Follow the Money isn't following old formulas
Originally published in Current, July 21, 1997
By Karen Everhart Bedford
In its first post-election experiment to create innovative public affairs programming, PBS's Democracy Project this month launched a new weekly show focusing on money in politics.
Follow the Money, produced by a youngblood independent company, New River Media, debuted July 11, although the program's arrival scarcely has been noticed outside the public TV world.
The series' run on PBS will be limited to 24 weeks. In that time it will follow developments in congressional campaign finance hearings. It will look at the role of money in politics historically and, the producers hope, humorously. And it will venture far outside the Beltway to report on state campaign reform efforts.
Along the way, producers intend to experiment with new ways to cover political topics. Most importantly, they will test how to bring citizens' perspectives into public affairs coverage more effectively.
"We've got to get people into the tent," said Executive Producer Andrew Walworth. "We've got to engage them in a story that I think is bigger than just the hearings. It's part of this long tradition in America, of trying to make democracy work."
With Follow the Money, the Democracy Project aims to create a show that will reach past political junkies and "get to citizens out there that really could be interested in news and public affairs," said Ellen Hume, the project's executive director. She called the program a "work in progress," which will evolve from week to week.
"The tone of the show is that we are trying to go along with the viewer to learn about this complex and important problem" of the role of money in politics, said Walworth. He intends to make Follow the Money "fast-paced and watchable."
Experiment on-air
The debut episode did move along briskly, with several elements purposely designed to give it a different feel. The opening animation, created by New Republic cartoonist Tom Toles, is funny and smart eye-candy. Guitar-driven rock 'n roll, cowritten and coarranged by Walworth, is the theme music. Follow the Money also features an unusual backdrop--the Freedom Forum's Newseum in Arlington, Va., a new interactive museum devoted to journalism, where the programs are recorded. Hosts Ray Suarez and Gail Harris appear before huge "wall" of television news from around the world.
In a break from the standard public affairs format, commentators in the first program appeared in two different settings: in separate pretaped interviews presumably recorded in their offices, and together in a studio interview with Suarez. Walworth said dual appearances by "tour guides" Suzanne Garment and Thomas Mann, from two major think tanks, was an experiment that probably won't be repeated. "I'm not sure that it worked."
Walworth tried adding the office interviews to the usual studio roundtable as a way of eliciting the think-tankers' views in a more relaxed setting. "We were looking for a more subjective take of what they thought was important for the week." The studio interview added the "live element" that producers wanted, offered the most timely analysis, and gave Suarez "a chance to follow up."
Walworth notes that he didn't have time to pilot Follow the Money. He began talking with Hume about ideas for the show in April; it was officially announced to stations in mid-May. "People are seeing a pretty raw show."
Other experiments to watch on the air will be New River's collaborations with other public TV producers. Ken Bode of Washington Week in Review is appearing in regular segments that preview the next week of hearings. Wisconsin Public TV's Dave Iverson is contributing field reports on grassroots reform efforts. Walworth anticipates similar contributions from local stations.
Producers also are trying to develop new, more effective ways to bring citizens' views into the show. "That's the tough part we're working very hard to figure out." The first program solicited views from Newseum visitors. New River also has convened a focus group in Boston, asking members to follow the hearings and react to them for Follow the Money. "We plan to stay with them for the length of the series, and are looking for ideas on how to shoot them," said Walworth. One possibility is to have two focus group members appear during the subjective commentary segment.
Hume is actively soliciting feedback on Follow the Money, and has created an informal group of station programmers and managers to advise her on it.
Programs that don't run forever
The concept for Follow the Money developed as a solution to a major daytime scheduling logjam, and a laboratory for the Democracy Project to experiment with new approaches. PBS's traditional method of covering major hearings--gavel-to-gavel--appeared "unmanageable" earlier this year when Sen. Fred Thompson (D-Tenn.), chairman of the governmental affairs committee, predicted that the hearings would run for a year, said Hume. Stations' daytime schedules are largely devoted to children's programs--so much so that only 4-6 percent of stations carried the 1995 Whitewater and Waco hearings.
Rather than go gavel-to-gavel, as the C-SPAN and MSNBC cable networks had planned to do, Hume sought a way to "stretch PBS's resources into something value-added." She consulted widely with public affairs producers and others, eventually calling Walworth to "pick his brain."
She was attracted by his proposal to "take a Sister Wendy approach"--eschewing insider jabbering to explain money in politics to average citizens. Walworth, who produced Ben Wattenberg's weekly Think Tank series and a 1996 special "The Third Choice," is "very bright and flexible and interested in innovation," Hume said.
Walworth is clearly comfortable trying new things. He embraces Follow the Money's rare-bird quality as one of few TV programs devoted to a singular topic. "Personally, I think this is an idea whose time as come--not just the subject of money in politics--but the idea of doing programs that are on an important topic, but don't necessarily have to run forever."
"If you think about it, where is it written that every program is a general-interest program and stays on forever?"
"[Campaign finance isn't] the only thing you could do a half-hour weekly report on," Walworth added. "I hope PBS will think about other topics that might deserve similar treatment, like race, human rights and the economy."
Follow the Money does face an uphill battle to build an audience. Because the show went from drawing board to debut in a matter of weeks, it is was given a soft-feed slot, making it even more difficult to inform viewers when it will air and when. In addition, the program has no promotion budget, although Hume hopes to provide grants this fall to stations that prominently promote it.
Hume is encouraged by the reactions and feedback she's heard from within the system, but frustrated that so far this new effort has gone unrecognized elsewhere. Media watchers have criticized television's scarce coverage of the hearings in major newspapers.
Unhappy viewers have called PBS and stations to complain that public TV is not offering gavel-to-gavel coverage. Many of the comments have been angry ones, with a "radio talk show in your face quality" that PBS is shirking its responsiblities and demonstrating a liberal bias.
"They don't understand that we've dedicated a whole new series to spotlighting whatever wrongdoing may be uncovered and the issue in general," said Hume. "If anything, we're making a new commitment, a special commitment. This is in no way a retreat."
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