PBS' Next Challenge: Censoring Ken Burns?

Pasadena, CA- New PBS president and chief executive officer Paula Kerger in her first session before the members of the Television Critics Association made clear the extent of the damage being wrought by the Federal Communications Commission's stepped-up campaign against the use of adult language on television.

Not even acclaimed filmmaker and historian Ken Burns is safe. Even as anticipation builds for his fall 2007 documentary The War, which Kerger said Burns regards as "his greatest work," fears of possible FCC fines are already mounting because some of the World War II veterans Burns interviewed for the film use four letter words when describing the horrors of war.

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"The situation with the FCC is tremendously concerning," Kerger said, noting that during the last three weeks she has met with each commissioner to discuss her concerns. "There is a great deal of misunderstanding. Many of the commissioners think that this is a very clear issue and obviously have not thought through the ramifications, certainly for our work."

Kerger recalled that she mentioned her specific concerns about The War "to each one of the FCC commissioners, because I felt this was a very powerful and very clear story." Apparently they were less than reassuring. "No one said, 'Oh, go ahead and run it.' They said, 'Well, you know, we understand.' I can't really read their minds."

"I could not get anyone to say on the record that the Ken Burns [documentary] was going to be okay."

Can this be? A meticulously researched, landmark Ken Burns documentary featuring heroes from World War II, potentially fined by the FCC for indecency?

"If you have someone telling a story about their experiences in the war and, in telling that story, a profanity is uttered, sometimes it makes a really big difference," Kerger explained. "You know, we are adults. The content is flagged so that people are aware. I know that there are people that are sensitive about language. They should have the [choice] not to watch something if it's going to be troubling.

"Some people have said to me, 'Just put Ken Burns on at 10 o'clock. That will be okay.' [The FCC is less concerned about content on programs that air after 10 p.m.] Think about the audiences that are going to miss seeing that documentary!"

PBS has stated that its intent is to run the documentary in the 8-10 p.m. time period.

One PBS station - KCSM in San Mateo, California - is currently facing potential FCC fines because of a broadcast of Martin Scorsese's acclaimed documentary about Bob Dylan, The Blues, which includes adult language. PBS is filing an amicus brief next week and, as part of the case, "we have provided additional legal support to KCSM," Kerger said.

The potential fallout for individual PBS stations could be catastrophic. "When you have stations whose operating budgets in some cases are only a couple million dollars, even the old fines, once you factor in all the legal work and so forth, were daunting," Kerger asserted. "The fines now [$325,000 per offense] would put stations out of business. We cannot allow that to happen!

"I am hoping that we will be able to have better discussions with the FCC about this issue, so that they understand that we are not talking about doing sensationalist work, we are not talking about doing salacious work. We are just trying to do good work."

"This is not just about Janet Jackson," Kerger continued, making reference to the split-second baring of Jackson's breast during CBS' telecast of the 2004 Super Bowl half-time show that offended scores of Americans and started the recent waves of FCC scrutiny. "This is about filmmakers that have powerful stories that are now not being allowed to tell those stories on public television or broadcast television.

"To drive those kinds of programs only to cable and to write off fifteen percent of [people in] this country who don't have access to cable television is wrong.

"It's not just Ken's work, by the way," Kerger noted. "We still have documentaries that continue to come into the pipeline that we would like to be able to air. Remember, it's not me that's going to take the [FCC] fine. It's going to be the local stations. We're not a network. We're 348 local stations, each controlling their own schedule. So when the San Mateo station broadcast The Blues, it's not PBS that's being fined, it's [KCSM in] San Mateo.

Fears of fines, which Kerger called "paralyzing," have PBS offering its stations edited versions of programs that may contain an offensive word or image. Those edits include blurring mouths when words are dropped out of the soundtrack.

"That's on the advice of counsel," PBS' senior vice president of programming services John F. Wilson explained.

Kerger reminded the TCA that "it is not the FCC that decides they are going to fine us." It all starts with viewer complaints. She said she didn't know if there was "anything to be gained" by having conversations with such media watchdog groups as the Parents Television Council. "Complaints are going to come in from individuals," she said. "I don't know that [groups] are the source of complaints.

"All I can tell you is that the complaint sitting in front of the FCC from San Mateo was a single complaint from that market. That doesn't sound like an organized campaign to me."

The FCC hot button words are "two variations of two words," the F-word and the S-word, Kerger said, adding, "If you want, I'll say them out loud!"

Nobody in the room encouraged her to do so. But everyone was impressed. The last executive session during this long TCA tour had turned out to be the best, offering a passionate exchange about an issue that has an impact on every television viewer in the country.