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PBS Continues Probe
into Biased Film
On November 29th, the
Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) issued
www.cpb.org/ombudsmen/051129bode.html
a report on the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS)
documentary www.tatgelasseur.com/pages/bts.html
"Breaking the Silence: Children's Stories." (The
CPB oversees the tax-funding and content of PBS.)
The documentary, which addressed domestic violence
and children, is accused of being anti-father,
factually inaccurate, and politically-motivated.
Using the words "slanted" and "no hint of balance",
www.cpb.org/ombudsmen/050613bode.html
CPB Ombudsman Ken A. Bode concluded, "The producers
apparently do not subscribe to the idea that an
argument can be made more convincing by giving the
other side a fair presentation."
Bode wondered whether PBS
had been used as "the launching pad for a very
partisan effort to drive public policy and law." If
so, the documentary violates PBS' www.pbs.org/producers/mission.html
mission statement to be non-partisan and "provide
multiple viewpoints."
On December 2nd, PBS's own
internal ombudsman www.pbs.org/ombudsman/
offered a separate analysis, "I thought this
particular program had almost no
balance…turning it…into more of an
advocacy, or point-of-view,
presentation."
"Breaking the Silence"
claims that U.S. divorce courts routinely award
custody of children to abusive fathers over the
objection of mothers. It states, "All over America,
battered mothers are losing custody of their
children." The theme is stated provocatively; a
custody lawyer for mothers declares, "For the
father to win custody of the kids over and against
the mother's will is the ultimate victory short of
killing the kids." The documentary's message is
clear: the family courts must be
overhauled.
Critics argue that the
producers Tatge-Lasseur cherry-picked a few extreme
cases that they then presented as though typical.
But even the 'evidence'
embodied by those extreme cases has been
assailed.
The documentary is accused
of mischaracterization. For example, Sadia Loeliger
is featured as a heroic mom and survivor of
domestic violence. But www.glennsacks.com/pbs/loeliger-codes.php
the extensive court documents, findings and reports
reveal Loeliger to be guilty of multiple acts of
child abuse which led to her losing custody of two
daughters. www.glennsacks.com/pbs/loeliger-sadia-dv.php
Police documents reveal she was arrested and jailed
for felony domestic violence. No similar documents
exist regarding the accused father.
The documentary contains
blatant misstatements. For example, it claims the
American Psychological Association came out against
Parental Alienation Syndrome, by which one divorced
parent is said to brainwash a child against the
other. Actually, the APA takes no stand. Indeed,
Tatge-Lasseur subsequently altered their
www.tatgelasseur.com/pages/bts_3.html
website to state simply that PAS is not recognized
by the APA, a statement which is out-of-sync with
the film.
The producers are accused
of misusing data. "Breaking the Silence" offers no
substantiation for its claims but Tatge-Lasseur's
website has www.tatgelasseur.com/pages/bts_2.html
a resource page. A 1990 Report of the Massachusetts
Supreme Judicial Court Gender Bias Study Committee
is clearly key to the claim that abusive fathers
commonly receive custody. That Study found,
"fathers who actively seek custody [8.75% of
fathers] obtain either primary or joint
physical custody over 70% of the time."
Boston Globe columnist
Cathy Young accurately cathyyoung.blogspot.com/2005/11/breaking-silence-sorting-out-facts.html
observed, "This is a
highly misleading claim [as used in the
documentary] which implies that men usually win
custody battles when they go to court. In fact, the
majority of these cases are uncontested -- the
fathers have sole or joint custody with the
mother's consent."
Moreover, it is not clear
that a 15-year-old study conducted in one state is
relevant to today's nationwide family court system,
which has changed dramatically over recent
years.
Mischaracterization,
misstatement and misapplied data are damning but
they do not add up to the additional concern raised
by Bode. Was the tax-funded PBS used as "the
launching pad for a very partisan effort to drive
public policy and law?" Other explanations for the
apparent bias could exist: incompetence or
ideological blindness are two. The charge of
political partisanship requires a higher standard
of evidence.
What would constitute such
evidence?
The accused father claims
he provided extensive proof of Loeliger's child
abuse to Tatge-Lasseur 6 months before the
documentary aired. If the producers willfully
ignored that proof, then they are wide open to
accusations of partisanship and dishonesty.
www.mrrc.info/Articles/DemonstrationInfo.html
Feminist and domestic violence groups organized
state-by-state campaigns around the airing of
"Breaking the Silence" with the goal of changing
legal policy. Liberal feminist Trish Wilson offers
an account of the events in trishwilson.typepad.com/blog/2005/11/breaking_the_si_1.html
Massachusetts and in trishwilson.typepad.com/blog/2005/11/more_news_on_sh.html
Michigan. If PBS participated in any of the
campaigns, then it is guilty of political
partisanship.
Consider the Alaska event
organized by Paige Hodson of www.custodyprepformoms.org/
Custody Preparation for Moms. Hodson
www.mrrc.info/Articles/DemonstrationInfo.html
announced, "We have not yet chosen our date, but
since we got the PBS affiliate's [KAKM]
go-ahead today, we can now pick any date we want
and start planning. The local PBS station has said
they will help us advertise and promote our event
because we will then in turn promote viewing of
their screening date on 10/20."
The depth of PBS' (or its
affiliates') involvement in partisan politics may
be difficult to judge. An members.aol.com/asherah/internal_memo.html
internal PBS memo was recently leaked and
circulated on the Internet; it instructs PBS
affiliates on how to stonewall those who call or
email in protest. PBS' final review of the
documentary is still pending but the memo is hardly
a propitious sign.
I believe PBS should lose
all tax privileges and funding. But you need not be
a radical to want a straight answer to a simple
question from a publicly accountable
agency.
Did PBS participate in a
partisan push to change the law?
©2008, Wendy
McElroy
* * *
Wendy
McElroy is the editor of ifeminists.com
and a research fellow for The Independent Institute
in Oakland, Calif. She is the author and editor of
many books and articles, including her latest book,
Liberty for Women: Freedom and Feminism in the
21st Century. She lives with her husband in
Canada. E-Mail.
Also, see her daily blog at www.zetetics.com/mac
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