This year, TVW — the state’s public affairs television network — was awarded the Access to Justice Board’s Civil Equal Justice Partnership Award. In the award letter, the Board noted, “TVW plays an essential public service role in this state and in particular has assisted the Alliance for Equal Justice for over a decade in educating the public about the important work that we are doing to improve access to our justice system.”
A commitment to legal programming has been part of TVW’s mission since the network went on the air April 10, 1995. The first program ever shown on TVW was a Washington State Supreme Court death penalty hearing, the first time such a state court proceeding had been shown on television in its entirety. Since then, TVW has carried more than 1,500 Supreme Court hearings, all of them archived in audio or video on the TVW Web site. In addition, TVW has covered hundreds of legal conferences, seminars and speeches, as well as special events, such as candidate forums for state Supreme Court justices.
In a typical year, TVW carries more than 1,000 hours of legal programming. Now that TVW has moved into the Jeanette C. Hayner Media Center, a fully digital production facility, viewers (and Web users) can look forward to more legal coverage than ever before.
First, TVW’s legal affairs show, “The Docket,” will continue to provide a monthly overview of the people and issues shaping Washington law. Produced with major support from the Washington State Bar Association, “The Docket” has quickly become one of TVW’s most watched shows. Hosted by Dean Kellye Testy of the Seattle University School of Law, upcoming episodes will feature highlights from major legal conferences around the state, interviews with legal newsmakers and in-depth coverage of emerging issues.
Washington courts have been at the forefront of providing access to court proceedings and Supreme Court hearings have been among the most popular TVW offerings since the beginning. As well as continuing to cover all state Supreme Court hearings, TVW will soon begin to carry selected hearings of the state Court of Appeals.
TVW viewers also have begun to see a change in the on-screen graphics, designed to provide more useful information. During the legislative session, viewers were able to see lists of upcoming bills during floor debates. In coming months, the TVW screen will include more information about the current program, upcoming events and related material on tvw.org.
TVW’s Web site also will continue to evolve. Later this year, look for a redesign of the site that makes it easier to find the information you want with improved navigation and more advanced search functionality. Shows such as “The Docket” also will feature more “web-extras” designed to complement and expand the on-air content.
This year, TVW also plans to expand its reach into interactive media by producing a number of shows in collaboration with government, civic and media organizations. These programs will include “webcasts” where viewers will be able to engage in a real-time dialogue with policymakers, as well as video “focus groups” where discussion will be used to stimulate further comments from citizens online. The goal of these efforts is to increase the amount of two-way communications between citizens and policymakers.
Since its inception, TVW has had a strong commitment to civics education. That commitment will continue and expand in the coming year. From televising civics-oriented events such as the YMCA Youth Legislature and Mock Trial Competition, to producing informational videos for the classroom, to creating an expanded civics education Web site with lesson plans tied to state learning objectives, TVW will continue to improve the way this unique resource can be used in the classroom and the community.
Currently, TVW reaches more than 98% of the cable television households in the state. A 2006 statewide survey of registered voters revealed that 22% of them had viewed TVW within the last two weeks, which translates to more than 800,000 viewers. TVW’s Web site receives nearly 2 million visits per year and has the capacity to serve as an additional channel for video and audio events, convenient access to more than 50,000 hours of archived content and an increasing array of downloadable shows.
Since that first state Supreme Court telecast more than 12 years ago, TVW has had a long and productive partnership with the legal community. As TVW fully embraces the power of digital media, that partnership will result in more coverage of the key issues in Washington law. And that coverage will come to viewers in more ways than ever — on television, on the Web and by download.
With the continuing help of lawyers, judges, legal administrators and policymakers throughout the state, TVW can reach more citizens with the information they need about how our legal system works and why it is critical to our society. In short, a continued commitment to excellence in legal programming will continue to be central to TVW’s mission to “make public affairs public.”
TVW is available on Comcast Channel 23. For other channel locations visit TVW.org. New editions of The Docket air on the first Sunday of each month at 8 p.m.
