Is It Time for a New New Deal? WNET.ORG to Air a Blueprint America Special - The Big Fix

Is It Time for a New New Deal? WNET.ORG to Air a Blueprint America Special - The Big Fix

NEW YORK, Dec. 29 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The proposals are coming fast and furious from Washington: fix the economy and generate jobs by repairing and rebuilding the nation's crumbling infrastructure. President-elect Barack Obama says he plans to make the kinds of investments not seen since the 1930s when Franklin Delano Roosevelt unleashed the New Deal in an effort to pull the nation out of The Great Depression. To help viewers better understand what exactly is at stake, the stations of WNET.ORG will air a Blueprint America special: Blueprint America: The Big Fix airing Tuesday, December 30th from 9:00-10:00 p.m. on THIRTEEN and from 12:00-1:00 a.m on WLIW21.

David Brancaccio, the award-winning host and senior editor of NOW on PBS anchors The Big Fix. Joining him for a centerpiece conversation is the popular New York Times columnist Paul Krugman. Krugman, who recently accepted the 2008 Nobel Prize in Economics, tells Brancaccio that president-elect Obama will need courage to spend the billions necessary, not only to fix our roads and bridges, but to pull the economy out of recession. "This is a once in two generations or once in three generations crisis," he said. "The usual rules do not apply. We've got nothing but infrastructure spending to sustain us."

But viewers will quickly learn that the challenges surrounding infrastructure spending are daunting and that money alone will not do the trick. Along with interviewing Krugman, Brancaccio will guide viewers through special reports examining our crumbling highways, bridges, ports, airports and other vital lifelines. It's all part of Public Broadcasting's groundbreaking initiative called Blueprint America. Helmed by WNET.ORG, reporters at NOW on PBS, the NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, Expose on Bill Moyers Journal and THIRTEEN's local New York Voices, have been looking into the complex relationship between the country's deteriorating infrastructure, the crisis on Wall Street and the impact on the nation's economy and how we live. The Big Fix provides viewers insight into what is becoming one of the most important stories of our time. WNET.ORG has been ahead of the curve in recognizing that infrastructure and public spending would become a critical element of new economic policy and recession remedies.

About WNET.ORG - New York public media company WNET.ORG is a pioneering provider of television and Web content. The parent of Thirteen/WNET, WLIW New York and Creative News Group, WNET.ORG brings together respected and innovative producers in arts and culture; news and public affairs; science, nature and history; and children's programming in the pursuit of a single, overarching goal -- to create media experiences of lasting significance for New York, America and the world.

About Blueprint America- Blueprint America is a year-long multi-platform media initiative that presents a unique portfolio of current affairs reports under the Blueprint America umbrella, including original documentaries, individual segments produced in partnership with PBS's most prestigious and most-watched news and public affairs and public radio outlets, and a comprehensive website at www.pbs.org/blueprintamerica. The project is being supported with a major grant from The Rockefeller Foundation.

About The Rockefeller Foundation- The Rockefeller Foundation was established in 1913 by John D. Rockefeller Sr. With assets of more than $4 billion, the Foundation attempts to harness the creative forces of globalization by supporting breakthrough solutions to 21st century challenges. This helps ensure that the tools and technologies that have significantly improved the human condition in many locations over the past half-century are accessible to more people, more fully, in more places -- and that poor and vulnerable people are equipped to seize them. Visit www.rockfound.org.

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Source: Thirteen/WNET New York

CONTACT: Roberta Lee of Thirteen/WNET New York, +1-212-560-3134,
LeeR@WNET.ORG

Web Site: http://www.pbs.org/blueprintamerica
http://www.rockfound.org/
http://www.thirteen.org/

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Profile: International Entertainment