"Nightly Business Report" to add environmental content

“Nightly Business Report,” which airs on more than 200 PBS stations across the country, announced Wednesday a new collaboration with Planet Forward to develop programming about the environment.

The content, which premieres Thursday with an in-studio appearance by Emmy award-winning host Frank Sesno, will be shaped by the public through Planet Forward’s public affairs Web site PlanetForward.org. Planet Forward is a multimedia project housed at the George Washington University.

The first episode, titled “A New Electric Car,” takes a look at the Nissan Leaf — the automaker’s new 100 percent electric car.

“Planet Forward’s ability to expand the reach of our online community will grow exponentially with the national reach of ‘Nightly Business Report,'” said Frank Sesno, director of GW’s School of Media and Public Affairs, in a statement. “Since one of our primary goals is to encourage collaboration by exposing our communities’ ideas to the widest possible audience, a television partner like NBR will help us connect good ideas to new viewers along with our other online distribution channels.”

Viewers will submit ideas focused on innovations that can tackle energy and climate challenges through PlanetForward.org. “Nightly Business Report” and Planet Forward will jointly produce stories around the most interesting and unique ideas from the online entries.

Read more here.