Powerful storytelling, like Family Name and Rabbit in the Moon , can serve as a catalyst for such conversations. These strategies for framing and enhancing broadcasts definitely have had an impact. In turn, these organizations have come to value public television as a partner. After an initial year of station implementation, groups from Piedmont, California to Baltimore had organized screenings to bring together community leaders and citizens who had never met before, and who remain active. Editorial writers lavished praise on the efforts, calling for more dialogue tools like TRI, on the heels of President Clinton s Initiative on Race.
Television is our most influential and ubiquitous communications technology.
With a sustained effort to use the medium in strategic and creative ways, the Television Race Initiative offers a replicable model for promoting constructive dialogue and problem-solving around a pressing social issue. Carole Ashkinaze is a Washington-based journalist who writes frequently about minorities, women and social policy.