Columnist: PBS Film Unfairly Represents Fatherhood; Equal Time Requested
by Jim Brown
October 27, 2005
(AgapePress) - The Public Broadcasting System is being accused of launching a direct assault on fathers and fatherhood. A men's issues columnist says a documentary recently aired by PBS gives a distorted view of family law. Breaking the Silence: Children's Stories was shown on many PBS affiliates last Thursday (October 20). Subsequently, more than 3,500 people reportedly have contacted the network to protest airing of the film which, according to news reports, features "poignant interviews of children, [battered] mothers and adult survivors of childhood domestic violence."
Columnist Glenn Sacks takes issue, however, with how the film portrays fathers. He contends it depicts fathers as batterers and child molesters who steal children from their mothers.
"[The film] said that only fathers commit child abuse, when the vast majority of child abuse is committed by mothers not by fathers, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services," Sacks observes. "And it gives a very distorted view of what happens in family law. For example, the film claims that the vast majority of men who seek joint custody of their children after divorce are abusers."
The columnist is calling on PBS to allow advocates of fatherhood a chance to respond to the film's one-sided presentation. "What we are asking for is time on PBS to make a meaningful response to the film," he explains.
According to Sacks, the documentary "cherry-picked a few highly unusual cases and pretended that they represent a widespread problem," resulting in unfair treatment of the issue. That, he asserts, contradicts PBS's mission statement.
"PBS [is] funded by tax dollars," Sacks says. "They have a responsibility for [airing] balanced programming. This program is extremely unbalanced. And so what we want is PBS to give us the chance to come on and to give our perspective on these issues."
So far, says Sacks, he has yet to receive a meaningful response from the taxpayer-supported broadcasting network.
Breaking the Silence, which is scheduled to air on additional PBS affiliates in coming weeks, was underwritten by a half-million-dollar grant from the Mary Kay Ash Charitable Foundation, which is associated with Mary Kay beauty products. The Foundation reports that since 1996 it has provided more than $13 million in grants to two specific causes: research of cancers affecting women, and prevention of violence against women.
Jim Brown, a regular contributor to AgapePress, is a reporter for American Family Radio News, which can be heard online.
