PBS SOCAL & VOICE OF OC ANNOUNCE MEDIA PARTNERSHIP TO EXPAND COVERAGE OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT & POLITICS
COSTA MESA, Calif. (January 14, 2013) – PBS SoCaL and Voice of OC will combine the award-winning news productions “Real Orange” and “SoCaL Insider” with the focused local government and political coverage found on http://www.VoiceofOC.org into a new partnership in 2013. The new venture will launch with a special Orange County Politics segment on PBS SoCaL’s “Real Orange” newsmagazine on Thursday, Jan. 17 at 5 p.m. The new partnership was announced today by Mel Rogers, PBS SoCaL CEO and president, and Norberto Santana, Jr., Voice of OC editor-in-chief.
Voice of OC is a web-based non-profit investigative agency dedicated to in-depth coverage of Orange County government and politics. The new segments on “Real Orange” will bring Voice of OC’s investigative talents to television on a regular basis on PBS SoCaL’s weekday program.
“Norberto Santana has been a frequent guest on ‘Real Orange,’ providing insight into the civic workings of Orange County,” says Michael Taylor, PBS SoCaL news director. “We look forward to these regular contributions from such an outstanding news agency.”
“Voice of OC and PBS SoCaL both believe Orange County residents need to know and understand what is happening in local governments to insure a healthy, vibrant democracy,” adds Santana. “This partnership is an excellent way to reach out to a wider audience and expand our ability to investigate, analyze and contextualize.”
Rogers also notes that, in the coming year, Voice of OC will contribute additional video-journalist equipment to PBS SoCaL for the station’s new studio. Explains Rogers: “This equipment is a tremendous bonus to our production capabilities and will enable Voice of OC to contribute even more content to both ‘Real Orange’ and ‘SoCaL Insider’ in the future.”
About Voice of OC
Voice of OC is a non-profit investigative news agency dedicated to in-depth coverage of Orange County government and politics. Reporters deploy through a geographically based beat structure with each reporter covering several Orange County cities. In many respects, Voice of OC reporters cover their beats like good municipal reporters have always covered city halls. Voice of OC focuses on accountability in government, not the process of government. This means that stories are driven not by meetings or events, but by the deep understanding reporters and editors have of the issues that local governments face. For more information go to http://www.voiceofoc.org/
About PBS SoCaL
PBS SoCaL, formerly KOCE-TV, is Southern California’s PBS station dedicated to interactively educating, entertaining, and enlightening the greater Los Angeles area. With its three unique broadcast channels. PBS SoCaL HD, PBS OC, and WORLD TV, PBS SoCaL provides award-winning programs like Frontline, NewsHour, NOVA, Nature, and Masterpiece, as well as local productions Real Orange, SoCaL Insider With Rick Reiff, and Bookmark With Maria Hall-Brown. Through community outreach initiatives including PBS SoCaL Education, PBS SoCaL provides local schools access to new media materials that engage students in 21st century learning. Explore the future of PBS in Southern California at www.pbssocal.org.
