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PBS General Audience Programming and Digital Studios content represents lived experiences from an inclusive range of producers.

At PBS, our approach to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) is holistic and we celebrate all cultures, backgrounds, and lived experiences (i.e., with respect to race, ethnicity, religion, age, gender, veteran status, sexual orientation, disability, geographic region, socioeconomic status, and other dimensions of identity).

PBS’s ongoing commitment to deliver a broad array of content to the American public is reflected across General Audience Programming, Digital Studios, and our pipeline of producers (together “GA Programming”).  This commitment is essential to fulfilling the PBS mission and creating relevant, timely, and distinctive content that educates, engages, and inspires. 

Representation of on-screen talent (narrators, hosts, subjects, or experts) across our primetime content is core to our work in primetime programming, and PBS offers a platform for a range of producers, including all races and ethnicities from underrepresented groups and underserved populations, all religions, veterans, people who identify as LGBTQ+, and people with disabilities, as set forth above (together, “underrepresented”).

PBS is also aware that underrepresented producers have historically faced barriers in public television including lack of access to funding support for their projects. To help address these and other barriers, GA Programming will provide increased funding support to increase opportunities for our primetime/digital content, pool of producers, and on-screen talent to represent all our stories and celebrate all points of view. 

Producers from all backgrounds and perspectives are welcome to submit their proposals to PBS for consideration.

GA Programming strives to reflect content from every perspective and solutions-focused stories across our primetime and digital content, which is core to our work at PBS. 

Documentaries, series, topics, or narratives should meaningfully offer a wide range of perspectives including those from underrepresented groups. 

All Americans should see themselves represented through our programs that celebrate and give voice to a broad variety of backgrounds and lived experiences. 

In addition to focusing on content from every perspective, PBS works to reduce barriers that prevent underrepresented on-screen talent (narrators, hosts, subjects, or experts) from meaningful participation in our primetime/digital content opportunities.  

Overall, on-screen talent should reflect all the lived experiences of the U.S. population.

GA Programming productions should seek to engage qualified individuals for roles behind the camera whose lived experience brings additional understanding of the varied perspectives being highlighted in the program. These roles include key editorial personnel involved in productions (examples include Executive Producer, Series Producer, Co-Producer, Director, Director of Photography, etc.).

As GA Programming continues to amplify this work to ensure our content across platforms is representative of underrepresented stories, we urge PBS producing partners (including public television major producing stations and producers of direct-to-PBS programs) to strive to fulfill one or more of the areas of focus on our commitment to tell stories about us all in primetime content, on-screen representation, and key editorial roles behind the camera. 

PBS producing partners should consider the following questions during the development and proposal submission stage for their projects. These questions are not intended to be an exhaustive list, but rather meant to serve as a guide for pre-planning.

• Does this program content reflect all stories, voices, or perspectives?

• What steps are you taking to ensure that your stories are authentic – grounded in all lived experiences and shown through multiple lenses of storytelling? 

• In the production/story development process, are you including people from the communities about which you are telling the stories?

• Does the behind-the-camera production team (e.g., those in key editorial/production roles) and the general production crew include people with lived experiences who bring additional understanding of the varied perspectives being highlighted in the program?

• What steps has your production team taken to ensure that producing/co-producing partners are enhancing the PBS mission for the project? 

See below for information about reporting standards for producing partners.

Transparency in reporting and accountability are essential to GA Programming efforts to support and distribute inclusive content. 

Pre-Production Reporting

We require producers to provide a plan as a deliverable for all new agreements, series renewals, and direct-to-PBS programs.  Producing partners will explain how their projects support the principles that GA Programming has outlined as set forth above. The decisions about what programs to fund are made without regard to the submitted goals.

For programs aimed for GA Programming, producing partners must submit a draft plan with their project proposal that outlines:

1.  A description of how the production includes perspectives of underrepresented populations, which includes content subject matter; on-screen talent; and key editorial personnel/behind the camera staff. 

2. Representation of underrepresented groups for production team members including above-the-line talent (Directors, Writers, Producers, Creators) and below-the-line positions. 
 

Mid-Production Reporting

For each area of reporting (e.g., above-the-line, below-the-line, on-screen talent, etc.), producers must indicate whether these goals outlined in the plan were met, surpassed, or missed. When goals were not met, General Audience Programming producers must provide details within 45 days of completion of principal photography on which aspects were found challenging to address and why. Digital Studios programming producers provide this report mid-season.

Any identified goals are intended to be aspirational and not used as hiring or decision-making quotas. The ability or inability of a producer to reach their stated aspirational goals will not be considered in any future funding or grant applications.
 

Final Reporting

A final report addressing the project’s successes and challenges related to the goals set forth herein are due with final reporting/delivery.

GA Programming recognizes there is always more work needed to make sure that our content includes all our stories, including those of underrepresented groups, across our content, on-screen talent, and pool of producers.

For these efforts to be sustained over time, we expect all producers to work with us by using the tool/s identified by PBS that not only measure accountability for all our stories, including PBS's Producer Portal, but also adhere to the privacy and security requirements of the PBS Technology and Operations Department.