Ken Burns, PBS Extend Relationship Through 2022

PASADENA, January 16:
Acclaimed documentary filmmaker Ken Burns has extended his relationship with
PBS through at least 2022, committing to produce a minimum of three major
series like The War, slated to
air this September, as well as several other projects.

Burns is set to produce
three major factual series—his credits for PBS already include The
Civil War, Baseball and Jazz—as well as two to three shorter films such as those that have
appeared as part of his biography series. The contract with Burns includes home
video and audiovisual rights for existing and new documentaries through at
least 2025.

John Boland, the chief
content officer at PBS, said of Burns: “Ken has the remarkable ability to
educate and entertain at the same time, combining the everyday drama of history
with gripping storytelling. He's an American treasure and the very essence of
what we at PBS consider the best in television."

Burns added: "There
is no other place, new or old media, where we can tell these stories in the way
we do, with both the allotment of time and the extraordinary outreach and
support. I started my documentary career working with PBS, and I'm very proud
that I will live out my professional life there."

PBS has also announced
that veteran journalist Bill Moyers is returning to the American public
broadcaster with a new weekly public series entitled Bill Moyers Journal, the name of Moyers first major series for PBS more
than thirty years ago. The series launches April 25 at 9 p.m. with the episode
“Buying the War,” about the role of the press in the run-up to the invasion of
Iraq. The series will then air in its regular timeslot: Fridays at 9 p.m.

Moyers retired from Now
with Bill Moyers two years ago and
produced two series last year: Faith & Reason and Moyers on America. “The response to those broadcasts, and the work
itself, simply whetted my appetite for more,” Moyers said. “People keep writing
or stopping me on the street to suggest stories that are not being reported and
voices that are not being heard. A lot of Americans long for more than
conventional wisdom, celebrity pundits, predictable opinions and safe analysis
of the obvious. There's a vacuum across the media spectrum, and several funders
have stepped forward to say they would support us in our effort to fill it with
independent journalism on the arts and letters, science, religion, business,
foreign policy and the media. I'm as eager and charged as I was over 30 years
ago when I entered this game. Ponce de Leon would still be around today if he
had given up his search for the fountain of youth and just entered
journalism."