In One Detroit – Detroit PBS’s news and public affairs operation — we have created a new model for covering the city, which we believe is unlike the approach of any other news organization in Detroit – or perhaps any other city. We don’t merely report the news; we reveal life as its 4 million residents know it, through intensive and ongoing community engagement.

Now, we are turning our attention – with the rest of the nation – to the issues that will be driving the 2020 election. But we won’t be wallowing in punditry or reporting on the political horserace, but instead we will be covering it in our unique way, with a deep understanding of what matters to the people of Metro Detroit.

We launched our election coverage yesterday night at The Dovetail Coffee Shop in Warren, where 40 local residents gathered for a deep conversation with our moderators – Christy McDonald, Nolan Finley and WDET’s Jerome Vaughn – about what makes Macomb County special, the changes they have seen in recent years, their concern about how they are portrayed in the media and the issues they would like to see candidates address.

It was a free-wheeling and wide-ranging discussion without rancor, in which people listened to one another.