If we dig deep enough, it is pretty certain that most of us will find out things about our generations past that may not make us too happy. No one is perfect and in the case of some of our past relatives, while we might wish that they were never born (of course, 
we wouldn’t have been born either!), we have to accept that they do not define us. In fact, if we were handed a bad legacy, and we lived our lives to overcome that inheritance, it would elevate us and earn us a greater respect.
However, not everyone thinks that way, especially in the mindset that we call “Hollywood.”
There is a television program on PBS called “Finding Your Roots.” It is a popular program where the host, Henry Louis Gates Jr. presents a personality with his or her genealogical record. Most of the viewers could care less about the hidden skeletons in the family closets; much more attention is paid to how the stars react to what has been found. Whether the tears or laughter are real is another matter; what we crave is a more up close and personal view of people who we only read about or see in a movie theater.
It is also important to mention a point or two about PBS. The reason we watch – and donate to PBS is its dedication to airing television that is free of commercial influence. We also like the programming that no other stations carry: documentaries, science programs, historical information, concerts and the like. We like the fact that money or power are not permitted to alter the editorial content. For example, if there is the airing of a program on the pharmaceutical industry, we like the fact that a drug company sponsor won’t alter the editorial content.
Writer Lynn Elber for the Associated Press (June 24, 2015) in an article entitled: PBS: ‘Finding Your Roots’ Affleck episode violated standards, tells us of an episode where a team of Genealogists uncovered the family tree of Hollywood mega-star Ben Affleck. As it turns out, Affleck didn’t like the fact that his great-great-great Grandfather owned 24 slaves in the Deep South. Affleck exerted pressure on the program to alter what it had found.
“PBS launched its investigation after it was reported that Affleck requested the program not reveal his ancestor’s slave-holding history in the 2014 episode… The review found that co-producers violated PBS standards by allowing improper influence on the show’s editorial process and failed to inform PBS or producing station WNET of Affleck’s efforts to affect the program’s content.”
When Affleck was questioned as to why the reaction, the following was the response:
“’We deserve neither credit nor blame for our ancestors and the degree of interest in this story suggests that we are, as a nation, still grappling with the terrible legacy of slavery,’” Affleck said on his Facebook page in April.” Yeah, OK. Carefully crafted PR-speak.
Affleck’s comments went on to explain the he was embarrassed for a program to expose his family’s slave-owning roots and that the show was, after all, not a news show but entertainment.
He was able to “get to” Gates who in turn went to Sony Pictures chief executive Michael Lynton for advice. Apparently, other movie stars featured in future episodes also have slave-owner roots and who knows where this could lead? Unfortunately, Gates and Sony caved to Affleck’s request, and the program’s findings were altered. This did not at all sit well with PBS. The program has temporarily gone off the air.
The Ethical Influences of Stardom
The problem here was a lack of guidelines from the very beginning of the programming. PBS has stringent guidelines about “influence.” It is why we trust them and why so many of us make our annual donations.
The breakdown in guidelines was in the fact that PBS failed to convey to the producers of “Finding Your Roots” that programming may not be influenced by stars, publicists, agencies, studios or anyone else in the vast army of the entertainment industry.
If the guidelines were clearly conveyed to Sony or Affleck’s “people” then Dr. Gates would not have been in the ethically embarrassing position to ask what to do when a megastar didn’t like what the show had found about his past. The request – and the subsequent, temporary removal of the program from the air, should not have occurred.
There are many things we would rather not be reminded of in regard to the mistakes of our ancestors or even our past co-workers. However, to ignore those mistakes or to cover them over with feel-good stories is every bit as bad.
IF my great-aunt Martha made the greatest cherry pie in Germany, but she was an ardent, international spokesperson for Hitler and the SS, I would not devote an entire segment on a genealogy show to her pie crust.
Whether a television program or information conveyed to a board of directors is the issue, if the guidelines of our organization are clear, then ultimately the truth will help us and not hurt us. Affleck could have turned this into an impassioned positive; he chose Hollywood instead.
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