History & Mission

Who We Are

WisconsinEye Public Affairs Network is a 501c3 nonprofit organization funded by charitable contributions. The network is the nation’s first and only independent State Capitol broadcast organization, operating much like C-SPAN at the national level.

In today’s fragmented and fast-paced media environment, the filtering of news is rampant. Partisanship creates bias in reporting. Expedience to attract viewers and advertisers diminishes accuracy. Brevity in coverage eliminates context and perspective. WisconsinEye seeks to remove these filters with news and event coverage that comes directly from the policymakers. 

As a viewer, you are present at the State Capitol event. You do not have to rely on sound bytes or someone’s interpretation. WisconsinEye brings the policy issues directly to citizens, unfiltered, and complete. This is the cornerstone of our mission: “To inspire informed citizen participation in our representative democracy, across generations, throughout Wisconsin.”

WisconsinEye began broadcasting in May 2007. Special thanks are directed to Wisconsin’s state elected officials who believe that citizen access to state proceedings is vital to the strength of our representative democracy. Since inception, WisconsinEye has produced more than 14,000 hours of State Capitol and related civic programming – all available from the WisconsinEye archive at wiseye.org


Our Motivation to Serve

Voices and ideas arise from diverse geographic, ethnic, economic, cultural, and political landscapes – gathering in forums across the state and, ultimately, under the dome of our historic State Capitol in Madison. Access to reliable citizenship-building information is vital because public trust requires public participation. Ethical leadership requires access to leaders. Invigorating citizenship requires an invitation to all to become participants. 

WisconsinEye is committed to providing citizens with access to the actions of our state government and to a range of civic and policy forums and events from across Wisconsin. This is a direct flow of communication from elected and appointed officials to our viewers – all without editing, filtering, or otherwise distorting their points of view.