RADAR ALERT:
PBS Smears Fathers Who Contest Child Custody

Beginning this coming Thursday, PBS stations around the country are planning to air a film entitled "Breaking the Silence, Children's Stories". This film denigrates divorcing fathers with it's bald-faced assertion that in "75% of cases in which fathers contest custody, fathers have history of being batterers".

The flaws in this film are as numerous as they are flagrant:

1. The film paints a false picture of a world in which the only abusive parents are fathers, ignoring the fact that far more children are abused and killed by their mothers than by their fathers (U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services http://faq.acf.hhs.gov/cgi-bin/acfrightnow.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=70^URL CHANGED and http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/cb/pubs/cm03/figure4_2.htm^URL CHANGED)
2. The film misleads the viewer by failing to explain that psychiatrists who've called Parental Alienation Syndrome "junk science" don't mean that parental alienation doesn't happen, but rather that it's not an officially recognized mental illness. (http://www.mediaradar.org/mr_breaking_the_science.php#pas)
3. The program makes a number of very serious accusations against fathers without allowing the accused to defend themselves.

A detailed analysis of the flawed logic and biased "research" this PBS program is based on can be found at http://www.mediaradar.org/mr_breaking_the_science.php.

Public Broadcasting Service and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting are funded out of your tax dollars, and have a responsibility not to disseminate bias. The CPB's own Code of Ethics (http://www.cpb.org/aboutcpb/cpbethicsguide.pdf) requires employees to "avoid any conduct that might result in the loss of public confidence in CPB’s programs and activities ... or might reasonably give the appearance of ... the compromise or loss of complete impartiality of judgment and action."

This week, we're asking you to contact the officials at PBS and CPB listed below to cancel the show as currently edited, and revise it so it reflects commonly-accepted journalistic standards of fairness, accuracy, and balance.

The revised program should interview adult children of abusive mothers, as well as fathers who've been forced to stand helplessly by, unable to protect their children, due to decisions by biased court officials.

The most important point of contact is your local PBS station:

1. Go to the website of your local PBS station. To find that website, go to http://www.pbs.org/stationfinder/index.html and enter your zip code.
2. Each PBS station's website is laid out differently, but somewhere on the website will be a link labeled something like "Contact Us". If this takes you to a webform, enter your comments. If it shows a list of contact names, identify the station manager. If there's no email address listed, call the station and ask to speak with the station manager.

As always, remember to courteous and respectful in your communications with them.

If you’re still bothered about PBS’ unfair depiction of fathers, there are a number of other people you can contact. If you don't have time to contact all of them, contact as many or as few as you have time for.

CPB national headquarters:

Mr. Kenneth Y. Tomlinson, Chairman of the Board
Corporation for Public Broadcasting
401 Ninth Street, NW
Washington, DC 20004-2129

Ombudsmen:

Webform at http://www.cpb.org/ombudsmen

or

U.S. mail to:

Ombudsmen
Corporation for Public Broadcasting
401 Ninth Street, NW
Washington, DC 20004

PBS national headquarters:

U.S. Mail:

Pat Mitchell, President & Chief Executive Officer
Public Broadcasting Service
1320 Braddock Place
Alexandria, VA 22314

Michael Getler, Ombudsman
Public Broadcasting Service
1320 Braddock Place
Alexandria, VA 22314

Connecticut Public Broadcasting (co-producer of the film):

U.S. Mail:
Connecticut Public Broadcasting Inc.
1049 Asylum Avenue
Hartford, CT 06105-2411

Phone: 860/278-5310

Jerry Franklin, President and Chief Executive Officer
Email: <jfranklin@cptv.org>

Larry Rifkin, Head of National Programming
Email: <lrifkin@cptv.org>

Lee Newton, CPTV "Breaking the Silence" contact person
Email: <lnewton@cptv.org>
Phone: 860-275-7285

Date of RADAR Release: October 17, 2005

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R.A.D.A.R. – Respecting Accuracy in Domestic Abuse Reporting – is a non-profit, non-partisan organization of men and women working to improve the effectiveness of our nation's approach to solving domestic violence. http://www.mediaradar.org