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Preserving Democracy
| Preserving Democracy | |
 | |
| Basic facts | |
| Location: | New York |
| Type: | Project |
| Top official: | Neal Shapiro, President and Chief Executive Officer |
| Website: | Official website |
Preserving Democracy is a multi-platform public media initiative produced by The WNET Group, a nonprofit public media producer based in New York, New York.[1] According to its website, "The initiative supports, coordinates, and disseminates innovative reporting from public media across all platforms on a national level, tracking efforts both to limit and to protect voter participation at all levels of government."[2]
Background
In 2022, WNET broadcast a documentary titled Preserving Democracy: Pursuing a More Perfect Union, describing it as "[exploring] the ideals and flaws of democracy, recurring cycles of civil rights progress and backlash, shifting voter rights and rules, and the role of civics curricula in fostering engaged and informed citizens."[3]
The Preserving Democracy initiative "supports, coordinates, and disseminates innovative reporting from public media across all platforms on a national level, tracking efforts both to limit and to protect voter participation at all levels of government." and "aims to facilitate an unprecedented level of collaboration and partnership among PBS programs and platforms, and perhaps most importantly, to build collaboration, capacity and infrastructure among member stations to facilitate local reporting, encourage local engagement across the political spectrum and stimulate dialogue among diverse voices."[2]
Leadership
As of September 2025, the following individuals held leadership positions at the WNET Group:[4]
- Neal Shapiro, president and chief executive officer
- Tamisha M. Chestnut, vice president for people & culture
- Caroline C. Croen, vice president, chief financial officer, and treasurer
- Jen Danielson, vice president for distribution
- Robert A. Feinberg, vice president and chief legal officer
- Diane Masciale, vice president of the WNET Station Group
- Stephen Segaller, vice president for programming
- Kellie Castruita Specter, chief marketing & communications officer
- Vanessa Wise, vice president for advancement, chief strategy officer
Work and activities
According to its website, "Preserving Democracy aims to facilitate an unprecedented level of collaboration and partnership among PBS programs and platforms, and perhaps most importantly, to build collaboration, capacity and infrastructure among member stations to facilitate local reporting, encourage local engagement across the political spectrum and stimulate dialogue among diverse voices."[2]
Films and video
As of August 2023, the Preserving Democracy initiative had released four films:[5]
- Clarence and Ginni Thomas: Politics, Power and the Supreme Court released in May 2023.
- Michael Flynn's Holy War released in October 2022.
- Lies, Politics, and Democracy released in September 2022.
- Preserving Democracy: Pursuing a More Perfect Union released in January 2022.
Preserving Democracy also produces shorter-form video content on select topics.
News, resources, and tools
The Preserving Democracy initiative aggregates select news and opinion stories related to issues of elections and democracy and provides links to external resources, such as research reports, on these same topics. The initiative also publishes a newsletter, the States of Democracy podcast, and an online tool that provides news stories and voting information on a state-by-state basis.
Finances
The following is a breakdown of WNET's revenues and expenses from 2009 to 2024. The information comes from ProPublica.
| Year | Revenue | Expenses |
|---|---|---|
| 2009 | $3.3 million | $21.7 million |
| 2010 | $15.9 million | $27.1 million |
| 2011 | $27.9 million | $44.1 million |
| 2012 | $27.0 million | $41.5 million |
| 2013 | $19.9 million | $40.2 million |
| 2014 | $144.4 million | $127.1 million |
| 2015 | $148.0 million | $128.1 million |
| 2016 | $118.6 million | $114.6 million |
| 2017 | $140.9 million | $122.4 million |
| 2018 | $153.1 million | $116.5 million |
| 2019 | $119.0 million | $132.6 million |
| 2020 | $130.5 million | $123.7 million |
| 2021 | $138.0 million | $115.7 million |
| 2022 | $152.9 million | $131.8 million |
| 2023 | $111.1 million | $133.3 million |
| 2024 | $138.4 million | $131.4 million |
Preserving Democracy project funding
According to its website, the initiative received principal funding from the Chang K. Park Foundation and major funding from:[2]
- William Ackman and Neri Oxman
- Ronnie and Lawrence D. Ackman
- The Dorothy Y. Pacella Fund
- The Anderson Family Charitable Fund
- Janet Prindle Seidler
See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ The WNET Group, "About," accessed August 8, 2023
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 PBS, "About Preserving Democracy," accessed September 15, 2025
- ↑ THIRTEEN, "Preserving Democracy to Premiere January 6 on PBS," December 3, 2021
- ↑ WNET, "Leadership," accessed September 15, 2025
- ↑ Preserving Democracy, "All Films," accessed August 14, 2023
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