TVW’s History and Mission
The Stage is Set for TVW

The final decades of the 20th century saw many changes in news coverage of government and politics. C-SPAN blazed the trail for unedited gavel-to-gavel coverage of government deliberations when it was created in 1979 to cover the federal government. During the 1980s and 90s the federal government transferred many major policy decisions to the states – yet, at the same time, television news departments were making sharp cuts in their coverage of state government and politics, to say nothing of local/national politics.

TVW’s Founding and Guiding Principles

TVW was founded in 1993 and went on air in 1995 offering unedited coverage of Washington state government, politics and public policy. TVW was started and continues to operate on several founding principles:

- Open government: Government belongs to the people of Washington, who deserve complete access to the workings of their state government.

- In-depth, nonpartisan coverage: Both with its unedited “gavel-to-gavel” coverage and its news reporting TVW seeks to go beyond the soundbites; tell stories in elected officials’ own voices; stay meticulously nonpartisan; and let viewers make their own decisions about the issues.

- Civics education: We work to educate Washingtonians of all ages about their state government, and invite them to engage and participate.