CBS News is launching CBS Village, an online destination for news division content about diverse groups, while it has made more additions to its newly formed race and culture unit.
CBS Village will be a brand dedicated to content about a diversity of communities, including Black, Asian, LGBQT, LatinX, women and millennials.
Kim Godwin, executive vice president of news, said that their “hope is that by spotlighting this cross-section of our coverage across all of our platforms, we’ll help audiences connect the dots in these stories involving race, gender and identity and bring a richer understanding to the national conversation around the problems, progress, and potential our nation faces.”
The network recently formed a race and culture unit, led by Alvin Patrick, and have recently added three journalists. CBS News producer Marcelena Spencer is joining as senior producer; CBS News producer Bonita Sostre will be coordinating producer; and Harry Forbes will be broadcast associate.
Meanwhile, on Friday, CBSN will show the special The Power of August, which looks at the transformational moments in civil rights history that have happened during the month. Maurice DuBois anchors with contributions from Vladimir Duthiers, Mark Strassman, Wes Lowery and Michelle Miller. The special features four acts, each with a length of 8 minutes and 46 seconds, or the length of time a Minneapolis police officer had his knee on George Floyd’s neck.
The special is the first since the network announced a partnership with the NAACP and CBS Television Studios to co-produce scripted and unscripted content.
The Power of August will feature interviews with NAACP President Derrick Johnson; Sherilynn Ifill, executive director of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund; and National Urban League President Marc Morial. The special, which will stream at 8 PM ET, will be part of CBS Village.
This documentary coincides with the 2020 Virtual March on Washington on Friday.
“We view the historic concurrence of August events over the last 65 years as a way to tell the story of the civil rights struggle in America,” Patrick said in a statement. “Some events are tragic and others are triumphant but the collective power of the story of August is undeniable.”