Burns was asked at the TV press tour about the open letter signed by 140 filmmakers citing him as an example of PBS unfairly highlighting white creators. "I didn't take it personally at all," said Burns, who was promoting his Muhammad Ali documentary. "We will take this on and we will figure out how to make it right and do a better job. I personally commit to that. ... How could you possible take umbrage at the idea there could be more empowerment, there could be more representation, there could be more stories told?" The letter said PBS has devoted 211 hours to Burns' films over the past 40 years, but PBS counters that it has aired 58 hours of programming from Burns and 74 hours of projects by Henry Louis Gates, Jr. in the past five years.
TOPICS: Ken Burns, PBS, Diversity, Documentaries