QUICK TAKES - March 10, 2009

General Motors Corp. is ending its 22-year support for Emmy Award-winning documentary filmmaker Ken Burns.

GM spokeswoman Kelly Cusinato called Burns “the gold standard of documentary filmmaking” but said the financial crisis “has forced GM to rein in such spending.”

Burns has made a string of high-profile public TV documentaries, including “The Civil War,” “Jazz” and “Baseball.” His last GM-backed project is “The National Parks: America’s Best Idea,” a six-part series airing this fall.