. To find your local affiliate:

Go to http://www.pbs.org/stationfinder/index.html and enter your zip code, or
Look in your local telephone directory
Second, find out whether Breaking the Silence has already been aired, or if not, if the affiliate plans to air it.

Then telephone, e-mail, and/or write the Station Manager with this message:

"Please do not air Breaking the Silence until it can be revised to reflect basic journalistic standards of accuracy, fairness, and balance."

If you have a conversation with an employee, emphasize these two points:

Disseminating false information about fathers will only hurt, not help abused children.
Breaking the Silence does not conform to the CPB Code of Ethics which requires PBS to "give the appearance as well as the fact of such impartiality, devotion, and integrity." [http://www.cpb.org/aboutcpb/cpbethicsguide.pdf]
If the program has already been aired, ask the affiliate to not air it again.

Or take your effort to a higher level. Find a couple other people, print out some copies of RADAR's flyer [http://www.mediaradar.org/RADAR_BTS_Flyer.doc], and pass it out in front of your local PBS office (please send a brief report to and attach pictures if possible!). Don't make this too complicated - just get out there and have some fun!

Above all, do not come across as a "mad-dad" or send "poison-pen" letters. These only reinforce the worst stereotypes and hurt our cause. Always be polite and reasonable.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Date of RADAR Release: October 23, 2005

Respecting Accuracy in Domestic Abuse Reporting (RADAR) works to assure fairness and balance in the domestic violence issue: http://www.mediaradar.org.


"Children learn what they live"

[janM]

I filled in the form that was here or on Glenn Sack's site (or both) and emailed it. I did not actually watch it, but trust the folks' opinions on this site.
This is what they wrote back (not doubt a form letter):

Dear Concerned Viewer:

Thank you for taking the time to write to PBS about your concerns regarding
BREAKING THE SILENCE: CHILDRENS STORIES. We apologize for the delay in this
response.

Comments from our viewers - both positive and negative are the best guides we
have to make future programming decisions.  We have forwarded your observations
to the filmmakers - producer Dominique Lasseur and director Catherine Tatge.
They have provided us with their thoughts about the documentary:
 
"When we began this project over a year ago, our goal was to produce a
documentary about domestic violence and children. We had no preconceived notions
about the issue no specific agenda to prove or disprove. The finished
documentary is simply a result of where countless hours of extensive research
and interviews took us. These are the real stories of real women who lost
custody of their children when Parental Alienation Syndrome (PAS) was used as
scientific proof in their family court cases. These were the stories we found
over and over again.
           
There have been a number of concerns raised regarding Parental Alienation
Syndrome (PAS) and how it is addressed in the piece. We do not make the
assertion that the phenomenon of alienation does not exist, simply that PAS is
wrongly used as scientific proof to justify taking children away from a
protective parent. We as filmmakers are in no position to determine the
scientific validity of PAS. However, the fact remains that the American
Psychological Association (APA) and the American Medical Association (AMA) have
not recognized PAS as legitimate science.  
 
Some individuals have expressed concern that the documentary only features the
stories of women as the victims of domestic violence. Research shows that while
women are less likely than men to be victims of violent crimes overall, women
are five to eight times more likely than men to be victimized by an intimate
partner. (U.S. Department of Justice, Violence by Intimates: Analysis of Data on
Crimes by Current or Former Spouses, Boyfriends, and Girlfriends, March 1998).
If we had featured the stories of one man and five women who had been victims of
domestic abuse, statistically we would have grossly overstated the problems of
men in this area. Nevertheless, we recognize that men are also victims and men
are also sometimes victimized by family courts, but it is overwhelmingly women
who are victims. In all cases, the children are the victims.  
 
These are difficult and controversial issues that stir human emotions. Nothing
can galvanize ones passion like the welfare of a child. We understand certain
individuals will never be completely satisfied with the information presented in
the documentary. All we can do is offer, in the most open and transparent
manner, the reasoning and research that went into this program."
 
We appreciate your interest in PBS programming and hope that you will continue
to enjoy and support your local PBS member station.
 
Sincerely,
Madison
PBS Viewer Services

[Hawkeye]

Yep, that's the PBS form letter response. Got a few here myself.


PBS Internal Memo Tells Affiliates to Stonewall Protesters

A source at PBS sent us this confidential internal memo on Friday. The memo is an instruction sheet that PBS's national office has dispensed to their affiliates to instruct them as to how to deal with the thousands of people who have called or written them to protest Breaking the Silence. As you'll notice, the common theme of this memo is to stonewall protesters. http://www.glennsacks.com/pbs/memo.php

And now the good news (if you can call it that)... Only one, ONE PBS station, nationwide allows a rebuttal.

Houston PBS Affiliate Agrees to Air Opposing Views on Breaking the Silence

To its credit, Houston PBS has agreed to air opposing views of Breaking the Silence: Children's Stories and Parental Alienation Syndrome on its round-table discussion show The Connection on Friday, October 28 at 8 PM CST and on Sunday, October 30 at 5 PM CST.

Dr. Reena Sommer, an expert on Parental Alienation Syndrome, will be appearing, along with guests of various views. To write to Ken Lawrence, the Director of Programming for PBS of Houston, to commend him for his evenhandedness, click here.

Sommer is an articulate voice on PAS. She and Judy Jones of Help Stop PAS Inc appeared on His Side with Glenn Sacks last year to discuss the tragic Lohstroh PAS case--see The Lohstroh Case: Alienating Mother Pushes 10 Year-Old Boy to Kill Father (10/31/04).

[MYSONSDAD]

Congress is thinking about turning off the money supply to PBS because of Katrina. I beleive 85% of support comes from "viewers like you". Time to shut down their support on our end as well....

I cancelled my subscription with them last week. If enough cancellations hit their desks, we might get more then a carbon copy reply.

We seem to be getting much support from the 'experts' like Dr. Sommer. Dean Tong just wrote about his views on this broadcast.

Keep up the pressure, they need an education.

[determined]

Actually, I received it several times as I emailed a number of nearby affiliates as well.

I also called the CEO and left a message on her voicemail expressing displeasure at the airing of such an incredibly biased and inaccurate piece.

This campaign is always the right thing to do, but it won't work unless backed up with more concrete action.  I am very open to suggestions as I am very unclear how one can enforce 'accuracy' and 'fairness'.  My suspicion is that the correct approach is through our employers who contribute to PBS, the sponsors, and our Congressman (as representatives of the taxpayers who foot so much of the bills).

[skye]

I got the same letter and so did a friend...

[Hawkeye]

Sad, truely SAD that PBS can be so ignorant.

[stk_agn]

I would like to start out by saying that I am the CP of one child and the NCP of another. So I have seen both sides of the fence. I have received CS and I have paid it.

I read the posts objecting to the airing of the PBS special on abusive "fathers". This program aired Oct 27th in Kentucky and I agree with those of you that stated that this program pointed the finger mainly at the fathers being the abusive ones. I think they should have had fathers on the program complaining about the abusive mothers as well.

PBS was unfair towards fathers when they decided to air this program.  We all know that not all fathers are abusive towards their children, BUT on the other hand, there are fathers that are abusive towards not only their children but to their spouses as well. There are those that get punished (as they should) but then there are those that get away with it (as my ex husband has, and still is.)

I felt terrible for the children on the program that were sent to live with their abusive fathers by the court system. The reason? My son is being abused by his father physically, mentally and emotionally and NO ONE will help me get him out of that situation. They told me that they needed physical proof (pictures) and when I got pictures they told me that pictures would be not enough proof to do anything.

What it boils down to is this: The system is NOT there to protect your children from abusive fathers or abusive mothers, it is there to hurt the parent that is trying to protect the children.

When are court systems going to grasp what it is doing to children that are being forced to live in a violent home. I don't know about anyone else (mothers OR fathers) but I don't want to go to my 13 yr old child's funeral before the court decides that they made a mistake.

It's not about what is best for the children, it is about court systems proving that they can do whatever they want with your children and there is nothing that you, as a parent, can do about it.

I don't want to rush my children growing up but I can't wait until the court system no longer has a say so as to where my children live.

Thanks for letting me "vent" or express my opinions and I hope that I am not the only one that thinks the court systems in this country are as big a scam as the real scams floating around the internet.