Ken Burns & PBS Blind to Hispanic Community

Writes Janet Murguia in the Kansas City Star:

I have admired much of Ken Burns’ work, but the exclusion of Latinos from the World War II series appears to be part of a pattern. That his series on jazz failed to include even a passing reference to Latino artists seemed questionable at best. But his virtual exclusion of Latinos from his series on baseball, a game where Hispanics historically have made enormous contributions and dominate today, was completely inexplicable.

It seems obvious that, notwithstanding his creative genius, Mr. Burns has a serious blind spot when it comes to our community.

The lack of action by PBS also follows an unfortunate, longstanding pattern. Any objective review of current PBS programming would demonstrate that the number of Hispanic-focused stories is inadequate.

In this sense, the record of Mr. Burns and PBS is no different than that of much of the mainstream media. But Ken Burns is not just another filmmaker, and PBS is not just another network. PBS is funded in part with public dollars and, more important, holds a public trust. The extraordinary relationship between Mr. Burns and PBS has made him the chief television chronicler of our nation’s history. Yet neither PBS nor Mr. Burns have addressed the Latino community’s concerns is any meaningful way.