Ford Foundation Supports Global Awareness Through Public Media Programming
ITVS project brings international voices to U.S. viewers and American stories to audiences abroad
10 October 2007 — The Ford Foundation is celebrating a new season of the Global Perspectives Project, an innovative public media initiative that brings programs by independent producers from around the world to U.S audiences and takes American programs overseas. The initiative is a project of ITVS International, a division of the Independent Television Service (ITVS). With a $5 million grant from Ford, and support from the State Department as well as other major foundations, the project presents a diversity of opinions and human experiences from an array of different cultures and offers an opportunity to promote a dialogue on international affairs.
The project also provides a perspective of ordinary life in the United States to overseas audiences. “True Stories: Life in the USA,” a series of independent documentaries by U.S. filmmakers, is being broadcast in Malawi and Peru and expects this season to expand its global reach to Hong Kong, Colombia, Bahrain and Indonesia.
“Americans and people in other countries need new ways to see each other,” said ITVS President and CEO Sally Fifer. “They need a chance to hear each other's voices and see the world through someone else's eyes.”
Global Cultural Exchange
The $19 million Global Perspectives Project was launched in 2005. Through television broadcasts, community outreach, online efforts and other initiatives, the project is advancing a global cultural exchange between the United States and Africa, Asia and South America.
From October 2007 through 2008, nearly 40 programs created by independent producers from around the world will be broadcast on PBS, the new digital PBS World channel, and six commercial channels including Sundance Channel and National Geographic Channel.
Among the films scheduled to air in the United States are: “Please Vote For Me,” a documentary by Weijin Chen, which follows Chinese elementary school students who are introduced to the democratic process through a campaign for class monitor; “Black Gold,” by Nick and Mark Francis, which takes a revealing look at the $80 billion coffee industry through the story of an Ethiopian coffee grower; and “Iranian Kidney Bargain Sale,” by Nima Sarvestani and Malla Grapengiesser, a behind-the-scenes look at young Iranians who sell their kidneys. Fifty additional programs by international producers are expected to be broadcast through 2010.
Going beyond sensational news headlines, the programs produced by American filmmakers for global audiences aim to provide compelling stories about everyday life. The True Life series includes documentaries about a rural West Virginia coal-mining community, the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota, a Hawaiian surfer battling breast cancer, a boxing gym in the South Bronx and mandatory student drug testing in a small west Texas town. The series is expected to be available in nearly 40 countries by 2010.
ITVS was created in 1991 after a decade-long effort by independent media artists and community activists to ensure diverse voices were present on public television. In 1988, Congress passed legislation establishing ITVS, which serves as a bridge between producers and public television. ITVS programming reflects the voices and visions of underrepresented communities and addresses the needs of underserved audiences, particularly minorities and children. ITVS International promotes the exchange of independent documentary films, presenting international voices to U.S. audiences and American stories to audiences abroad.
Investing in International Programming
Since 1951, Ford has been a leading force behind public media and a longtime investor in independent films. Ford's support of the Global Perspectives Project is part of a larger effort to provide access to programming that addresses important civic and social issues. A key aspect of this work is in broadening the public's understanding of international affairs, enhancing viewers' knowledge of world events and bringing global perspectives to American households.
“The foundation remains committed to supporting grantees that are finding innovative new ways to serve a wider, more diverse audience and help us better understand the issues we face as global citizens,” said Susan V. Berresford, president of the Ford Foundation.
Other public media grantees focused on international programming include:
Link TV broadcasts programs that engage, educate and activate viewers to become involved in the world. Launched in December 1999 on DIRECTV and later on DISH Network, Link TV engages its viewers with global perspectives on news, cultural events and foreign affairs. It is using a $4 million Ford grant to enhance significantly its programming and marketing efforts. With this support, the 24-hour television network hopes to attract sustainable sources of revenue for long-term operation.
PBS World, the 24-hour digital broadcast channel that launched in August, aims to increase diversity in public broadcasting's services and content. Funded, in part, by a $2 million Ford grant, the new channel debuted on 55 stations throughout the nation and serves a wide range of viewers who are interested in understanding the world at large. PBS World features around-the-clock nonfiction and documentary programming, as well as signature series such as “Frontline,” “Nova,” “BBC World News” and “ITVS International Presents.”
OneWorld US, a web-based resource for domestic and international affairs, reaches five continents and produces content in 11 different languages with the main goal of broadening the world view. OneWorld US launched in 2000 and is part of a global network of NGOs and partners. With $1.25 million in Ford support, it is strengthening its Public Media, Alliances and Public Engagement programs; and developing the technologies necessary today to easily communicate and access content.
The Sundance Documentary Fund, created in 2001 by the Sundance Institute, supports U.S. and international documentary films and videos on human rights, freedom of expression and social justice issues. With a $5 million grant from Ford and ongoing support from the Open Society Institute, the fund plans to expand significantly its operations to support films and videos that explore a wider range of topics including arts and culture.
Greater Washington Educational Telecommunications Association (WETA), the public broadcasting affiliate in the Washington metropolitan area, produces “The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer.” Forty percent of the news program is devoted to international affairs. The “NewsHour” reporting team has already developed a cost-efficient model for overseas coverage that utilizes the latest technology and can produce in-depth reporting as well as respond swiftly to major news developments, without expanding its infrastructure. A $300,000 Ford grant to WETA is helping “NewsHour” expand its international field reporting, supporting several overseas trips to developing countries and nations at the center of international crises.
Public Radio International (PRI), a producer and distributor of global news and cultural programming, including “BBC World Service” and “PRI's The World,” provides more than 400 hours of weekly content on public radio. A $2.25 million Ford grant is supporting current programming and the launch of a major new initiative, “Our World,” which will integrate on-air reporting and analysis of global news events throughout the entire public radio broadcast schedule. “Our World” was developed to help the American public better understand its role in the world and the interconnection between local and global issues.
To learn more about the foundation's media-related support, read Ford Reports: Number Two
Photo:
Eric Herter