Washington Business Spring 2016 | Page 18

washington business In Their Words Renee Radcliff Sinclair is the president of TVW, Washington state’s public affairs broadcasting network, located just a stone’s throw away from the Capitol campus in Olympia. Founded in 1993, TVW was established to give citizens unbiased and unfiltered access and insight into state government operations and deliberations. Today, the cable station offers live broadcasts, live web streaming and digital archives of all of its content. Recently retired from leading strategic initiatives for Apple, Inc., former four-term state representative and 14-year journalist, Radcliff Sinclair was selected to serve as leader of the broadcast watchdog last year. Washington Business Staff Writer Bobbi Cussins sat down with her to discuss her new role at TVW, recent technology upgrades at the station and the importance of the legislative broadcast outlet to the public and open government advocates despite today’s fast-paced, online news environment. Your background in both business and government lends itself to TVW, but what drew you to the position? It goes back even further. I started my career in journalism. At the time that I decided to run for the state Legislature, I had to leave my journalism role I had at the time. I always felt that at some point in my career I would get back to that. So, when this opportunity became available, I saw the link between my journalism background and my definite love of the Legislature and the process. I thought it was a really great opportunity for me to get back to the two things I decided I really wanted to do in life. Previously, I had been working in a number of states and just to get back focused on Washington again was a wonderful gift. TVW just went through a major technology update. What new features can viewers expect and how will the changes improve legislative transparency? There are several changes that are happening as a result of our equipment refresh. Much of our equipment was quite old — at least 10 years. And some of our equipment was 20 years-old — as long as we’ve been in existence. Some of the things you can look forward to is a better and more easily accessible website. Our board has recently been through a strategic planning process and we’re really focused on anytime, anywhere and any device. So we’re making our product more accessible to people everywhere. We’ve gone from standard definition to high definition so people will notice the clarity of our picture. We’re working diligently to secure a highdefinition channel with some of our carriers. We are also now going to be able to cover every hearing that is happening on the Capitol campus and people will be able to access any hearing that happens as part of the official process on our website. By all accounts, it was difficult to convince the Legislature to authorize funds for the upgrades. What, in the end, swayed lawmakers? I would love to be able to take credit for all that, but I came in in the middle of session. I credit Valoria Loveland, former chair of the Senate Ways and Means Committee. She is on our board. It’s really hard to advocate for funding based on 30-year bonds for equipment that is going to last five to seven years. It just doesn’t make sense. 18 association of washington business So we went with a completely different plan as part of a five-year strategy that is actually better for us. It allows us to get on a regular refresh schedule. We don’t want to be in this position ever again where we’re dealing with equipment we can’t even get parts for. I know I worked it really hard, and my predecessor worked it really hard, too. Bills and funding requests sometimes take several years to get the attention they deserve. It was truly a confluence of things: We had a better strategy and I think the state was in a little better shape financially than it had been the last few years and it all came together to work in our favor. How important is TVW to the open government process? In my view, it’s critical. People, in general, don’t have a real strong understanding of how their government works. I think this gives them a great opportunity to see not only how the Legislature works in relationship to the governor’s office and creating laws, but we also provide an opportunity for viewers to have a better under