PBS Pushes Film on Leftist Librarians Claiming ‘Book Bans’ — No Opposing View Allowed
9th October 2025
On Sunday’s PBS News Weekend, anchor John Yang introduced a self-satisfied segment on a new documentary from the literary leftists at PEN America, based on the misnomer that books are being “banned” from schools and public libraries, as opposed to being removed due to concerns over age appropriateness regarding explicit sexual content.
PBS is picking up the baton from their public radio cohorts at NPR, which has made a cottage industry conducting performative preening over so-called “book bans,” often when the American Library Association’s “Banned Books Week” rolls around.
Censorship is a histrionic description of removing or limiting access to books in public schools. The books selected by librarians should not be “challenged” for any reason. It’s not a “banned book” when librarians refuse to stock a book.
Nowhere in this seven-minute promotional (and unanimous) segment does Yang disclose that this documentary is funded by the Independent Television Service, financed like PBS stations through the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. It’s slated to air on the PBS show Independent Lens next February.