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About Great Lakes Now

With a monthly magazine-style television program and daily online reports at GreatLakesNow.org, the Great Lakes Now initiative offers in-depth coverage of news, issues, events and developments affecting the lakes and the communities that depend on them, while capturing the character and culture of the region. Find our Watch Parties and other events HERE.

Housed at Detroit Public TV, Great Lakes Now’s growing network of regional partner public broadcaster stations and other media outlets contribute coverage to the television program and to the Great Lakes Now website. The monthly show, “Great Lakes Now,” launched in April 2019, and since then has expanded to a basin-wide, bi-national program carried on more than 25 PBS stations in six states as well as on more than 800 Canadian cable systems.

A growing team of award-winning journalists provide authoritative coverage online about a wide range of subjects affecting life in the Great Lakes Basin including water quality, public policy, environmental justice, economic development, resource conservation and tourism.

In addition, Great Lakes Now produces activities and lessons plans for Grades 5-8 with a curriculum and virtual field trips available HERE for free.

Great Lakes Now staff also appear at a wide range of events throughout the region, partnering with universities, cultural institutions, civic and historical groups, and recreational clubs to bring audiences screenings, panel discussions and opportunities to shape show segments and website stories.

Editorial Guidelines

Disclosing Funders

Funders of Great Lakes Now and Detroit Public Television content cannot be anonymous. Federal law requires that broadcasters “fully and fairly disclose the true identity” of all funders. The purpose of this requirement is to be fully transparent with the audience. While this legal requirement is limited to broadcast programming, Great Lakes Now, One Detroit and Detroit Public Television ensure transparency by requiring that funders be disclosed for content distributed on all platforms, including online videos, mobile applications, and websites.

We define a funder as any third-party donor (e.g., corporation, foundation, or private individual) that has made a financial contribution to support: (1) the production or acquisition of specific content distributed by Great Lakes Now, One Detroit and/or Detroit Public Television; (2) the research and development for that content; (3) the packaging or repackaging of that content; or (4) the program service through which that content is distributed.

Editorial Independence

Editorial independence is essential to serving the public interest and preserving the public’s trust. Content distributed by Great Lakes Now, One Detroit and Detroit Public Television must be free of undue influence from third-party funders, political interests, and other outside forces. Great Lakes Now, One Detroit and Detroit Public Television must remain unwavering in a commitment to distributing content that exemplifies ethical and journalistic integrity rather than advancing commercial interests. This obligation is achieved through the good-faith professional judgment of producers and staff and by carefully listening to the public. Detroit Public Television/Great Lakes Now/One Detroit partnerships and collaborations with outside academic, research, and/or other media outlets are also held to the same standard of journalistic and ethical integrity. Editorial independence gives producers the intellectual freedom to achieve and demonstrate a commitment to accuracy, fairness, inclusiveness, accountability and transparency.

Current Supporters:

Fred A. and Barbara M. Erb Family Foundation

Charles Stewart Mott Foundation

Richard C. Devereaux Foundation for Energy & Environmental Programs at DPTV

Polk Family Fund

DTE Foundation

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