Nashville Public Television, Vanderbilt Project on Unity and American Democracy collaborate on broadcast and digital feature

A feature program about The Vanderbilt Project on Unity and American Democracy will make its Nashville Public Television debut on Thursday, Nov. 16, at 8:30 p.m. CT and will be available afterward on the PBS app. Directly following the premiere, at 9:30 p.m., John Geer, Gertrude Conaway Vanderbilt Professor, professor of political science and senior advisor to Chancellor Daniel Diermeier, and Unity Project co-chairs Bill Haslam, former governor of Tennessee, and Samar Ali, research professor of political science and law at Vanderbilt, will discuss what they’ve learned in the two years since the project’s inception. 

“This series exemplifies our commitment to free expression and highlights the essential role evidence-based reasoning must play in the national conversation,” said Geer, who directs the Unity Project. “Our ideologically charged environment has made it hard to have tough but necessary conversations on university campuses and beyond. These kinds of efforts, and Vanderbilt’s newly launched Dialogue Vanderbilt initiative, which includes the Unity Project, seek to build bridges across this divide as we work to solve our country’s most pressing problems.” 

The Vanderbilt Project on Unity and American Democracy feature is a collaboration between Nashville Public Television and The Vanderbilt Project on Unity and American Democracy that adapts the project into a multipart series for digital and broadcast consumption. NPT is creating six 10-minute digital episodes for various platforms, the 60-minute broadcast special and the 30-minute panel discussion for broadcast. In addition, NPT is developing related materials for PBS Learning Media, a resource of free, curriculum-aligned videos, interactive resources and lesson plans for teachers. 

“Nashville Public Television is excited to create this important content for digital and broadcast audiences,” said Becky Magura, NPT’s president and CEO. “It will also be a great opportunity to extend that conversation with a companion panel discussion that will engage our community.” 

The Vanderbilt Project on Unity and American Democracy was established with the premise that the country has become disconnected from evidence. Its co-chairs are Jon Meacham, Pulitzer Prize-winning author and Carolyn T. and Robert M. Rogers Chair in American Presidency at Vanderbilt; Haslam; and Ali, a former White House Fellow. The project seeks to supplant ideology with fact to reshape the national conversation, offering solutions beyond reflexive ideological assertions. 

About Nashville Public Television

Nashville Public Television, Nashville’s PBS station, is available free and over the air to nearly 2.4 million people throughout the Middle Tennessee and Southern Kentucky viewing areas. NPT’s four broadcast channels are NPT, the main channel; secondary channel NPT2 (WORLD Channel); NPT3, a 24/7 PBS Kids channel; and NPT4 (Create TV). NPT is also available to anyone in the world through its array of NPT digital services, including wnpt.org, YouTube channels and the PBS video app. NPT provides, through the power of traditional television and interactive digital communications, quality educational, cultural and civic experiences that address the issues and concerns of the people of the Nashville region, thereby helping to improve the lives of those it serves.

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