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Red states and blue states are drifting further apart, ideologically. Rural youth are migrating faster and faster to urban centers. Small town newspapers and radio stations are going silent. Families can't even carry on a respectful conversation at the 4th of July potluck! Never has it been more important for the media to step forward and moderate conversations across divides.

TV Show On Civility In America Makes Its First Stop In Wyoming

Courtesy of TV Gals Media
Screenshot of "High Noon In America."

A film company recently toured Wyoming, stopping in Jackson, Moorcroft and Cheyenne, screening a pilot of a TV show on civil discourse. Each episode of "High Noon in America" will visit a new state and pair people on opposing sides of the political spectrum to get them talking.

Filmmaker Bobbi Birleffi grew up in Cheyenne and went on to form TV Gals Media with Co-Producer Beverly Kopf. For their first episode, they brought together Wyoming Lawmaker Tyler Lindholm with Teton County Commissioner Natalia Macker. They also paired up former U.S. Representative Cynthia Lummis with UW law professor Jackie Bridgeman. They're currently circulating "High Noon in America" with film companies like Showtime and PBS and hope to see it picked up in coming months.

Wyoming Public Radio's Melodie Edwards sat down Jackie Bridgeman and both filmmakers as part of our series, "I Respectfully Disagree."

Filmmaker Birleffi starts off explaining where the idea for the show came from.

Melodie Edwards is the host and producer of WPM's award-winning podcast The Modern West. Her Ghost Town(ing) series looks at rural despair and resilience through the lens of her hometown of Walden, Colorado. She has been a radio reporter at WPM since 2013, covering topics from wildlife to Native American issues to agriculture.
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