CPB Ombudsman Blasts Breaking the Silence Again

Last month the Corporation for Public Broadcasting released a report which endorsed the central charges we've made against PBS's film Breaking the Silence: Children's Stories. In the report CPB Ombudsman Ken A. Bode declared that there is "no hint of balance in Breaking the Silence."

Bode did it again in "Breaking the Silence Redux" (12/19/05). In the new report Bode comments on the reactions to his previous report from major players in the controversy, including the film's co-producers Catherine Tatge and Dominique Lasseur of Tatge/Lasseur Productions, Inc., and Michael Lunceford, President of the Mary Kay Ash Charitable Foundation.

Bode wrote that in response to his previous report, "We also heard from the program's co-producers Catherine Tatge and Dominique Lasseur Productions.'" Bode writes:

"In my original posting I concluded that there was no hint of balance in the documentary Breaking the Silence. Tatge/Lasseur said that my report was damaging to their professional reputation and even more to the women and children who are faced with the situations described in their film.

"In discussing their research and reporting Dominique Lasseur said the following:

'We spoke with members of fathers' rights organizations and did extensive research on their views. We made the decision not to interview them on camera because they would not have provided any balance or fairness to the piece.'

"It was precisely the lack of balance and fairness that caused so many viewers to contact PBS and CPB. That was also the main thrust of my report. Lasseur now says that was intentional. Simply put, that amounts to a plea of guilty to violating the fairness and balance standards of PBS."

Has the Film's Backer Backed Down?

In mid-October, Massachusetts domestic violence advocates prescreened Breaking the Silence at the Massachusetts State House in Boston. At the screening it was announced that this presentation and others planned across the country had been financed by a stipend from the Mary Kay Ash Charitable Foundation, which had previously given $500,000 towards the production of the film.

Bode's report indicates that the leaders of Mary Kay may have changed their minds.

According to Bode, Michael Lunceford, president of the Mary Kay Ash Charitable Foundation, wrote to him and distanced his organization from the film. Lunceford  says:

"The Foundation has no plan to distribute this documentary the way it did the 2001 program Breaking the Silence: Journeys of Hope, which was sold through the foundation with an accompanying program guide."

Lunceford also appeared anxious to disassociate himself from the film, telling Bode that after making the grant for the production, the Mary Kay Ash Charitable Foundation had no further involvement with the project. Lunceford wrote:

"Our agreement with CPTV was for a program regarding the effects of domestic violence on children. The co-producers CPTV and Tatge/Lasseur had full independence within that topic in researching and producing the program. As you are aware, under PBS National Program Funding Standards and Practices, the co-producers are fully responsible for the program research and content."

CPB Condemns Tatge/Lasseur's Defamation of Dr. Scott Loeliger

After Breaking the Silence was shown nationally on PBS on October 20, Dr. Scott Loeliger, a father who was defamed in the film, worked together with newspaper columnist Glenn Sacks to prepare and release his side of the story, and it has subsequently been discussed and reported on by Fox News, the Boston Globe, Reason magazine, and several radio networks.

Loeliger and Sacks released extensive documentation that shows that his ex-wife Sadia Loeliger--portrayed as a heroic mom in the film--was found by a California Juvenile Court to have abused children under her care, and that both of her daughters were adjudged to be dependents of the Juvenile Court. Bode wrote:

"We heard from Dr. Scott Loeliger whose daughter and former wife were featured in the documentary. Loeliger says the producers knew that he possesses documents from a juvenile court proving his wife was the abuser. He asked that his daughter be removed from the program and says that failure by the producers to do so was 'a poison pill that destroyed the entire premise of the documentary.'

"Producers Lasseur and Tatge replied in a letter to CPB that Dr. Loeliger declined their offer to interview him so that his views could be aired. Had he agreed to be interviewed Loeliger would have been the only father represented.

"They also say that after speaking to Dr. Loeliger they changed the names of the mother and daughter. What difference does that make? Their faces were still on public television screens all over the country. Did they think that Dr. Loeliger, to whom they caused pain, would mistake them for strangers?

"Loeliger says he has received no satisfaction from PBS, CPTV or the producers and still threatens to release the juvenile files and sue."

Loeliger said he declined to be interviewed on the show because he did not want his daughter to be caught between warring parents on national television. Loeliger had shied away from publicity on the issue, and requested of the filmmakers only that they leave his daughter out of the film--click here to read Scott's letters to the producers. These requests were ignored.