Calling all lawyers...

Today, Andy Moore, producer of Here & Now on WPT, joins Be more Tuned In as a guest voice to talk about an exciting upcoming program production.

Anybody know a good attorney? Wisconsin Public Television (WPT) is looking for one. We're putting the marriage amendment to the Wisconsin Constitution on trial. Courtroom dramas have always been popular prime-time programs. We're taking the color and excitement of the genre and turning it into a serious exercise in public policy.

Unlike the dramatic TV shows, our courtroom will be populated with real people -- Wisconsinites with real points of view and personal stakes in the outcome of the November marriage ballot.

We're modeling our special on a trial we produced in 1993. That's when voters went to the polls to vote for or against a constitutional amendment that expanded gambling in our state.

For that show, we constructed a courtroom in our studio. We used the language on the ballot as the "be it resolved" question. We hired two litigators and instructed them to build their best case with the testimony of three witnesses on their side. Obviously, limiting the witness list to three left out some of the arguments available. But, the testimony was compelling and informative. Certainly more useful than a wash of political commercialsm -- the kind of turbulent ads the public will be swimming through this coming fall. (Continued ...)

For example, in our 1993 program one lawyer called a tribal chair to the stand. She testified to the economic gains that gaming brought to her members.

The other lawyer's witness list included a resort owner who talked about the economic downturn she feared if expanded gaming plucked tourists from her cabins and plunked them down into the casinos.

There was exciting cross examination. At the end of the hour, we reminded viewers that they were the jury and asked them to take their verdict to the polls.

Any good idea worth doing once is worth doing again. Media coverage of the marriage amendment will take a back seat to the contentious races for governor and attorney general. That's another reason we decided to dust off the trial format. Trouble is, we've run into what Hollywood would call a casting problem.

We can't find a good attorney who's willing to argue for a "yes" vote to define marriage as between "one man and one woman." Outreach on our part to state and national traditional marriage lobbying groups and legal aid organizations has been unsuccessful. In fact, in declining to help provide a lawyer for our program, one state "yes" vote leader simply told me that PBS audiences "weren't on our side, anyway."

"We know who our voters are," she continued. "They're in churches around the state. We're putting all of our energy into getting those people to the polls."

I'm not going to hash through perceptions of television demographics. There is a bottom line, though -- WPT viewers demand accurate, in-depth information on the important topics of the day. Of course we'll cover the amendment issues in our weekly news programs. But this ballot item deserves extra attention, the kind of focus a one-hour special can allow.

Therefore, the marriage amendment is too important to give up on this project, too everlasting to leave coverage of it to commercials and nightly sound bites. Credible arguments in favor of the "yes" vote should be articulated in this program by the best possible attorney. So, we continue our search.

Our production date is Aug. 30. That's sufficient time to bring three good witnesses and prepare a case. We're looking for a lawyer who either personally supports the "one-man, one woman" amendment or who is simply dedicated to the principles of public service that this work will provide.

There is a modest honorarium available. Please contact me at moore@wpt.org if you're an attorney and are ready to play one on TV.