Parsing tough issues through ‘Trial by Jury’

“I’ve always been fascinated by what happens in the jury room, once the door closes,” filmmaker Kyle Bowser says. “What if I put cameras in there to captured what happens?”

That curiosity forms the basis of his project, “Trial by Jury.”

“We decided to take controversial issues and run them through the format of a trial,” Bowser explains. “We dramatize a case to represent an issue, with a judge, attorneys representing parties and a jury.”

There are few words that are as controversial and divisive as the N-word. Bowser explores its history and context in the episode “Trial by Jury: The Case of the N-Word.”  It airs Tuesday evening at 11 on WHYY-TV.