Editing WNET (section)

===Ethical issues with funding===
In September 2013, WNET launched a series called ''The Pension Peril'', examining the economic sustainability of public [[pensions]] and promoting cuts to their funding.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Sirota|first1=David|title=In new letter, PBS promises to continue taking anti-pension billionaire's money and echoing his message|url=https://pando.com/2014/02/14/in-new-letter-pbs-promises-to-continue-taking-anti-pension-billionaires-money-and-echoing-his-message/|website=Pando.com|publisher=PandoMedia Inc.|access-date=July 10, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170711140535/https://pando.com/2014/02/14/in-new-letter-pbs-promises-to-continue-taking-anti-pension-billionaires-money-and-echoing-his-message/|archive-date=July 11, 2017|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=WNETPension>{{cite news|last1=Jensen|first1=Elizabeth|title=WNET to Return $3.5 Million Grant for Pension Series|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/15/business/media/wnet-to-return-3-5-million-grant-for-pension-series.html|access-date=July 8, 2017|work=The New York Times|date=February 14, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170706084300/https://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/15/business/media/wnet-to-return-3-5-million-grant-for-pension-series.html|archive-date=July 6, 2017|url-status=live}}</ref> On December 18, 2013, Neal Shapiro, president and CEO of WNET was quoted in a press release saying "this is the type of complex public policy story that only public television covers in an in-depth and ongoing way. WNET is poised to lead and further the dialogue about this challenging situation all across public media, on PBS, public radio, and online".<ref>{{cite web|title=The Pension Peril|url=http://www.thirteen.org/13pressroom/press-release/the-pension-peril/|website=Thirteen.org|publisher=WNET|access-date=July 10, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170810013004/http://www.thirteen.org/13pressroom/press-release/the-pension-peril/|archive-date=August 10, 2017|url-status=live}}</ref>

On February 12, 2014, [[PandoDaily]] reported that the sole sponsor of ''The Pension Peril'' was former [[Enron]] trader [[John D. Arnold]]<ref>{{cite web|last1=Sirota|first1=David|title=The Wolf of Sesame Street: Revealing the secret corruption inside PBS's news division|url=https://pando.com/2014/02/12/the-wolf-of-sesame-street-revealing-the-secret-corruption-inside-pbss-news-division/|website=Pando.com|publisher=PandoMedia Inc.|access-date=July 10, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170807054925/https://pando.com/2014/02/12/the-wolf-of-sesame-street-revealing-the-secret-corruption-inside-pbss-news-division/|archive-date=August 7, 2017|url-status=live}}</ref> who had financially backed efforts to cut public employee pension benefits.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Arnold|first1=Laura|last2=Arnold|first2=John|title=Laura and John Arnold: Let's prevent another Detroit|work=Laura and John Arnold Foundation |date=August 12, 2013 |url=http://www.arnoldfoundation.org/laura-john-arnold-lets-prevent-another-detroit/|access-date=July 10, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170708040643/http://www.arnoldfoundation.org/laura-john-arnold-lets-prevent-another-detroit/|archive-date=July 8, 2017|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=February 19, 2014 |title=WNET Returns Arnold Foundation Grant for Series on Pension Funds |url=https://philanthropynewsdigest.org/news/wnet-returns-arnold-foundation-grant-for-series-on-pension-funds |access-date=April 19, 2024 |website=Philanthropy News Digest}}</ref> Stephen Segaller, WNET's vice president for programming told ''The New York Times'' on February 13, 2014, that he had "absolute conviction" that the [[Laura and John Arnold Foundation]] was an admissible funder and the funding did not violate PBS' "perception" rule. On February 14, Segaller told ''The New York Times'' that WNET had reversed course after discussing with PBS "both the facts and the optics. We all take very, very seriously any suggestion that there's a perception problem about the integrity of our work or the sources of our funding, and we came to the conclusion that it's better to err on the side of caution".<ref name="WNETPension" />
WNET and PBS issued a joint statement saying the series would go on hiatus and WNET would return the $3.5&nbsp;million grant it had received from the Laura and John Arnold Foundation.<ref name="WNETPension" /> Segaller said in the statement, "We made a mistake, pure and simple". PBS [[ombudsman]], [[Michael Getler]], commented that PandoDaily's article "shines a light, once again, on what seems to me to be ethical compromises in funding arrangements and lack of real transparency for viewers caused, in part, by the complicated funding demands needed to support public broadcasting, and in part by managers who make some questionable decisions".

Getler added that WNET "went seriously wrong" and that their "decision to accept a grant of $3.5 million from the Arnold Foundation, with a stated interest in 'public employee benefits reform', flunks PBS's own 'perception test', which is part of the service's Funding Standards and Practices."<ref>{{cite web|last1=Getler|first1=Michael|title=Tensions Over Pensions|url=https://www.pbs.org/ombudsman/2014/02/tensions_over_pensions_1.html|website=PBS Ombudsman|publisher=PBS|access-date=July 10, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170711140558/http://www.pbs.org/ombudsman/2014/02/tensions_over_pensions_1.html|archive-date=July 11, 2017|url-status=live}}</ref>