In the aftermath of Wikileaks publishing all of Sony’s hacked emails, the latest casualty is celebrity Ben Affleck, who had asked a PBS series on genealogy to censor a slave-owning member of his family.
Yesterday, Affleck posted a response to the controversial emails on Facebook. He stated that “it’s important to remember that this isn’t a news program” and “I regret my initial thoughts that the issue of slavery not be included in the story.”
But critics of his choice cite Derek Jeter, Anderson Cooper, and Ken Burns as other participants in the show who revealed that they had slave-owning ancestors. They say that the show is about creating context for family histories and that putting Affleck’s mother, who marched during the Civil Rights Movement, in the show is reflective of that process.
The emails also put the spotlight on the show’s host Henry Louis Gates Jr., who sought advice on Affleck’s censorship request from Sony USA Chief Michael Lynton. In those emails, Gates remarked, “to do this would be a violation of PBS rules, actually, even for Batman” and that if the information gets out, “it would embarrass him and compromise our integrity.” PBS has published a statement by Gates.
How should the public and the media consider private communications on public broadcasting? Did PBS make the right call on censoring Affleck’s ancestor? What would you have done in Ben Affleck’s position?