‘Made Possible By…’ #6: Jennifer Lawson on public television as a tool for equality

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Rick Fingerman

Lawson

On this episode of Made Possible By…, hear longtime public broadcasting leader Jennifer Lawson in conversation with Ivana Jackson, a communications manager in Washington, D.C., and former education and outreach coordinator at WHUT-TV.

Lawson retired in 2016 as senior VP for television and digital content at CPB. She also served as GM of WHUT and executive VP of programming and promotion services at PBS. At PBS, she developed iconic kids’ TV shows including Barney and Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego?

Lawson tells Jackson that she came to public television through the civil rights movement, after noting that people of color were denied opportunities for education. “I began to think about how can you change things, how can you ensure that people, that all people in this country, have access to useful information, to facts, to knowledge,” Lawson says. “And public television seemed a perfect place and a perfect way to provide that kind of information and educational background for everyone.”

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