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Democracy is shaped by the voices of the electorate, and democracy should be shaped by the voices of an informed electorate. Every American citizen has the inherent right to see, understand, and react to the decisions made by their elected leaders, whether in Washington, D.C. or one of the 50 State Houses across the nation.
Just as C-SPAN has made access to Congress and other forums of the Federal Government as simple as turning on the television, State Public Affairs Networks have begun to emerge, bringing the same level of access, openness and accountability to state governments and offering unbiased information about state government deliberations and public policy events. As power over public policy flows increasingly to the states, the time has come for 50 states to work together as one nation to educate the public and advance its understanding of and participation in the political process and the development of public policy.
The National Association of Public Affairs Networks has been conceived to help establish and expand in all 50 states noncommercial television networks devoted to providing citizens with fair, balanced, and unfiltered access to their state governments: to foster and nurture the institutions that will help create the informed electorate that will shape our democracy in the years to come. NAPAN is committed to the launch and viability of networks in all 50 states by the year 2015.
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