Ken Burns on the future of PBS, the new age of media, and why documentaries will outlast TikTok

The Scene

Ken Burns has been telling the story of America through his entire career with genre-defining documentaries on the Civil War, the Vietnam War, and now the American Revolution.

This week, Ben and Max bring on the renowned documentarian to talk about his latest series, the parallels he sees between America’s founding moment and today’s media environment, and what we can learn from our history.

They also discuss what he makes of the Trump administration’s cuts on PBS, and — after spending 10 meticulous years making a 12-hour documentary — his take on short-form video and talk podcasts like this one.

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