Not another @#% politician?!: New Civic Leaders on TV at the ATX Festival

The Civic Leadership Stories Project and Cinereach hosted a panel at the Austin TV Festival that explored how storylines about civic leadership and actions “can break stereotypes, engage audiences, and maybe even help save democracy.” The panel featured Melvin Mar, Executive Producer of "Speechless" and "Fresh Off the Boat;" Daniel Blau Rogge, Senior Vice President of Original Programming at Paramount; Paula Weissman, Lead Researcher at the Center for Media & Social Impact (CMSI); Pooja Sethi, Chief of Staff in the Texas House of Representatives; Will Jenkins from The Civic Leadership Stories Project; and Candice McFarlane from Cinereach.

The panel also previewed “Watching Out for Democracy,” an unprecedented study of civic storylines in top-rated entertainment TV shows during 2020, led by CMSI in collaboration with MTV Entertainment Group and When We All Vote.