Another Look at "Breaking the Silence: The Children's Stories"
Ken A. Bode
January 4, 2006
This documentary on child abuse, custody battles, and Parental Alienation Syndrome sparked some 4,000 responses to PBS and many to the CPB Ombudsmen web site. The program was broadcast on 235 PBS stations on October 20, 2005, and I posted earlier commentary on the documentary and viewer response on November 29 and December 19.
After close review including discussions and e-mail exchanges with those involved with the program or closely affected by it, I found the program to be so totally unbalanced as to fall outside the boundaries of PBS editorial standards on fairness and balance.
This program and the ensuing debate seem to have sparked a national dialogue on abuse, custody issues, domestic violence, and the complex phenomenon of parental-child alienation.
Herewith a sampling of comments from the CPB Ombudsmen web site:
Nicole Perry (MI)
I've read with interest your reports on the "Breaking the Silence" fiasco. But what I want to know is what percentage of the 77 percent of (PBS) TV households are aware of your findings? Or are they still under the impression that this one-sided piece of junk journalism has merit?
Marc Angelucci (CA)
Mr. Bode I just cannot thank you enough for doing the right thing and exposing exactly what "Breaking the Silence" is about. This problem will just go on and on until it is confronted and exposed for exactly what it is. There is a very long history of this, much of which is documented in this very scholarly article by Professor Linda Kelly:
Thank you very much for taking a stand for fairness.
Tom Chandel (ME)
I appreciate your work reviewing the issues surrounding "Breaking the Silence." However I doubt you are making many people at PBS happy there with your criticism.
I think it is also worth exploring the political effect of this program, and the connections the producers had with advocacy groups. That is where the real violations of not only policy, but law itself, will be found.
David R. Usher (MO)
None of the "experts" used in the film are leading authorities on the issues they are discussing... Instead they used small-time "experts" and relied extensively on anecdotal stories and statistics cited improperly out of context.
David Ross (RI)
I agree that the "Breaking the Silence" program was biased and not up to the purported standards of CPB or PBS. Since this service involves public funds, I think it is important that this sort of oversight not be repeated and if it is caused by biased people in authority at PBS or CPB, then I think that they should be removed from those positions. I also praise the Ombudsmen for their intellectual honesty.
Lynn Tyndall (MO)
I appreciate your comments regarding the one-sidedness of the "Breaking the Silence" documentary. It is important to recognize that whether or not the American Psychological Association is ever able to rise above gender discrimination in order to provide PAS with an unbiased, exhaustive and scientific review, it indeed exists. It exists and it is child abuse, as it causes within a child a deep and cankerous wound: the lost parent.
Mo Therese Hannah, PhD (NY)
Having already written to you regarding your initial ombudsman's report on "Breaking the Silence: Children's Stories," I have little more to add in response to your updated commentary on 12/19.... What I would add, however, is a personal and cordial invitation for you to attend, without fee, an upcoming conference that focuses specifically and solely on the child custody problems of battered women.
Thomas Lamb (AK)
It is unfortunate that PBS has chosen to air a program that was used to influence legislators and judges. In Alaska, the program was aired to child advocacy groups and workers involved with child custody. Legislators and court judges were also invited.... Your response as well as other issues have been incorporated into a legal brief that is before the Alaska Supreme Court.
Steven Kemp (NY)
Thank you for having the "Balls" to confront "Breaking the Silence."
PBS RESPONDS
On December 21, PBS issued a press release announcing that it would commission another hour long documentary on the subject. With the possibility of litigation still lingering, PBS did not admit that there was a violation of its standards of fairness and balance.
"However the program would have benefited from more in-depth treatment of the complex issues surrounding child custody and the role of family courts and most specifically the provocative topic of Parental Alienation Syndrome (PAS). Additionally, the documentary's "first person story telling approach" did not allow the depth of the producer's research to be as evident to the viewer as it could have been.
"It is clear to us that this complex and important issue would benefit from further examination. To that end, PBS will commission an hour long documentary for that purpose. Plans call for the documentary to be produced and broadcast in Spring 2006. We expect that the hour-long treatment of the subject will allow ample opportunity for doctors, psychologists, judges, parent advocates and victims of abuse to have their perspectives shared, challenged and debated."
PBS News, Alexandria, VA
December 21, 2005
This is welcome news, but a very short deadline. I would forward this comment to the producers of the new documentary:
Lyn R. Greenberg, PhD
Congratulations again for maintaining your reasonable criticisms of "Breaking the Silence."
As a practicing forensic psychologist and child custody evaluator, I would like to advise you that there are many professional viewpoints besides those of either extreme (DV advocates or fathers' rights groups) on this issue...
This argument begins, at times, to look like a debate between the John Birch Society and the Communist Party. It may make more entertaining television to just interview the extremes, but it is hardly an accurate reflection of the complex phenomena at issue or the diversity of professional opinion. Please urge your producers to give this subject the complex, BALANCED treatment it deserves. Balance does not just consist of airing both extremes. The majority of responsible professionals in the middle also need to be heard.
CPB and its ombudsmen have no role in PBS programming prior to broadcast, but with this posting I pass on your advice.
Thanks to the many, many PBS viewers who weighed in on this issue by writing to the web site of the CPB Ombudsmen.
