PBS will postpone new seasons of its documentary series “Finding Your Roots” after determining actor Ben Affleck was able to convince the series’ producers to omit a reference in an episode that aired in October to the fact that he has slave-owning ancestors. 
 
 PBS said Wednesday that it, along with New York station WNET, “determined that the series co-producers violated PBS standards by failing to shield the creative and editorial process from improper influence, and by failing to inform PBS or WNET of Mr. Affleck’s efforts to affect program content.” 
 
 WNET produced the first two seasons of the series, while WETA, based in Washington, D.C., has taken over production of the third season. 
 
 The actor’s request — and its influence on the production of the series — came to light in April, as media outlets reported on private email exchanges between Henry Louis Gates Jr., the Harvard professor who is an executive producer on the series, and Sony Entertainment CEO Michael Lynton in which Gates sought Lynton’s counsel over requests by Affleck to remove a segment from the episode that mentioned that slave owners were part of his family history. 
 
 “I didn’t want any television show about my family to include a guy who owned slaves. I was embarrassed,” Affleck said in a Facebook post made in April. “The very thought left a bad taste in my mouth.” 
 
 PBS said it had decided to delay the third season of the series until its producers could hire an additional factchecker and an independent genealogist. PBS also said it would not commit to a fourth season of the series “until we are satisfied that the editorial standards of the series have been successfully raised to a level in which we can have confidence.” The episode in which Affleck’s ancestry is examined will be withdrawn from all forms of distribution, PBS said, including digital streaming and homevideo. 
 
 The review was led by Beth Hoppe and Stephen Segaller, the executives who oversee primetime programming for PBS and WNET, respectively. To investigate the lapse, PBS and WNET said executives examined correspondence, production records, agreements, talent releases and other documentation regarding the episode, as well as publicly available material. Representatives also interviewed the co-producers, who, PBS said, “fully cooperated in this review.” The law firm of Covington and Burling assisted in the process. 
 
 Gates previously said he had decided to focus on the most intriguing parts of Affleck’s background. “In the case of Mr. Affleck — we focused on what we felt were the most interesting aspects of his ancestry — including a Revolutionary War ancestor, a third great-grandfather who was an occult enthusiast, and his mother who marched for Civil Rights during the Freedom Summer of 1964,” he said in an explanation provided to PBS ombudsman Michael Getler in April. 
 
 “I want to thank PBS for its thoughtful internal review,” Gates said in a statement issued Wednesday. “I sincerely regret not discussing my editing rationale with our partners at PBS and WNET, and I apologize for putting PBS and its member stations in the position of having to defend the integrity of their programming. Throughout my many years of producing genealogy documentaries, I have always operated with rigorous ethical standards. Even so, we have been working with PBS and WETA to create new guidelines to increase transparency going forward. My career has been dedicated to improving race relations and intercultural understanding in our country. We are very excited about the third season of ‘Finding Your Roots’ and look forward to uncovering and sharing many more incredible ancestral stories with our viewers.” 
 
 “Editorial integrity is essential to PBS. As a mission-driven media enterprise, we know that earning and keeping the trust of the American public are our most important priorities,” said Hoppe, who is PBS’ chief programming executive and general manager of general audience programming, in a prepared statement. “The co-producers of ‘Finding Your Roots’ have a strong track record of creating high-quality programming for PBS over many years. Improved editorial and production processes will ensure that all future projects will adhere to PBS’ editorial guidelines.” ||||| One day after Ben Affleck wrote on Facebook that he had lobbied PBS’ Finding Your Roots producer to withhold revealing he has a slave-owning ancestor, the actor took the high road and tweeted information about the relative: 
 
 Lots of people have been asking who the guy was. His name was Benjamin Cole – lived in Georgia on my Mom's side about six generations back. — Ben Affleck (@BenAffleck) April 22, 2015 
 
 In marked contrast, Finding Your Roots producer (and Harvard scholar) Henry Louis Gates, Jr., this afternoon took a stab at hanging onto his gig, as PBS and WNET continue to investigate what Gates did, when and why. Gates issued a second statement about the controversy – this time alternately apologizing for what he’d done to PBS, FYR producing station WNET, and PBS member stations while, at the same time, insisting his are the “most rigorous scholarly and production values.” 
 
 “We regret not sharing Mr. Affleck’s request that we avoid mention of one of his ancestors with our co-production partner, WNET, and our broadcast partner, PBS,” Gates said in this new statement. He apologized for “putting PBS and its member stations in the position of having to defend the integrity of their programming.” 
 
 “Moving forward,” he vowed, possibly too late, “we are committed to an increased level of transparency with our co-producing partners,” adding, “We respect PBS guidelines and understand our obligation to maintain editorial integrity at all times.” 
 
 It’s a very different pose than that assumed by Gates in his first statement, in which he boasted, “The mission of Finding Your Roots is to find and share interesting stories from our celebrity guests’ ancestries and use those stories to unlock new ways to learn about our past,” while “never shying away from chapters of a family’s past that might be unpleasant.” 
 
 Back then, Gates said he had determined Affleck’s occult-enthusiast third great-grandfather, among other relatives, was more interesting/relevant than his slave-owning ancestor. 
 
 Gates’ second statement comes in response to PBS’s abrupt about-face from its initial statement last week on the subject, in which it said confidently that it was clear “how seriously Professor Gates takes editorial integrity.” 
 
 Yesterday, PBS switched to a much sterner announcement that it had launched an investigation into Gates’ handling of the show. PBS’s about-face, in turn, had been triggered by a report from PBS ombudsman Mike Getler, blasting Gates’ actions and PBS’ initial reaction. 
 
 Affleck found himself cast in the role of Collateral Damage in this elaborate soap opera about dysfunctional public broadcasting relationships and Gates’ too cozy alliance with a Sony exec. Other players are the “megastars” that Gate’s show profiles under the pretext that it is teaching viewers about “history.” 
 
 Finding Your Roots is a public broadcasting series that purports to be educational. It uses celebrities to make the “history” part more attractive to as many viewers as possible – in much the same way Pawn Stars uses an old fighter-plane ejection seat to “teach” us about World War II, or a 2001 New England Patriots Super Bowl ring to teach us about the Super Bowl – or the New England Patriots? 
 
 Yesterday, Affleck wrote on Facebook that he’d told Gates he did not want a TV show about his family to reference a relative who owned slaves because “I was embarrassed” and “the very thought left a bad taste in my mouth.” 
 
 He insisted he’d lobbied Gates in exactly the same way he lobbies directors of his movies as to which of his “takes” he thinks the director should use, calling it “the collaborative creative process.” Of course, Finding Your Roots isn’t one of Affleck’s movies, though he was quick to note it also “isn’t a news program.” 
 
 But it is, according to Gates, funded to some degree by the Public Broadcasting Service and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, who may not see eye to eye with Affleck on the whole “collaborative process” thing when it comes to this allegedly educational series and the various hats its celebrity subjects may, or may not, wear. 
 
 PBS aired the episode of Finding Your Roots that included Affleck’s story last fall. The whole history of the episode never would have come to light had not WikiLeaks released a searchable archive of hacked Sony emails. 
 
 Among the leaked documents was an email exchange between Gates and Sony Entertainment CEO Michael Lynton from before the episode’s broadcast, in which Gates sought Lynton’s advice about the Affleck request. 
 
 Gates acknowledged in one email that fulfilling the request “would be a violation of PBS rules, actually, even for Batman” and “would embarrass him and compromise our integrity” and that “once we open the door to censorship, we lose control of the brand.” He also wrote, “We’ve never had anyone ever try to censor or edit what we found” while noting this particular celebrity is a “megastar.” Affleck has noted on Facebook that he has seen this story being framed as “censorship” on some web sites; Gates’ emails are the reason why. 
 
 “What do we do?” Gates asked Lynton, not PBS and/or WNET. He appears to have taken Lynton’s advice to take out the reference though, in fairness to Lynton, the Sony exec did also warn things would get tricky if word got out that Gates was letting celebrities edit their histories. Lynton forgot to mention things also would get tricky if word got out that Gates had sought advice from a Sony exec rather than one from PBS. ||||| LOS ANGELES (AP) — PBS put its "Finding Your Roots" series on hold Wednesday after determining an episode that omitted references to Ben Affleck's ancestor as a slave owner violated its standards. 
 
 FILE - In this Nov. 14, 2014 file photo, Ben Affleck poses in the press room with the Hollywood film award for "Gone Girl" at the Hollywood Film Awards in Los Angeles. PBS says it's postponing the third... (Associated Press) 
 
 FILE - In this Oct. 2, 2013 file photo, Harvard University professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr., addresses the audience during an award ceremony for the W.E.B. Du Bois Medal at Harvard University, in Cambridge,... (Associated Press) 
 
 The public television service said it is postponing the show's third season and delaying a commitment to a fourth year until it is satisfied with improvement in the show's editorial guidelines. 
 
 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 Associated Press examined historical documents and found that Affleck's great-great-great-grandfather owned 24 slaves. 
 
 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. 
 
 In a statement, series host and executive producer Henry Louis Gates Jr. apologized for forcing PBS to defend the integrity of its programming. He said he's working with public TV on new guidelines to ensure increased transparency. 
 
 Affleck's request came to light last spring in hacked Sony emails published online by whistleblower site WikiLeaks. 
 
 "These reports marked the first time that either PBS or WNET learned of this request," PBS said Wednesday. 
 
 PBS said it will withdraw the episode from all forms of distribution including on-air, digital platforms and home video. The show was also ordered to hire an additional researcher and an independent genealogist to review programs for factual accuracy. 
 
 Asked for comment from Affleck, a representative referred to remarks he had posted when the issue first was reported. 
 
 "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. 
 
 The award-winning "Good Will Hunting" and "Argo" actor said he was "embarrassed" for a TV show about his family to include a slave owner. He added, among other comments, that "Finding Your Roots" isn't a news program. 
 
 Gates and PBS said in April they didn't censor the slave-owner details. Instead, more interesting ancestors of Affleck emerged and Gates chose to highlight them instead in the show that traces the ancestry of well-known guests. 
 
 But in an email exchange between Gates and Sony Pictures chief executive Michael Lynton, Gates asks Lynton for advice on how to handle Affleck's request. 
 
 "Here's my dilemma," says Gates in one email, dated July 22, 2014, "confidentially, for the first time, one of our guests has asked us to edit out something about one of his ancestors — the fact that he owned slaves. Now, four or five of our guests this season descend from slave owners, including (documentary filmmaker) Ken Burns. We've never had anyone ever try to censor or edit what we found. He's a megastar. What do we do?" 
 
 Lynton replied that it all depends on who knows that the information was in the documentary already. 
 
 Last January, PBS station WETA in Washington, D.C., succeeded WNET as the show's producing station. 
 
 ___ 
 
 AP Television Writer David Bauder in New York contributed to this report. ||||| Who Knew? Not Us, PBS Now Says About ‘Roots’ Controversy Posted by Michael Getler on 
 
 First, some breaking news. This was just announced by PBS: 
 
 Statement from PBS and WNET on FINDING YOUR ROOTS Episode "Roots of Freedom" 
 
 PBS and WNET are conducting an internal review led by our respective programming teams of the circumstances around FINDING YOUR ROOTS episode "Roots of Freedom." 
 
 This matter came to PBS' attention on Friday morning, April 17th. Professor Gates and his producers immediately responded to our initial questions. 
 
 In order to gather the facts to determine whether or not all of PBS' editorial standards were observed, on Saturday, April 18th, we began an internal review. We have been moving forward deliberately yet swiftly to conduct this review. 
 
 Anne Bentley, PBS Vice President, Corporate Communications 
 
 ~ ~ ~ 
 
 Here is the column I was about to publish before this new statement came out. I feel it remains relevant as PBS and WNET undertake their own investigation. 
 
 The Ombudsman's Column 
 
 PBS is a complicated beast. Millions of people watch its television programs but my guess is that relatively few understand that PBS does not produce any of these programs. The Public Broadcasting Service is basically a distribution system for films and programs produced by independent filmmakers or by a handful of big member stations in cooperation with other producers. 
 
 I think one reason many people don’t realize PBS is nothing like a broadcast or cable network is that PBS rarely, if ever, explains itself publicly, other than to ask for money. So when something goes wrong, PBS gets hammered—and there are a fair number of people always ready to hammer PBS—by story after story in the media even when the primary reason for the failure lies elsewhere. Sometimes PBS deserves to get hammered. Sometimes it is more complicated. And sometimes we are never really sure where the fault lies because PBS doesn’t explain much. 
 
 These thoughts are simply a prelude to following up on what turned out to be a high-profile story that surfaced late Friday afternoon in an online posting by Britain’s Daily Mail that laid out, using leaked Sony Corp. internal emails previously posted by WikiLeaks, that movie star Ben Affleck wanted his slave-owner ancestor “censored” from the popular PBS documentary series “Finding Your Roots,” which is hosted by well-known Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. That ancestral factoid was, indeed, not included in the program. 
 
 The Background 
 
 I posted a quick ombudsman’s column about this late on Friday after PBS posted statements from Gates and PBS. I wrote that I found both statements to be “not credible” and that it was hard to read the emails laid out in the Daily Mail story and come to a different conclusion. Though Gates clearly seemed to know the editorial and credibility stakes, he did not, after discussion with Sony Pictures Chief Michael Lynton, use the ancestor link in the program. This, I said, “should have been a slam-dunk,” with the censorship stopped cold, and that PBS, in its initial statement, should have publicly acknowledged whatever mistakes were made. 
 
 But I also said that I only knew at the time what I had read and that I would ask more questions and come back to this episode with whatever additional information I could gather, and that’s what I’m doing in this posting. 
 
 New Stuff Emerges 
 
 Right after PBS posted its initial statement and that of Gates on Friday, I emailed Anne Bentley, PBS vice president for corporate communications, and asked this: 
 
 “Were you (pbs) aware of this situation and these exchanges between Gates, Sony and Affleck? If so, when? Were you aware that Gates felt it was censorship? Did PBS approve of the decision to take the slave-owner material out? Did Gates tell PBS about it at the time? If you were aware of it, why did you approve it? ” 
 
 On Saturday, I got these replies: 
 
 “No, PBS did not know of the exchanges between Professor Gates, Sony and Mr. Affleck. We learned of the exchange on Friday, April 17th. No, PBS was not part of editorial decisions made by Professor Gates and his producers. No, PBS was not told at the time.” 
 
 That is a heck of a lot more candid than the initial PBS statement the day before that said only: “It is clear from the exchange how seriously Professor Gates takes editorial integrity. He has told us that after reviewing approximately ten hours of footage for the episode, he and his producers made an independent editorial judgment to choose the most compelling narrative. The range and depth of the stories on Finding Your Roots speak for themselves.” 
 
 I was also told by PBS officials that PBS learned of the situation and email exchanges on Friday morning when The Daily Mail contacted PBS for a comment on a story that they were writing. Later that day, PBS officials spoke with Gates and Dyllan McGee, one of the executive producers, and posted the two statements on PBS.org. 
 
 On Friday evening, Gates shared additional background information with Boston.com, telling them: “I would only add that we had several stories about ancestors who owned slaves in the last season, and we couldn't use them all. Ben Affleck's just wasn't as interesting as the two others we used, and so we decided to go with the story of his ancestor following the Civil War. It made for a stronger story arc.” 
 
 The PBS officials said neither PBS nor WNET/Thirteen—the big New York City PBS member station that was among the producers—was told at the time of Affleck’s request to Gates and the producers of Finding Your Roots and were not part of that specific editorial decision made by Gates and his producers. 
 
 I also sent a series of questions to WNET/Thirteen in New York. Here are the responses, which throw more details and light on the process, from Stephen Segaller, vice president for programming at WNET. The questions are in italics. 
 
 THIRTEEN Responds 
 
 Were you aware of what had been found re Affleck’s ancestors with respect to the one who had owned slaves? 
 
 Yes, the segment was in both the rough cut and the fine cut, was the subject of discussion between Thirteen and KMP [Kunhardt McGee Productions]. On April 22, 2014, Thirteen Executive Producer Julie Anderson sent notes on the rough cut to John Maggio and Dyllan McGee, questioning whether there was a danger of repetition in including slave-owning ancestor stories in three separate celebrity profiles – Anderson Cooper, Ken Burns and Ben Affleck, and recommending that they not air in sequence. On the same day, KMP Executive Producer Dyllan McGee responded: “I think your point about spacing them out in scheduling is right and I reiterate what John said that these are milestones in our histories so we will see these stories again and I would argue that it's the different way we hear them is what makes it so interesting - we are hearing familiar history for a completely different perspective and unknown story.” 
 
 Did you know about Affleck’s demand to not use the history of his slave-owning ancestor? 
 
 NO. 
 
 If so, how did you find out and from whom? 
 
 Not until last Friday [April 17] – when Beth Hoppe [PBS’s chief Programming executive] called to alert me to the Wikileaks release. 
 
 Were you aware of Gates’ contacts with Sony’s Lynton on this issue, and of the email exchanges? 
 
 Not at all. 
 
 Were you aware of Gates’ concerns about PBS guidelines and Lynton’s advice? 
 
 No, we were not advised or consulted by Dr. Gates, Dyllan McGee, producer John Maggio or anyone from KMP. Any important discussions with a source, program guest, or interviewee should be disclosed to co-producers. 
 
 Gates says that he maintains editorial control and that he “with my producers, decide what will make the most compelling program.” You are among the producers: do you consider that you were part of the decision process? 
 
 That is not quite accurate. Our co-production agreement with Inkwell (Gates's company), KMP (Dyllan McGee's) and Thirteen, specifies that editorial control is shared between the three companies. To quote the agreement: “THIRTEEN, Inkwell and KMcG will have approval over scripts, music and effects, all rough and fine cuts, and the final completed Programs. If despite good faith efforts to resolve any editorial difference, the Parties are unable to agree in any particular instance, Stephen Segaller (THIRTEEN Vice President Programming) will make the final determination.” 
 
 Yes, we are among the producers or co-producers. But this (the request from Mr. Affleck regarding removing the slave-owning ancestor segment) was regrettably not an issue that was brought to our attention – so that we could be part of that decision. 
 
 What do you think about the outcome to drop the ancestral link now that you know it was Sony’s favored approach? 
 
 Dropping that segment of 2 minutes is not important in itself. As noted, the same revelation was true of the family histories of Ken Burns, Anderson Cooper, and others. Thirteen production executives questioned the repetition – but Dr. Gates's producer colleagues insisted it would stay in. But if the decision to drop the segment was based on Mr. Affleck's request, it was and is unacceptable. Doing so without Thirteen's knowledge of those circumstances is also unacceptable. 
 
 Sony has no standing in the matter. They have and had no role in the production. 
 
 Were there complications during this process that have not been disclosed and should be disclosed? 
 
 Thirteen was not aware of the complications relating to Mr. Affleck and the emails with Mr. Lynton – so we could not disclose them. 
 
 When did you learn about the decisions Gates had made and the discussions with Sony leading up to it? 
 
 As noted, we learned of the editorial decision to remove the Affleck slave-owning ancestor on August 11, 2014. We learned of the emails between Dr. Gates and Mr. Lynton of Sony, and Dr. Gates's concerns, only last Friday, April 17. 
 
 Didn’t anybody ask at that time (August 11) why or how that decision was made, and isn’t that something that PBS should have been informed about? 
 
 We didn’t ask how or why the decision was made, as it was a question the earlier discussion about redundancy had implicitly raised. And we don't inform PBS of each individual editing decision. Remember, we had no idea that there were behind the scenes discussions that we were not privy to. 
 
 My Thoughts 
 
 First, in the grand scheme of things, and considering the news of our time, this was likely to be a two-day blip. On the other hand, we also live in a huge celebrity culture and this story had all the explosive power that is needed these days to get lots of attention, which it did; numerous stories on TV news broadcasts, dozens of newspaper and online articles and more than 60 emails and phone calls to me. PBS took a beating in every one. 
 
 On the broader points, it seems to me that any serious program about genealogy, especially dealing with celebrities, cannot leave out a slave-owning ancestor. It also seems clear from the emails that Gates knew the stakes involved in terms of PBS credibility yet went with the advice from the Sony executive to squelch the factoid about a slave-owning ancestor and try to keep it quiet. And, although Gates said that he and his producers decide things about the program, there is no evidence so far that this issue of cutting that segment and explaining what led up to it was presented to one of those producers, WNET/Thirteen in New York. 
 
 So Gates, aside from the decision he made – and it looks to me like a bad one – also, in my opinion, violated the well-known “no surprises doctrine” for public affairs programming and many other things by not informing PBS about these demands by Affleck and exchanges with Sony. The emails make clear that Gates understood the serious journalistic and credibility issues at stake, and the risks should this become public. 
 
 As for PBS, they just struck me as asleep at the switch when this broke. It was pretty apparent from the leaked emails what had happened and to put out a statement that said essentially nothing and very quickly looked pathetic, as if they were hiding something. 
 
 So PBS, in my view, deserves all the articles and TV reports that have PBS in the headline. PBS invests a huge amount of responsibility, and faith, in those who produce programs for it. They need producers to bring to their attention critical issues, especially ones that may reflect poorly on what people expect of PBS or might damage their credibility. 
 
 Posted on April 21, 2015 at 3:35 p.m.
– The biggest apology of the week came from Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, but it was hardly the only one to make headlines: Shamed: “I apologize from my heart to those who have died or been injured. I feel a heavy responsibility.”—Shigehisa Takada, chief executive of the Japanese supplier Takata, over his company's air bag issues. Unsportsmanlike: "I got carried away responding to playful ribbing ... and, in my stupidity, overcompensated by saying something ignorant and extreme. 100% mistake on my part, for which I'm deeply sorry."—Andy Benoit of Sports Illustrated, after tweetiing that women's sports weren't worth watching. He then got skewered by Seth Meyers and Amy Poehler. Flag gaffe: “Our local store made a mistake. The cake in the video should not have been made and we apologize.”—Walmart spokesperson, after a store in Louisiana made a cake adorned with an ISIS flag, ordered by someone trying to make a point about the chain's ban on the Confederate flag. Civil discourse: "But for those of you who were offended by what was intended as a very genuine attempt at fostering a civil discussion, I apologize."—John Micek, opinion editor at PennLive, after announcing a decision to "strictly limit" letters in opposition to same-sex marriage in the week of this week's Supreme Court ruling. The site is affiliated with the Patriot News of Harrisburg, Pa. Celebrity interference: “I sincerely regret not discussing my editing rationale with our partners at PBS and WNET, and I apologize for putting PBS and its member stations in the position of having to defend the integrity of their programming."—Henry Louis Gates Jr., after PBS said it would postpone his Finding Your Roots series because of its Ben Affleck miscue.