When we were setting out to create a site to cover the economy, it was difficult to figure out where to begin. There’s a lot of great material already out there, but how can we as public media tell a different story that allows readers, listeners, and viewers to figure out what’s really important and get a sense of how things are interconnected?

Do we focus on stories like Gary and Rachel Peterson, a father and daughter who were both victims of downsizing at the Weyerhaueser paper plant in Washington state? Or do we answer questions about the auto industry bailouts, with advice from economists and other experts? Should we be paying more attention to how kids are dealing with the recession? Or is it more crucial to understand how the stimulus money is being spent?

We’ll be taking you on a short tour of the projects underway within public media, and over the course of the year, we hope to bring your voice into these stories and make this a space for opinions, ideas, and innovation around a subject that is touching us all in a variety of ways. You can all see videos from the project partners, courtesy of our friends at Miro.org here: videos.economystory.org.

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Through a grant from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), a collaboration of public media organizations are producing a wide range of stories and resources on the economy. EconomyStory.org provides a one-stop shop for finding thoughtful editorial coverage of wide-ranging issues facing the American economy and their global implications.

Partners in the collaboration include PRX, NPR, PBS, The NewsHour, Public Interactive, Marketplace, Capitol News Connection, Youth Radio, KQED, PRI’s The World, Nightly Business Report, and WNYC. Tools and resources created by the collaboration partners are available for public and station use, and many can be added as widgets to your web site or social networking page.

For more information on this project and public media’s efforts around the economy as a whole, watch Focus on the Economy from the National Center for Media Engagement. CPB has further information on the Public Service Media Economic Response Initiative and the official press release on the collaboration.

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