1992: Broadcast Networks Simulcast 'Scared Silent'
September 4, 2020
| By TV WW
On this day in 1992, three major broadcast networks — NBC, CBS and PBS — banded together to present the documentary Scared Silent: Exposing and Ending Child Abuse. ABC presented the program two days later. It was the first time three major networks simulcast a non-news program in prime time.
Hosted by Oprah Winfrey, the Arnold Shapiro-produced program unflinchingly detailed six cases of child abuse using first-person interviews with victims and abusers. During the hour-long special, Winfrey discussed the abuse she endured as a child, and stressed the importance of bringing the issues of sexual, physical, and emotional abuse into the open.