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The Nashville-based government affairs firm CivicPoint has launched “On Background,” a podcast featuring the candid voices of Tennessee political, business and cultural leaders. Released today, the first episode is a close-up interview with Tennessee House Speaker Beth Harwell (R-Nashville).
“This project is about open and in-depth conversations, drawing on the personal narrative and emotional stories that offer insight into the way these people lead in our community today,” says Tom Lee, managing principal of CivicPoint. “It’s not about quick soundbites or daily headlines, but about dialogue that brings out genuine and personal accounts of the people we see in the news, but rarely get the chance to truly know,” he says.
As producer and moderator of “On Background,” Lee draws on 35 years of political, government relations, and award-winning journalism experience. In the podcast’s first episode, available today on iTunes, SoundCloud, Stitcher and Google Play Music, Lee engages in a half-hour long honest parley with House Speaker Harwell on how caring for her grandmother in the summer of Watergate taught her the need – and the way – to speak the hard truth to political allies.
Subsequent 2016 episodes of “On Background” will be published over the next couple of months, featuring Nashville Mayor Megan Barry, state Senator Doug Overbey (R-Maryville), and other Tennessee leaders.