RADAR ALERT:
BTS Producers “Plainly Got it Wrong”

This past Tuesday the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) Ombudsman released a 3-page report that slammed Breaking the Silence.

The CPB report highlighted RADAR's November 14 letter to chairman Fred Upton, which called on the House Subcommittee on Telecommunications to investigate the documentary's widespread bias. The RADAR letter was co-signed by more than a dozen organizations representing families and fathers.

CPB didn't pull any punches in its criticism of BTS - here's just a sampler:

1. Regarding the claim that parental alienation syndrome is junk science: “it appears that Lasseur/Tatge plainly got it wrong.”
2. “... there is no hint of balance in Breaking the Silence. The father's point of view is ignored.”
3. “The producers apparently do not subscribe to the idea that an argument can be more convincing by giving the other side a fair presentation.”
4. “But this broadcast is so slanted as to raise suspicions that either the family courts of America have gone crazy or there must be another side to the story.”
5. “The Mary Kay Ash Foundation is providing a stipend so that every battered women's organization in the country can put on private screenings of this film for their local judges and legislators.”
6. “Along with the motives of its sponsor (The Mary Kay Ash Charitable Foundation), Breaking the Silence needs to be reviewed for accuracy, fairness, and balance.”

Basically, CPB supported everything that RADAR has been claiming all along. The full report can be seen here: http://www.cpb.org/ombudsmen/051129bode.html

PBS is expected to finish its 30-day review of Breaking the Silence this coming Thursday, December 8. Last week RADAR sent a letter to PBS head Pat Mitchell asking her to retract BTS and to air a documentary that focuses on the plight of abused children and the anguish of fathers who are prevented by the courts from protecting their children: [http://www.mediaradar.org/docs/RADAR_letter_to_Upton.pdf]

Now, PBS needs to hear from all the men and women who deplore the bias of Breaking the Silence, and ask PBS to produce a second documentary that gives the fathers' perspective.

So please contact Pat Mitchell with this message:

“Last week the Corporation for Public Broadcasting said Breaking the Silence is slanted and inflammatory. PBS should IMMEDIATELY retract Breaking the Silence. Then PBS should produce and broadcast a documentary highlighting the plight of children endangered by a court system that prevents their fathers from protecting them.”

Here's how to contact Pat Mitchell:

Do this today. We can't let up when we're so close to victory.

Date of RADAR Release: December 4, 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