Telling The Story

Can local TV stations produce compelling documentaries? Allow me to make the argument against that idea: Documentaries require significant topics. Documentaries require significant resources. Documentaries require significant talent. Documentaries require significant vision. Now, I would never argue that local news stations lack the vision, talent, resources, and topics to do compelling work. But very few have enough of each to commit to producing a hour of worthy television -- that is, an hour beyond the numerous hours of newscasts they already produce. And yet, last week, my station premiered a documentary, "50 Years Of Change", about the Civil Rights events of 1963; it received praise from both viewers and local leaders. It is a product on which I had the privilege to work, and of which I am very proud. It aired on our station, WXIA-TV in Atlanta, last Wednesday, and an abridged version has been made available for schools to show their social studies classes. How did the stars align to make it a reality