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PBS Announces PBS American Portrait Covid-19 Special

american portrait

PBS and its recently launched crowdsourced storytelling project, PBS AMERICAN PORTRAIT, the signature content initiative of PBS’s 50th anniversary, will present a new coronavirus special to broadcast Friday, May 8 at 9:00 p.m. ET (check local listings), announced today.

The special, IN THIS TOGETHER: A PBS AMERICAN PORTRAIT STORY, will begin streaming May 8 on all station-branded PBS platforms, including PBS.org and the PBS Video App, available on iOS, Android, Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, YouTube TV and Chromecast.

Since early January, the PBS AMERICAN PORTRAIT website has captured thousands of stories by Americans that, together, hope to answer the question: What does it really mean to be an American today?

With the unprecedented global and national impact of COVID-19, the answer to that central question and related prompts has shifted in recent weeks, which is reflected in the submissions still pouring into the site. The half-hour special will spotlight the many personal stories, photographs and videos shared by thousands of people in response to the prompt “I never expected…,” and viewers will hear first-hand accounts of how this global pandemic has affected our nation.

Throughout the special, which is being produced by PBS and RadicalMedia, participants from across the country will use self-shot video, photos and text to share how the COVID-19 outbreak is impacting their lives, their communities and their understanding of what it means to live in our country at this unique moment in time. IN THIS TOGETHER: A PBS AMERICAN PORTRAIT STORY participants will tell these stories self-filmed in their own words, in their own creative ways and from their own points of view.

More details about the participants and their stories will be shared closer to the broadcast date. Please visit the PBS AMERICAN PORTRAIT website at www.pbs.org/americanportrait and follow the conversation at #AmericanPortraitPBS on FacebookTwitter and Instagram to view the thousands of stories already being submitted.

For the full announcement and press release, click HERE.