285: Inside White With Fear: Emmy-Winning Producer Andrew Goldberg on Media and Politics
Filmmaking Conversations Podcast with Damien SwabyShow Notes
What role does fear play in shaping political narratives—and who benefits from it? In this episode, Emmy Award–winning investigative producer Andrew Goldberg joins the podcast to discuss his documentary White With Fear, a powerful examination of how racial anxiety has been strategically used in American political messaging over the past half-century. We explore how documentary storytelling can unpack complex national myths, why public television still matters in today’s media landscape, and what it takes to build projects supported by hundreds of institutions and partners worldwide.Along the way, Andrew reflects on: the research process behind White With Fear how political messaging around race evolved from the late 20th century to today why documentary filmmaking remains a critical civic tool the responsibility of public-interest storytelling the challenges of making investigative work accessible to broad audiences what global audiences misunderstand—and do understand—about American politics lessons from producing long-form journalism for PBS and major broadcast outlets This conversation looks beyond headlines to examine how narratives are constructed, circulated, and remembered—and why understanding them matters now more than ever.
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