Inside Thirteen blogger: Stephen Puschel, web producer, Worldfocus.org

Hopes were high and expectations were uncertain when we decided to combine Worldfocus and online radio. No one was sure how an Internet-based radio address would work, especially one conducted mostly by telephone. But after two successful programs on BlogTalkRadio, we decided that the potential of online radio was too good to stay away from.

The Worldfocus team couldn’t be more excited about our new platform. We have so much faith in our concept (much needed high-quality international news) and our content, that we want to venture into as many broadcast platforms as possible. Online radio is our newest, but it certainly won’t be our last.

So give it a try and listen by going to BlogTalkRadio or at worldfocus.org. On Tuesday, Jan. 13, Martin hosted a panel discussion of Middle East experts. Together, they talked about Gaza and the history of the conflict, going way beyond soundbites and headlines to provide context and perspective that you probably won’t find at a place other than Worldfocus.

Inside Thirteen blogger: William R. Grant, Executive Producer, The Ascent of Money and Director of Science, Natural History, and Features Programs at WNET.ORG

A few hours before the two-hour television special The Ascent of Money went to air, I took a phone call from someone who works with a Midwest venture capitalist anxious to be able to tell her boss “how he would look in the show.” I understood the boss’ concern. Few financiers look good these days.

Our rules prohibit talking about the details of programs with participants before the broadcast. I talked with her about the program in general and she promised to let me know the reaction in her office. We’ll see.

The two-hour broadcast was an important way-station in a long and complicated production that began two years ago when Stephen Segaller, who was then WNET’s director of news and public affairs programs and is now vice-president of content, began taking with Niall Ferguson about Ferguson’s plans to do a book and a television series on the history of the global economy.

Ferguson is a Scottish historian educated at Oxford who holds appointments in both the history department and the Business School at Harvard University. Ferguson had been on PBS in 2006 with his series War of the World, his reinterpretation of World War II, and now he would do the roots of the current world economy. As it turned out, it was something like trying to analyze World War II while the war was going on. During 2008, especially during the last months of production in the fall, bad news was followed by worse news as the economy of most of the world plummeted into deep recession.

The plan had been to broadcast a four-hour series on PBS in June but PBS asked us to create a shorter version earlier. We raced to cut a two-hour program (watch it online) for broadcast this week. We scrambled, and thanks to Niall’s production team, especially producer Adrian Pennink, and our own Stephanie Carter, who climbed over a mountain of problems to get the program to PBS in time for air, we did it. But as I said, this was a way-station. The four-hour version is still scheduled for Spring, and it is yet to be finished.

Promo for the Ascent of Money:

Inside Thirteen Blogger: Daniel Ross, Producer, The City Concealed

I’m interested in characters consumed by a singular task, like Joseph Mitchell’s Joe Gould or the astronomers determined to peer into the edge of the universe in Richard Preston’s First Light. That’s why I decided to shoot a piece about Doug Schwartz, the Staten Islander who’s been painstakingly building rock sculptures every week for over a decade on the shore of Mount Loretto State Park. He doesn’t plan to quit doing it until his body wears out.

A lot of people think Doug is strange for devoting so much time to his sculptures, but Tom Vigliotta, who created our original online series/blog The City Concealed, mentioned something I think rings true. He said it would be strange for a person Doug’s age not to find something on which he toils away his free time.

That’s what I wanted to capture in the piece (in addition to giving viewers a glimpse of the physical space and the sculptures themselves). Discussion of Doug’s work usually includes references to the occult or elaborate pranks – even Doug will bring this up when you talk to him – but I wanted to demystify Doug and his rocks. When you see him on screen, he’s really no different from a guy in his workshop building a cabinet or a fisherman on a stream.

So watch and enjoy, and visit The City Concealed for more NYC explorations:

The City Concealed: Staten Island Rock Sculptures from Thirteen.org on Vimeo.

Veteran international reporter, Jim Lobe, recently put together some eye-opening perspective on the state of world news coverage on American television. Citing the respected Tyndall Report, Lobe reports that “foreign-related news coverage by the three major U.S. television networks fell to a record low during 2008.”

Taking at look at this chart on the Tyndall Report site, you can see a steady decline in international coverage by the networks over the past decade. From a combined total about 2500 minutes in 1998, the networks dropped down to about 1900 total minutes of world news coverage in 2008.

Lobe also cites a recent survey by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press found that some 70 percent of the public in 2008 relied on television as a main source for national and international news last year.

The conclusion couldn’t be clearer – or more troublesome. Americans’ main resource for world news is giving them less and less coverage with each passing year.

And that’s only half the story. The same Tyndall Report chart also shows that the most-covered international story by far in 2008 was the Summer Olympic Games. The Games were an important event, for sure. But they certainly didn’t have significant impact on the urgent issues shaping our world today. Subtract coverage of the Games from the total time the networks dedicated to international news coverage and the picture looks dimmer still.

Lobe quotes Moises Naim, editor of the prestigious Foreign Policy magazine: “It’s ironic and paradoxical that at a time when we have a financial crisis that is global in nature, this country is fighting two wars, and the destinies of the population is more than ever linked to events that happen beyond the national borders of the United States, that the networks decide to cut back their foreign coverage.”

Perhaps the real irony is that the struggling network news divisions are using their balance sheets to justify cutbacks in foreign news bureaus. But as Naim suggests, those cuts come at a great expense. If America is to work its way out of this global financial crisis and maintain its leadership position in the world, Americans are surely going to need to be equipped with an understanding of the forces affecting us all in our global community.

This is where we at WNET.ORG are playing a vital role. With its nightly nationwide 26-minute broadcast, our Worldfocus series adds 6760 minutes of dedicated international news coverage to American television every year. In other words, we’ve more than tripled the combined coverage of the three major networks. And that’s not even considering that Worldfocus has a 24/7 website with regular updates and additional coverage.

For a nation facing historic challenges in an increasingly interconnected world, ignoring international news is not an option. With Worldfocus, we’re bringing world news home to America – just in the nick of time.

from: Neal Shapiro, President & CEO, WNET.ORG

I spent the morning with two incredible people who make what can sometimes seem to be inaccessible topics into riveting and informative television.

The people: Ray Suarez and Sir Ian McKellen
The topics: Infrastructure and Shakespeare

Greetings from the Winter TCA Press Tour in Los Angeles, where media writers from around the country converge to hear about new programs and initiatives from all the networks. PBS went first this year.

WNET kicked it off with a discussion about Blueprint America, our system-wide initiative launched with the Rockefeller Foundation that explores how America needs to deal with the one the biggest challenges of the 21at century: its crumbling infrastructure. For months, we’ve worked with many of the most important programs on public television and radio to report on this topic, and we think it is no accident that it has found its way to the top of president-elect Obama’s to-do list.

I presented with our Vice President of Content, Stephen Segaller, and talked about how the programs came together, but the real star of the session was Ray Suarez, Senior Correspondent for The NewsHour. Ray has already done several Blueprint America stories for us, and he has a history with the topic of infrastructure, having covered it back in his days as rising star reporter at WMAQ-TV in Chicago. Infrastructure sounds like a clinical or technological issue, but as Ray explains it, infrastructure is really about the everyday things we do in life…getting to work, communicating, moving food and supplies.

We also told the critics about our next two documentaries…the first begins shooting this week and will air in late May. Stay tuned.

Next up, we met a night–er knight–in the morning. Sir Ian McKellan was waiting backstage before he went onstage to talk about the Great Performances production of King Lear, in which he plays the title role. He is charming, witty, disarming and curious about television. We talked about PBS and the kind of arts coverage we are doing.

Neal Shapiro and Sir Ian McKellen

In front of the critics, he was mesmerizing as he talked about finding his way through Lear, and how he brings some of the experiences in his own life to bear in under-standing the role. When one of the critics asked him if playing Lear was the most challenging role of his long and distinguished career, he said “Yes, I think it was.”

Eventually the topic of the nude scene was brought up. In the play, it is clear that Shakespeare means for Lear to be disrobing. But onstage, how far should he go? When he toured with the show, in most performances Sir Ian left nothing to the imagination. But in some places, such as Singapore, local law and customs forbade total nudity, so he did not.

The critics were curious about the television version: would he or wouldn’t he? The director chose to suggest total nudity but not show it completely…which Sir Ian said he thought was fine. He acknowledged that sometimes when an actor totally disrobes, it distracts from the dialogue. In fact, he told us, when he disrobed onstage he was distracted too…he concentrated on holding his stomach in!

Inside Thirteen Blogger: Cara Cosentino, coordinating producer, Great Performances

Can you imagine a chance to be in Vienna to welcome the new year with none other than Julie Andrews? Well, that’s exactly what I had the good fortune of doing last week.

Working on staff on the Great Performances series, I have the incredible chance to travel to different cities, work with talented artists and be immersed in all genres of music.

I will confess the annual New Year’s concert is one of my personal favorites, one I look forward to all year. How can you not love being in Vienna listening to Johann Strauss’ waltzes with Walter Cronkite during the holiday season?

As most people know, the legendary Walter Cronkite had been our host for our “From Vienna: The New Year’s Celebration” for the past 24 years. I had the opportunity to work with Mr. Cronkite for several New Year’s, and as any viewer will know, he left pretty big shoes to fill. This year, Miss Julie Andrews succeeded him as host. I’m sure you’ll agree that there is no
better person for the job.

It’s always a little nerve-wracking to work with a celebrity for the first time, especially one as iconic as Julie. But as soon as she stepped on set, all fears were eased. She is as gracious, beautiful and warm as I imagined her to be. What an honor to work with someone you’ve admired your entire life, and have them exceed your expectations. She is a true pro and every
bit a class act.

In Vienna, classical music is as essential as food or drink. That much is clear in every location we shot in. You can’t walk three feet without seeing ads for classical concerts, Mozart Kugels being sold by the pound, or miniature Strauss statues. They are as abundant as Statue of Liberty souvenirs on the streets of NYC!

We’ve shot in Haydn’s house, the Redoutensaal (a concert hall within the Imperial Palace where Strauss, Beethoven and Mozart performed in), Esterhazy Castle - and of course - the Musikverein. Julie was as excited to visit these sites as we were. And, of course, to hear the polkas and waltzes of the Strauss family.

This year, our show is in high definition, and I think it’s as close to sitting in the famous Austrian hall without leaving your American couch, but you can see for yourself.