PBS series on WWII will now feature Latinos

PBS promised Wednesday to amend Ken Burns’ upcoming documentary series on World War II to include stories about Latino veterans after activists complained he ignored their contributions to the American effort.

Burns has also agreed to hire a Latino producer to help create the additional content, PBS said.

The 14-hour documentary, “The War,” is scheduled to premiere in September. PBS hopes it becomes as popular as Burns’ “The Civil War” was a decade ago, and plans to sell a companion book and DVDs.

From the start, Burns said he never tried to be comprehensive; it was just too big a story. Rather, he wanted to tell about human experiences that everyone affected by the war could relate to. But when some Latino groups learned that Burns had not spoken to any Latino veterans, they began applying pressure to PBS to change the documentary to reflect their stories.

Burns’ series, which is already done, will remain intact. Instead, he will seek out Latino veterans to interview about their experiences to run either during breaks or at the end of each hour. The details still haven’t been worked out. Stories about American Indians will also be included.

The change represents “a big victory for the Latino community,” said Marta Garcia, head of the New York chapter of the National Hispanic Media Coalition.