PBS concluded that actor Ben Affleck had “improper influence” on its show “Finding Your Roots” and so it decided Wednesday to postpone the next season until staffing changes, including hiring a fact-checker, were made.
“Finding Your Roots,” hosted by Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr., follows celebrities as they dig for information about their ancestors while using archives, visiting locations and talking with sources such as museum curators. Mr. Affleck appeared on the show in October, and his search turned up information that he had a slave-owner as an ancestor. When the episode aired, that information was left out.
The missing information came to light when WikiLeaks publicly disclosed hacked emails from Sony.
“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,” the PBS report said.
After the disclosure, Mr. Affleck posted on Facebook on April 21: “After an exhaustive search of my ancestry for ’Finding Your Roots,’ it was discovered that one of my distant relatives was an owner of slaves. I didn’t want any television show about my family to include a guy who owned slaves. I was embarrassed. The very thought left a bad taste in my mouth. … It’s important to remember that this isn’t a news program.”
To ensure accuracy and avoid what happened in Mr. Affleck’s episode, PBS will postpone the next season so it can hire an additional researcher/fact-checker and an independent genealogist to review the research. In addition, the report said PBS and WETA will implement other processes so they can properly oversee the development of the episodes in a timely basis.
“Editorial integrity is essential to PBS. As a mission-driven media enterprise, we know that earning and keeping the trust of the American public are our most important priorities,” said Beth Hoppe, PBS chief programming executive and general manager, General Audience Programming, in the report. “The co-producers of ’Finding Your Roots’ have a strong track record of creating high-quality programming for PBS over many years. Improved editorial and production processes will ensure that all future projects will adhere to PBS’ editorial guidelines.”
Mr. Affleck’s episode will be removed from all distribution.
• Maria Stainer can be reached at mstainer@washingtontimes.com.
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