Storylisteners for Democracy: Steve Weiss and Jesse Grace Ventured into The Eye of a Democracy Storm

When Jesse Grace and Steve Weiss were asked to make a documentary about mail-in voting, it seemed like a straightforward assignment. Until COVID struck, and the 2020 presidential election turned into a referendum on mail-in voting, filled with conspiracy theories, death threats to election workers, and ultimately, an invasion of the U.S. Capitol. What resulted was the hour long documentary Democracy vs. The Big Lie: The Truth Behind Mail-In Voting. Grace and Weiss are both members of the Journalism and Media Communication faculty at Colorado State.

How did they make the switch from informational storytelling to coverage of a historic moment of crisis in our democracy? And just as importantly, what shaped them to become the storytellers, and storylisteners, that they are today?