Coming on PBS – How Can We Fix Our Democracy?
WASHINGTON – Do you sometimes feel as if our democracy is coming apart at the seams?
Gridlock, hate speech, dark money, negative ads, political parties at each others throats instead of working together for our common good? It’s almost enough to make you give up on American democracy. But please,don’t go there. Because I know we can fix our broken democracy.
I know, because courageous, daring Americans from Florida and the Carolinas to the Dakotas and Washington State have shown me how they’re winning reforms to make our elections cleaner and fairer and to restore the power of We the People. In fact, 2018 was the best year for political reforms in half a century.
That’s an amazing story. I’ve filmed it and I want to share it with you. I call it THE DEMOCRACY REBELLION. It’s a hopeful story of patriotic commitment, of People Power on the move, of average Americans reaching across party lines, forging bipartisan coalitions and using the courts, the streets, and the ballot box to reclaim our democracy.
This month that great story is once again on PBS – “THE DEMOCRACY REBELLION: A Reporter’s Notebook with Hedrick Smith.” Back in January-February, PBS ran our film nationwide and it did so well, PBS World is bringing it back for a second showing..
You’ll join me on-location in half a dozen states across the country, covering citizen movements and capturing the compelling stories of local heroes leading cross-partisan campaigns to revive our democracy, winning voter protections and gerrymander reform, exposing dark money, and passing anti-corruption ballot initiatives to make our elections cleaner, fairer, and more open to all. What’s so encouraging and important is their powerful message: Citizen power still has clout in today’s America.
You’ll really like these grassroots heroes. Their passionate commitment is infectious. You’ll want to see their stories – and now you can. THE DEMOCRACY REBELLION is running on PBS on July 15, 16, 18, and 21. For the exact air time on your local PBS station or your state network, click here and scroll down.
Hedrick Smith, who conceived this website and is its principal writer and architect, is a Pulitzer Prize-winning former New York Times reporter and Emmy award-winning documentary producer for PBS and PBS FRONTLINE. 
