http://www.pbs.org/ombudsman/rss/redir/ombudsman/ en Copyright 2013 Fri, 17 May 2013 12:40:22 -0500 http://www.sixapart.com/movabletype/?v=3.36 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss http://www.pbs.org/ombudsman/rss/redir/ombudsman/images/pbslogo-rss.gif http://www.pbs.org/ombudsman/rss/redir/ombudsman/ Like a lot of folks of a certain age, I've watched programs on PBS for many, many years, long before I signed on as ombudsman. Mostly I watched documentaries and public affairs programs. Many of the iconic figures and faces... http://www.pbs.org/ombudsman/rss/redir/http://www.pbs.org/ombudsman/2013/05/keeping_frontline_on_the_firing_line_1.html http://www.pbs.org/ombudsman/rss/redir/http://www.pbs.org/ombudsman/2013/05/keeping_frontline_on_the_firing_line_1.html Fri, 17 May 2013 12:40:22 -0500 http://www.pbs.org/ombudsman/rss/redir/http://www.pbs.org/ombudsman/2013/04/sliding_down_journalisms_slippery_slope_1.html http://www.pbs.org/ombudsman/rss/redir/http://www.pbs.org/ombudsman/2013/04/sliding_down_journalisms_slippery_slope_1.html Tue, 23 Apr 2013 16:43:15 -0500 The first part of the headline on this brief column, "Taking Note," is the title of a widely-read blog by veteran PBS NewsHour and Frontline education correspondent John Merrow. In January, I wrote about a Frontline program featuring Merrow's reporting... http://www.pbs.org/ombudsman/rss/redir/http://www.pbs.org/ombudsman/2013/04/taking_note_and_not_taking_note_1.html http://www.pbs.org/ombudsman/rss/redir/http://www.pbs.org/ombudsman/2013/04/taking_note_and_not_taking_note_1.html Wed, 17 Apr 2013 16:08:36 -0500 Yesterday, I posted a brief column taking note of how informative the PBS NewsHour can be, and usually is, even when there are no big headlines, as was the case last Friday. The headline on the column read: "Above Average... http://www.pbs.org/ombudsman/rss/redir/http://www.pbs.org/ombudsman/2013/04/speak_no_ill_of_the_dead.html http://www.pbs.org/ombudsman/rss/redir/http://www.pbs.org/ombudsman/2013/04/speak_no_ill_of_the_dead.html Wed, 10 Apr 2013 15:42:33 -0500 Over the course of any year, the hour-long, five-nights-a-week PBS NewsHour probably gets more than its share of the mail that comes to the ombudsman. That's not surprising. It's PBS's only daily news program and those who watch are people... http://www.pbs.org/ombudsman/rss/redir/http://www.pbs.org/ombudsman/2013/04/above_average_on_an_average_day_1.html http://www.pbs.org/ombudsman/rss/redir/http://www.pbs.org/ombudsman/2013/04/above_average_on_an_average_day_1.html Tue, 09 Apr 2013 16:19:10 -0500 At the bottom of an ombudsman's mailbag posted on March 7, were two letters from viewers who challenged the accuracy of a statement by former New York City Police Commissioner Howard Safir on the recent PBS documentary "After Newtown: Guns... http://www.pbs.org/ombudsman/rss/redir/http://www.pbs.org/ombudsman/2013/04/firing_blanks.html http://www.pbs.org/ombudsman/rss/redir/http://www.pbs.org/ombudsman/2013/04/firing_blanks.html Thu, 04 Apr 2013 10:26:13 -0500 When PBS viewers talk about "March Madness," some of them are referring not to basketball but rather to pledge drives and special programming aired by local stations to attract new members and contributions. I've written about this several times over... http://www.pbs.org/ombudsman/rss/redir/http://www.pbs.org/ombudsman/2013/03/cancer_is_serious_business_is_the_documentary_1.html http://www.pbs.org/ombudsman/rss/redir/http://www.pbs.org/ombudsman/2013/03/cancer_is_serious_business_is_the_documentary_1.html Fri, 22 Mar 2013 16:31:43 -0500 http://www.pbs.org/ombudsman/rss/redir/http://www.pbs.org/ombudsman/2013/03/the_mailbag_hey_its_those_stations_not_us.html http://www.pbs.org/ombudsman/rss/redir/http://www.pbs.org/ombudsman/2013/03/the_mailbag_hey_its_those_stations_not_us.html Thu, 07 Mar 2013 12:30:07 -0500 Last week's mailbag dealt with viewers who objected to a scene in the Feb. 10 episode of Downton Abbey in which a gay man attempts to kiss another man who he has been led to believe is also gay (he... http://www.pbs.org/ombudsman/rss/redir/http://www.pbs.org/ombudsman/2013/02/the_mailbag_more_on_downtons_gay_kiss_and_mat_1.html http://www.pbs.org/ombudsman/rss/redir/http://www.pbs.org/ombudsman/2013/02/the_mailbag_more_on_downtons_gay_kiss_and_mat_1.html Tue, 19 Feb 2013 14:57:40 -0500 http://www.pbs.org/ombudsman/rss/redir/http://www.pbs.org/ombudsman/2013/02/the_mailbag_no_gay_sex_please_were_american_1.html http://www.pbs.org/ombudsman/rss/redir/http://www.pbs.org/ombudsman/2013/02/the_mailbag_no_gay_sex_please_were_american_1.html Wed, 13 Feb 2013 15:17:24 -0500 PBS's long-running and award-winning science series, NOVA, aired an hour-long documentary last week on the rapid increase in the development and use of unmanned aerial vehicles, more commonly called drones. It was titled, appropriately, "Rise of the Drones." If you... http://www.pbs.org/ombudsman/rss/redir/http://www.pbs.org/ombudsman/2013/01/drones_are_real_so_are_perceptions_1.html http://www.pbs.org/ombudsman/rss/redir/http://www.pbs.org/ombudsman/2013/01/drones_are_real_so_are_perceptions_1.html Thu, 31 Jan 2013 14:10:09 -0500 It has ever been so that non-commercial public broadcasting has had a problem at times with seeming, well, at least a little bit, commercial. The vast majority of funding comes from voluntary contributions to stations from viewers like you, member-station... http://www.pbs.org/ombudsman/rss/redir/http://www.pbs.org/ombudsman/2013/01/the_mailbag_ask_not_what_larry_can_do_for_you_1.html http://www.pbs.org/ombudsman/rss/redir/http://www.pbs.org/ombudsman/2013/01/the_mailbag_ask_not_what_larry_can_do_for_you_1.html Fri, 25 Jan 2013 10:42:36 -0500 This is just a brief posting to reinforce a couple of points I've made many times in this space over the years. One is that viewers tend to write to an ombudsman to complain rather than to praise. Another has... http://www.pbs.org/ombudsman/rss/redir/http://www.pbs.org/ombudsman/2013/01/this_show_needs_to_be_aired_again_and_again_u_1.html http://www.pbs.org/ombudsman/rss/redir/http://www.pbs.org/ombudsman/2013/01/this_show_needs_to_be_aired_again_and_again_u_1.html Wed, 23 Jan 2013 12:44:51 -0500 As tax time and the debt ceiling bear down on Americans, PBS's weekly public affairs program Need to Know aired a timely episode last Friday on the debate about "whether the tax laws themselves are fair. Why, for instance," program... http://www.pbs.org/ombudsman/rss/redir/http://www.pbs.org/ombudsman/2013/01/the_mailbag_did_you_need_to_know_this_about_t.html http://www.pbs.org/ombudsman/rss/redir/http://www.pbs.org/ombudsman/2013/01/the_mailbag_did_you_need_to_know_this_about_t.html Thu, 17 Jan 2013 15:38:59 -0500 This past Tuesday evening, Jan. 8, PBS's top-rated documentary series Frontline, focused its cameras and its veteran education correspondent, John Merrow, on a now 43-year-old Korean-American woman named Michelle Rhee. She was the chancellor of the Washington, D.C., public school... http://www.pbs.org/ombudsman/rss/redir/http://www.pbs.org/ombudsman/2013/01/michelle_rhee_reformer_zealot_both_or_somethi.html http://www.pbs.org/ombudsman/rss/redir/http://www.pbs.org/ombudsman/2013/01/michelle_rhee_reformer_zealot_both_or_somethi.html Fri, 11 Jan 2013 16:49:26 -0500