'One of our crown jewels': Ken Burns vigorously defends PBS in response to Trump attacks
02 May
CNN host Anderson Cooper and documentary filmmaker Ken Burns on CNN on May 2, 2025 (Image: Screengrab via CNN / YouTube)
Legendary documentary filmmaker Ken Burns made the case for the Public Broadcasting System (PBS) as a core part of the United States' national identity in a recent interview.
On Friday, CNN host Anderson Cooper invited Burns onto his show to get the documentarian's perspective on President Donald Trump's attempt to defund both PBS and National Public Radio. Cooper played devil's advocate, pointing out to Burns that there are already plenty of documentaries Americans can watch on streaming services like Netflix, and asked him why Americans couldn't simply rely on those platforms instead of PBS.
"I think it's important that we do things together as a country," Burns said. "The enrichment that PBS has brought to my life, to our collective lives, is, is just indisputable."
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Burns went on to argue that PBS was "a part of the pursuit of happiness machine" and "part of what makes the country what it is." He compared PBS to the National Park Service (which he called "America's Best Idea" in a TV miniseries), adding it was like "the Declaration of Independence applied to broadcasting."
"I couldn't have made, Anderson, any of the films — I've made nearly 40 films over the course of the last 45 years — any other place but PBS. And it's not because I couldn't go raise the money to do it elsewhere. I could, with the kind of reputation that I've developed. It's just that they wouldn't give me the time to be able to explore these subjects," he continued. "The footage you're showing now on the American Revolution, we spent more than nine years working on it. By the time we broadcast, it will be one month short of ten years."
"You don't get that kind of space anywhere else but public broadcasting. And it's it's just one of our crown jewels ... This is this is who we are," he added. "It's the US in U.S."
Watch the video of Burns' remarks below, or by clicking this link.
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