By The People: A National Issues Convention in Philadelphia -- January 12, 2003

Transcript - January 12, 2003

Participants for the January 2003 By the People National Issues Convention prepared for their deliberations by considering four different perspectives on what America's global priorities should be. These background print materials were prepared by the Kettering Foundation.

Just prior to America's invasion of Iraq, American citizenry was more likely to see Iraq as a threat - but they wished to deal with that threat only within the framework of multilateral institutions such as the United Nations. This was according to a Deliberative Opinion Poll, conducted as part of the January 12, 2003, By the People National Issues Convention.

By the People's latest national effort, Deliberation Week-October 22-29, 2005-- is built on public broadcasting's unique local-national base, its commitment to public affairs programming and its mission as a convener of civic dialogue.

A National Issues Convention in Philadelphia
Small Group Discussions From Saturday The inaugural event of By the People brought together more than 300 Americans in Philadelphia, birthplace of the U.S. Constitution, to discuss America in the world in a National Issues Convention that was broadcast on PBS on Sunday, Jan. 12, 2003.

What if the entire United States could sit down in a single room to tackle the toughest issues facing the nation? For only the second time in American history, a representative random sample of the American public got together to talk. On January 10th -12th, over 350 Americans of every region, race, faith, and profession gathered for one extraordinary weekend to ask one very important question: What is America's role in the world today?

The January 2003 National Issues Convention was built around a Deliberative Opinion Poll. Unlike polls that only capture spur-of-the-moment judgments, the Deliberative Poll measures what people would think if they had the time to become better informed. The random sample of Americans will take a poll prior to attending the National Issues Convention. Then, throughout the weekend, in small groups and large question and answer sessions, these Americans from all walks of life exchanged opinions, learned from each other, and questioned experts and decision-makers in person. Having read about and discussed the issues thoroughly, the participants took the poll again.

The 2003 National Issues Convention is part of a larger MacNeil/Lehrer Productions initiative called By the People: America in the World. As part of By the People, the January Convention will culminate in a two-hour live broadcast nationally televised on PBS and hosted by Jim Lehrer. This national broadcast will help launch a spring cycle of local dialogue events and local PBS programming focused on citizen engagement on foreign policy issues. The By the People local activities, involving a diverse coalition of alliance organizations, will take place in conjunction with a By the People national PBS special in May 2003. Another cycle of local activities and television programming will take place in the fall around an October national PBS special.