As you know by now, our Your Agenda discussion boards are closed while we work on redesigning our website. But we're still looking for your show ideas. Every Thursday night is YOUR AGENDA. And we mean that.

That being said, here's a message from our Executive Producer Dan Dunsky:

 

Your Agenda: How to pitch a story for The Agenda with Steve Paikin

Several years ago, when we began planning for this program, we knew we wanted to find a way of including the public’s suggestions into our editorial decision-making process. Those were the heady days of web 2.0 and everyone assumed there was an unlimited appetite for “citizen-based journalism” and that every media outlet would soon become another YouTube.

 

Well, we weren’t immune to those pressures here at The Agenda with Steve Paikin but, three years later, we’ve learned a few things. And so, we’re in the process of redesigning our website to be more accessible while cutting down on applications that never really took hold among our viewers and online users (those which never passed what Fifth Column blogger Mike Miner calls the ‘cute kitten’ test).

 

Still, some things have worked, and worked well. Later this season, for example, we’ll follow up on our successful participant-generated AgendaCamps with a new round of these events as part of this year’s Agenda on the Road specials.

 

And we’re still going strong with our Thursday night Your Agenda segments.

The concept here is simple.

 

Every Thursday we produce our program based on your input. Sometimes that means you come up with the ideas, sometimes it means we ask you what you find interesting about our ideas. Either way, you are helping to program this program.

 

We also work your comments and questions into these programs at theagenda@tvo.org, at twitter.com/theagenda and on the last Thursday of each month during our Munk Centre web chat.

If you’re interested in contributing, here are five points to keep in mind:

 

- The Agenda with Steve Paikin is not a news program. We take our cues from what’s going on in the world, but our job is not to report what is happening but to (hopefully) shine a light on why things are happening. Think of us as the op-ed pages of a newspaper, or as a current affairs periodical focused on matters that are changing the world we live in.

 

- When you think about it, we stick to our knitting: we produce interviews—of both the “feature” and “accountability” varieties—and we produce discussions and debates. Your suggestions should likewise stick to this format.

 

- Or think about it another way: we like to analyze issues and events, or to synthesize several issues and events, and discuss the trends they suggest.

 

- Suggest guests: who are the experts you think we should invite on our program?

 

- Follow up. Some of our best programs have emerged from points guests have made on air, or in response to blog posts and replies. Remember, we’re not looking for answers but to carry on and deepen the conversation.

 

So, there you have it, the abridged version of how to pitch stories for The Agenda with Steve Paikin.

All you need now is curiosity about the world and you’ve got it made.

There you have it, folks, now let your ideas flow freely!

For next week, Thursday, September 24th, here are a couple of ideas we're kicking around:

A viewer said one issue that was very important to how he would vote this year was the border. He sees Canada's inability to work with Washington to keep the border open as a failure, and something he would hope a U.S.-friendly Conservative government would be well-suited to accomplishing. Should Ottawa have done more to keep the longest undefended border in the world flowing freely?

And: With INCO workers on strike since July, it's safe to say the recent boom days are over. With foreign companies in control of the mines, population still in decline, and no solution in sight, is Northern Ontario sustainable? Do we need vibrant cities up there or will a resource colony suffice?

What are your thoughts about those two ideas? I'd love to know. I'd also love to read some ideas from you.

And, if you're not already doing so, please follow me on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/navin_vaswani

UPDATE: Please try and keep your comments focused on the topic of the post. We're looking for your thoughts on tonight's program, and any other show ideas you might have for upcoming Your Agenda Thursday shows. Thanks.