The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer
Encyclopedia
PBS NewsHour is an evening television news program broadcast weeknights on the Public Broadcasting Service
(PBS) in the United States. The show is produced by MacNeil/Lehrer Productions, a company co-owned by former anchors Jim Lehrer
and Robert MacNeil
, and Liberty Media
, which owns a 65% stake in the company.
Unlike most other evening newscasts in the country, each edition of the PBS NewsHour is one hour long. The program also runs longer segments than most other news outlets in the U.S. The PBS NewsHour is known for its in-depth coverage of the subjects involved, and avoids the use of sound bites, instead playing back extended portions of news conferences and holding interviews that last several minutes.
From mid-1975 through 1983, the show was called The MacNeil/Lehrer Report.
From 1983 until former co-anchor Robert MacNeil's retirement in 1995, it was called The MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour.
From 1995 until December 4, 2009, the program was anchored by Lehrer and known as The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer.
Watergate
hearings for PBS in 1973, which led to an Emmy Award
. This recognition led to the 1975 creation of The Robert MacNeil Report, a half-hour local news program for WNET
, each episode of which covered a single issue in-depth. A few months later, the program was renamed The MacNeil/Lehrer Report and began to be broadcast nationwide on PBS stations.
On September 5, 1983, having decided to start competing with the nightly news programs on the Big Three television networks
--ABC
, CBS
and NBC
--instead of complementing them, the program extended to an hour in length and incorporated other changes such as the introduction of "documentary reportage from the field"; it became known as The MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour.
On May 17, 2006, the program underwent its first major change in presentation in years, adopting new broadcast graphics and a new version of the show's theme song. On December 17, 2007,the NewsHour became the second nightly broadcast network newscast to broadcast in 1080i
high definition
behind NBC Nightly News
, which went HD in March 2007. The difference between this broadcast and Nightly News is that the NewsHour is shown in a letterbox format for those with standard definition television sets. The switch came with the current graphics updated to HD and a new set.
On September 27, 2010, PBS NewsHour was presented with the Chairman’s Award at the 31st News & Documentary Emmy Awards
, with Robert MacNeil, Jim Lehrer, longtime executive producer Les Crystal, and current executive producer Linda Winslow receiving the award on the show's behalf.
Lehrer formally ended his time as an anchor of the program in June 2011.
The NewsHour is notable for being run on public television; there are no interruptions for advertisements (though there are "corporate-image" advertisements at the beginning and end of the show and interruptions to call for pledges during public television pledge drive
s).
The program has a more deliberate pace than the news broadcasts of the commercial networks it competes against. At the start of the program, a news summary that lasts a few minutes is given, briefly explaining many of the headlines around the world. International stories often include excerpts of reports filed by ITN correspondents. This is typically followed by three or four longer news segments running 10–15 minutes. These segments explore a few of the headline events in-depth. The segments include discussions with experts, newsmakers, and/or commentators. The program often wraps up with a reflective essay, but on Fridays it ends with a discussion between two regular columnists. Since 2004, the usual participants have been Mark Shields
and David Brooks
. Analysts who fill in when either Shields or Brooks is absent have included David Gergen
, Thomas Oliphant
, Rich Lowry
, William Kristol
, Ramesh Ponnuru
, Ruth Marcus
, and E. J. Dionne
.
The program's senior correspondents are Gwen Ifill
, Ray Suarez
, Margaret Warner
, Jeffrey Brown
, and Judy Woodruff
. Essayists have included Anne Taylor Fleming, Richard Rodriguez
, and Roger Rosenblatt
. Correspondents have been Tom Bearden, Betty Ann Bowser, Susan Dentzer
, Elizabeth Farnsworth, Kwame Holman, Spencer Michels, Fred de Sam Lazaro, Paul Solman, and others.
NewsHour anchor Jim Lehrer and senior correspondent Gwen Ifill
are frequent moderators of U.S. political debates. By November 2008, Lehrer had moderated more than ten debates between major U.S. presidential candidates. In 2008, Ifill moderated a debate between U.S. vice presidential candidates Joe Biden
and Sarah Palin
; in 2004, Ifill moderated a debate between candidates Dick Cheney
and John Edwards
.
After the United States-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, The NewsHour began what it called its "Honor Roll", a short segment displaying in silence the picture, name, rank, and hometown of US military personnel killed in Iraq. On January 4, 2006, The NewsHour added military personnel killed in Afghanistan to the segment. The "Honor Roll" is no longer a regular feature of the program.
According to Nielsen ratings
at the program's website
, 2.7 million people watch the program each night, and 8 million individuals watch in the course of a week. The NewsHour is broadcast on more than 300 PBS stations, making it available to 99% of the viewing public, and audio is broadcast by some National Public Radio stations. Broadcasts are also made available worldwide via satellite
s operated by various agencies such as Voice of America
. Archives of shows broadcast after February 7, 2000 are available in several streaming media
formats (including full-motion video) at the program's website. The show is available to overseas military personnel on the American Forces Network
. Audio from select segments are also released in podcast
form, available through several feeds
on PBS's subscriptions page and through the iTunes Store
. The program originates from Arlington, Virginia, with additional facilities in San Francisco, California
and Denver, Colorado
, and is a collaboration between PBS television station
s WNET
, WETA-TV
, and KQED.
—including the NewsHour—of having a pro-establishment bias.
In the documentary
Manufacturing Consent: Noam Chomsky and the Media
, Noam Chomsky
criticizes the short span of time that he was allotted when interviewed on the NewsHour in September 1990. Chomsky complains that a short format allows only the repetition of conventional wisdom, not the exploration of ideas. In 1992, radio broadcaster David Barsamian
called the NewsHour "stenographers to power."
media criticism group Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting
(FAIR) accused the NewsHour of lacking balance, diversity, and viewpoints of the general public, in favor of Republican Party
and corporate viewpoints. FAIR found that the NewsHours guest list from October 2005 to March 2006 had Republicans outnumbering Democrats 2:1, and people of color accounting for 15% of U.S.-based sources. FAIR also protested in 1995 when Liberty Media purchased a majority of the program, citing Liberty's majority owner, John Malone, for his "Machiavellian business tactics" and right-wing sentiments.
NewsHour Executive Producer Linda Winslow responded to many aspects: "FAIR seems to be accusing us of covering the people who make decisions that affect people's lives, many of whom work in government, the military, or corporate America. That's what we do: we're a news program, and that's who makes news... I take issue with the way the FAIR report characterizes each guest, which they have obviously done very subjectively. Witness the trashing of Mark Shields and Tom Oliphant (in the full report), who are not liberal ENOUGH for FAIR's taste. When you get down to arguing about DEGREES of left-and-rightness, I think you undermine your own argument." She also accused FAIR of counting sound bites as interviews, thereby skewing their numbers toward the political party holding a majority (the Republican Party
held a majority in Congress).
. He has said that, based on his research, PBS NewsHour is the most centrist news program on television and the closest to a truly objective stance.
Public Broadcasting Service
The Public Broadcasting Service is an American non-profit public broadcasting television network with 354 member TV stations in the United States which hold collective ownership. Its headquarters is in Arlington, Virginia....
(PBS) in the United States. The show is produced by MacNeil/Lehrer Productions, a company co-owned by former anchors Jim Lehrer
Jim Lehrer
James Charles "Jim" Lehrer is an American journalist and the executive editor and former news anchor for PBS NewsHour on PBS, known for his role as a frequent debate moderator during elections...
and Robert MacNeil
Robert MacNeil
Robert Breckenridge Ware MacNeil, OC, known sometimes as Robin MacNeil, , is currently a novelist and formerly was a television news anchor and journalist who had paired with Jim Lehrer to create The MacNeil/Lehrer Report in 1975.-Early life:MacNeil was born in Montreal, the son of Margaret...
, and Liberty Media
Liberty Media
Liberty Media Corporation is an American media conglomerate and the control is exercised by company Chairman John C. Malone, who owns a majority of the voting shares....
, which owns a 65% stake in the company.
Unlike most other evening newscasts in the country, each edition of the PBS NewsHour is one hour long. The program also runs longer segments than most other news outlets in the U.S. The PBS NewsHour is known for its in-depth coverage of the subjects involved, and avoids the use of sound bites, instead playing back extended portions of news conferences and holding interviews that last several minutes.
Name changes
Created in 1975, it initially was known as The Robert MacNeil Report.From mid-1975 through 1983, the show was called The MacNeil/Lehrer Report.
From 1983 until former co-anchor Robert MacNeil's retirement in 1995, it was called The MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour.
From 1995 until December 4, 2009, the program was anchored by Lehrer and known as The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer.
Development
MacNeil and Lehrer first teamed up to cover the United States SenateUnited States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
Watergate
Watergate scandal
The Watergate scandal was a political scandal during the 1970s in the United States resulting from the break-in of the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate office complex in Washington, D.C., and the Nixon administration's attempted cover-up of its involvement...
hearings for PBS in 1973, which led to an Emmy Award
Emmy Award
An Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards .A majority of Emmys are presented in various...
. This recognition led to the 1975 creation of The Robert MacNeil Report, a half-hour local news program for WNET
WNET
WNET, channel 13 is a non-commercial educational public television station licensed to Newark, New Jersey. With its signal covering the New York metropolitan area, WNET is a primary station of the Public Broadcasting Service and a primary provider of PBS programming...
, each episode of which covered a single issue in-depth. A few months later, the program was renamed The MacNeil/Lehrer Report and began to be broadcast nationwide on PBS stations.
On September 5, 1983, having decided to start competing with the nightly news programs on the Big Three television networks
Big Three Television Networks
The Big Three Television Networks are the three traditional commercial broadcast television networks in the United States: ABC, CBS and NBC...
--ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
, CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
and NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
--instead of complementing them, the program extended to an hour in length and incorporated other changes such as the introduction of "documentary reportage from the field"; it became known as The MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour.
1080i
1080i is the shorthand name for a high-definition television mode. The i means interlaced video; 1080i differs from 1080p, in which the p stands for progressive scan. The term 1080i assumes a widescreen aspect ratio of 16:9, implying a frame size of 1920×1080 pixels...
high definition
High-definition television
High-definition television is video that has resolution substantially higher than that of traditional television systems . HDTV has one or two million pixels per frame, roughly five times that of SD...
behind NBC Nightly News
NBC Nightly News
NBC Nightly News is the flagship daily evening television news program for NBC News and broadcasts. NBC Nightly News has aired from Studio 3B, located on floors 3 of the NBC Studios is the headquarters of the GE Building forms the centerpiece of 30th Rockefeller Center it is located in the center...
, which went HD in March 2007. The difference between this broadcast and Nightly News is that the NewsHour is shown in a letterbox format for those with standard definition television sets. The switch came with the current graphics updated to HD and a new set.
Relaunch to PBS NewsHour
On May 11, 2009, it was reported that The NewsHour With Jim Lehrer would receive a makeover on December 7, 2009 and be renamed "PBS NewsHour". In addition to an increased integration between the NewsHour website and nightly broadcast, the updated production would feature co-anchors, as had been the practice until Robert MacNeil's 1995 departure from the program. The overhaul was described by Jim Lehrer as the first phase in his gradual move toward retirement.On September 27, 2010, PBS NewsHour was presented with the Chairman’s Award at the 31st News & Documentary Emmy Awards
31st News & Documentary Emmy Awards
The 31st News & Documentary Emmy Awards were held September 27, 2010 at Rose Hall, Home of Jazz at Lincoln Center, located in the Time Warner Center in New York City. Awards were presented in 41 categories, including Breaking News, Investigative Reporting, Outstanding Interview, and Best Documentary...
, with Robert MacNeil, Jim Lehrer, longtime executive producer Les Crystal, and current executive producer Linda Winslow receiving the award on the show's behalf.
Lehrer formally ended his time as an anchor of the program in June 2011.
Production and ratings
Pledge drive
A pledge drive is an extended period of fundraising activities, generally used by public broadcasting stations to increase contributions. The term "pledge" originates from the promise a contributor makes to send in funding at regular intervals for a certain amount of time...
s).
The program has a more deliberate pace than the news broadcasts of the commercial networks it competes against. At the start of the program, a news summary that lasts a few minutes is given, briefly explaining many of the headlines around the world. International stories often include excerpts of reports filed by ITN correspondents. This is typically followed by three or four longer news segments running 10–15 minutes. These segments explore a few of the headline events in-depth. The segments include discussions with experts, newsmakers, and/or commentators. The program often wraps up with a reflective essay, but on Fridays it ends with a discussion between two regular columnists. Since 2004, the usual participants have been Mark Shields
Mark Shields
Mark Shields is an American political columnist and commentator.Since 1988, Shields has provided weekly political analysis and commentary for PBS’ award-winning PBS NewsHour. His current sparring partner is David Brooks of The New York Times. Previous counterparts were the late William Safire,...
and David Brooks
David Brooks (journalist)
David Brooks is a Canadian-born political and cultural commentator who considers himself a moderate and writes for the New York Times...
. Analysts who fill in when either Shields or Brooks is absent have included David Gergen
David Gergen
David Richmond Gergen is an American political consultant and former presidential advisor who served during the administrations of Nixon, Ford, Reagan, and Clinton. He is currently Director of the Center for Public Leadership and a professor of public service at Harvard Kennedy School. Gergen is...
, Thomas Oliphant
Thomas Oliphant
Thomas "Tom" Oliphant is an American journalist who was the Washington correspondent and a columnist for the Boston Globe. - Life and career :...
, Rich Lowry
Rich Lowry
Richard A. Lowry is the editor of National Review, a conservative American news magazine, and a syndicated columnist.-Career:...
, William Kristol
William Kristol
William Kristol is an American neoconservative political analyst and commentator. He is the founder and editor of the political magazine The Weekly Standard and a regular commentator on the Fox News Channel....
, Ramesh Ponnuru
Ramesh Ponnuru
Ramesh Ponnuru is a Washington, D.C.-based Indian American columnist and a senior editor for National Review magazine. He is also a contributor to TIME magazine and WashingtonPost.com...
, Ruth Marcus
Ruth Marcus (journalist)
Ruth Allyn Marcus is a journalist who currently writes an op-ed column for the Washington Post. In March 2007, she was a finalist for a Pulitzer Prize in commentary...
, and E. J. Dionne
E. J. Dionne
Eugene Joseph "E.J." Dionne, Jr. is an American journalist and political commentator, and a long-time op-ed columnist for The Washington Post...
.
The program's senior correspondents are Gwen Ifill
Gwen Ifill
Gwendolyn L. "Gwen" Ifill is an American journalist, television newscaster and author. She is the managing editor and moderator of Washington Week and a senior correspondent for the PBS NewsHour, both of which air on PBS. She is a political analyst, and moderated the 2004 and 2008 Vice...
, Ray Suarez
Ray Suarez
Rafael Suarez, Jr. , known as Ray Suarez, is an American broadcast journalist. Suarez joined the PBS NewsHour in 1999 and became a senior correspondent for the evening news program on the PBS television network. He is also host of the international news and analysis public radio program America...
, Margaret Warner
Margaret Warner
Margaret Garrard Warner is a senior correspondent for The PBS NewsHour. Before joining the NewsHour in 1993, she was a reporter for The Wall Street Journal, The San Diego Union-Tribune, the Concord Monitor, and Newsweek....
, Jeffrey Brown
Jeffrey Brown (Journalist)
Jeffrey Brown is an American journalist and a senior correspondent and news anchor for the PBS Newshour since May 2005.- Education and personal life :...
, and Judy Woodruff
Judy Woodruff
Judy Woodruff is an American television news anchor and journalist.Woodruff is a Board Member at the IWMF .-Broadcast journalism career:...
. Essayists have included Anne Taylor Fleming, Richard Rodriguez
Richard Rodriguez
Richard Rodriguez is an American writer who became famous as the author of Hunger of Memory: The Education of Richard Rodriguez , a narrative about his intellectual development.- Early life :...
, and Roger Rosenblatt
Roger Rosenblatt
Roger Rosenblatt is an American journalist, author, playwright and teacher. He was a long-time columnist for Time magazine.-Career:...
. Correspondents have been Tom Bearden, Betty Ann Bowser, Susan Dentzer
Susan Dentzer
Susan Dentzer is the editor-in-chief of the academic journal Health Affairs. She is a member of the Institute of Medicine and the Council on Foreign Relations, the former health correspondent for the News Hour with Jim Lehrer, and a fellow at the Hastings Center. She is a graduate of Dartmouth...
, Elizabeth Farnsworth, Kwame Holman, Spencer Michels, Fred de Sam Lazaro, Paul Solman, and others.
NewsHour anchor Jim Lehrer and senior correspondent Gwen Ifill
Gwen Ifill
Gwendolyn L. "Gwen" Ifill is an American journalist, television newscaster and author. She is the managing editor and moderator of Washington Week and a senior correspondent for the PBS NewsHour, both of which air on PBS. She is a political analyst, and moderated the 2004 and 2008 Vice...
are frequent moderators of U.S. political debates. By November 2008, Lehrer had moderated more than ten debates between major U.S. presidential candidates. In 2008, Ifill moderated a debate between U.S. vice presidential candidates Joe Biden
Joe Biden
Joseph Robinette "Joe" Biden, Jr. is the 47th and current Vice President of the United States, serving under President Barack Obama...
and Sarah Palin
Sarah Palin
Sarah Louise Palin is an American politician, commentator and author. As the Republican Party nominee for Vice President in the 2008 presidential election, she was the first Alaskan on the national ticket of a major party and first Republican woman nominated for the vice-presidency.She was...
; in 2004, Ifill moderated a debate between candidates Dick Cheney
Dick Cheney
Richard Bruce "Dick" Cheney served as the 46th Vice President of the United States , under George W. Bush....
and John Edwards
John Edwards
Johnny Reid "John" Edwards is an American politician, who served as a U.S. Senator from North Carolina. He was the Democratic nominee for Vice President in 2004, and was a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2004 and 2008.He defeated incumbent Republican Lauch Faircloth in...
.
After the United States-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, The NewsHour began what it called its "Honor Roll", a short segment displaying in silence the picture, name, rank, and hometown of US military personnel killed in Iraq. On January 4, 2006, The NewsHour added military personnel killed in Afghanistan to the segment. The "Honor Roll" is no longer a regular feature of the program.
According to Nielsen ratings
Nielsen Ratings
Nielsen ratings are the audience measurement systems developed by Nielsen Media Research, in an effort to determine the audience size and composition of television programming in the United States...
at the program's website
Website
A website, also written as Web site, web site, or simply site, is a collection of related web pages containing images, videos or other digital assets. A website is hosted on at least one web server, accessible via a network such as the Internet or a private local area network through an Internet...
, 2.7 million people watch the program each night, and 8 million individuals watch in the course of a week. The NewsHour is broadcast on more than 300 PBS stations, making it available to 99% of the viewing public, and audio is broadcast by some National Public Radio stations. Broadcasts are also made available worldwide via satellite
Satellite
In the context of spaceflight, a satellite is an object which has been placed into orbit by human endeavour. Such objects are sometimes called artificial satellites to distinguish them from natural satellites such as the Moon....
s operated by various agencies such as Voice of America
Voice of America
Voice of America is the official external broadcast institution of the United States federal government. It is one of five civilian U.S. international broadcasters working under the umbrella of the Broadcasting Board of Governors . VOA provides a wide range of programming for broadcast on radio...
. Archives of shows broadcast after February 7, 2000 are available in several streaming media
Streaming media
Streaming media is multimedia that is constantly received by and presented to an end-user while being delivered by a streaming provider.The term "presented" is used in this article in a general sense that includes audio or video playback. The name refers to the delivery method of the medium rather...
formats (including full-motion video) at the program's website. The show is available to overseas military personnel on the American Forces Network
American Forces Network
The American Forces Network is the brand name used by the United States Armed Forces American Forces Radio and Television Service for its entertainment and command internal information networks worldwide...
. Audio from select segments are also released in podcast
Podcast
A podcast is a series of digital media files that are released episodically and often downloaded through web syndication...
form, available through several feeds
Web feed
A web feed is a data format used for providing users with frequently updated content. Content distributors syndicate a web feed, thereby allowing users to subscribe to it. Making a collection of web feeds accessible in one spot is known as aggregation, which is performed by an aggregator...
on PBS's subscriptions page and through the iTunes Store
ITunes Store
The iTunes Store is a software-based online digital media store operated by Apple. Opening as the iTunes Music Store on April 28, 2003, with over 200,000 items to purchase, it is, as of April 2008, the number-one music vendor in the United States...
. The program originates from Arlington, Virginia, with additional facilities in San Francisco, California
San Francisco, California
San Francisco , officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region of 7.15 million people which includes San Jose and Oakland...
and Denver, Colorado
Denver, Colorado
The City and County of Denver is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Denver is a consolidated city-county, located in the South Platte River Valley on the western edge of the High Plains just east of the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains...
, and is a collaboration between PBS television station
Television station
A television station is a business, organisation or other such as an amateur television operator that transmits content over terrestrial television. A television transmission can be by analog television signals or, more recently, by digital television. Broadcast television systems standards are...
s WNET
WNET
WNET, channel 13 is a non-commercial educational public television station licensed to Newark, New Jersey. With its signal covering the New York metropolitan area, WNET is a primary station of the Public Broadcasting Service and a primary provider of PBS programming...
, WETA-TV
WETA-TV
WETA-TV is a Public Broadcasting Service member public televisionstation for the Washington, D.C., area. Its studios are in nearby Arlington, Virginia...
, and KQED.
NewsHour editorial guidelines
On December 4, 2009, when introducing the new PBS NewsHour format, Jim Lehrer read out a list of guidelines in what he referred to as "MacNeil / Lehrer journalism." They are as follows:- "Do nothing I cannot defend.
- "Cover, write, and present every story with the care I would want if the story were about me.
- "Assume there is at least one other side or version to every story.
- "Assume the viewer is as smart and as caring and as good a person as I am.
- "Assume the same about all people on whom I report.
- "Assume personal lives are a private matter until a legitimate turn in the story absolutely mandates otherwise.
- "Carefully separate opinion and analysis from straight news stories, and clearly label everything.
- "Do not use anonymous sources or blind quotes except on rare and monumental occasions.
- "No one should ever be allowed to attack another anonymously.
- "And finally, I am not in the entertainment business."
Criticism
Critics have accused the American news mediaNews media (United States)
Mass media are the means through which information is transmitted to a large audience. This includes newspapers, television, radio, and more recently the Internet. Those who provide news and information, and the outlets for which they work, are known as the news media.Some high-quality news media...
—including the NewsHour—of having a pro-establishment bias.
In the documentary
Documentary
A documentary is a creative work of non-fiction, including:* Documentary film, including television* Radio documentary* Documentary photographyRelated terms include:...
Manufacturing Consent: Noam Chomsky and the Media
Manufacturing Consent: Noam Chomsky and the Media
Manufacturing Consent: Noam Chomsky and the Media is a documentary film that explores the political life and ideas of Noam Chomsky, a linguist, intellectual, and political activist...
, Noam Chomsky
Noam Chomsky
Avram Noam Chomsky is an American linguist, philosopher, cognitive scientist, and activist. He is an Institute Professor and Professor in the Department of Linguistics & Philosophy at MIT, where he has worked for over 50 years. Chomsky has been described as the "father of modern linguistics" and...
criticizes the short span of time that he was allotted when interviewed on the NewsHour in September 1990. Chomsky complains that a short format allows only the repetition of conventional wisdom, not the exploration of ideas. In 1992, radio broadcaster David Barsamian
David Barsamian
David Barsamian is an Armenian-American radio broadcaster, writer, and the founder and director of Alternative Radio, the Boulder, Colorado-based syndicated weekly talk program heard on some 125 radio stations in various countries....
called the NewsHour "stenographers to power."
FAIR study
In October 2006, the progressiveProgressivism in the United States
Progressivism in the United States is a broadly based reform movement that reached its height early in the 20th century and is generally considered to be middle class and reformist in nature. It arose as a response to the vast changes brought by modernization, such as the growth of large...
media criticism group Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting
Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting
Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting is a progressive media criticism organization based in New York City, founded in 1986.FAIR describes itself on its website as "the national media watch group" and defines its mission as working to "invigorate the First Amendment by advocating for greater diversity...
(FAIR) accused the NewsHour of lacking balance, diversity, and viewpoints of the general public, in favor of Republican Party
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
and corporate viewpoints. FAIR found that the NewsHours guest list from October 2005 to March 2006 had Republicans outnumbering Democrats 2:1, and people of color accounting for 15% of U.S.-based sources. FAIR also protested in 1995 when Liberty Media purchased a majority of the program, citing Liberty's majority owner, John Malone, for his "Machiavellian business tactics" and right-wing sentiments.
NewsHour Executive Producer Linda Winslow responded to many aspects: "FAIR seems to be accusing us of covering the people who make decisions that affect people's lives, many of whom work in government, the military, or corporate America. That's what we do: we're a news program, and that's who makes news... I take issue with the way the FAIR report characterizes each guest, which they have obviously done very subjectively. Witness the trashing of Mark Shields and Tom Oliphant (in the full report), who are not liberal ENOUGH for FAIR's taste. When you get down to arguing about DEGREES of left-and-rightness, I think you undermine your own argument." She also accused FAIR of counting sound bites as interviews, thereby skewing their numbers toward the political party holding a majority (the Republican Party
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
held a majority in Congress).
Scholarly analysis
Dr. Tim Groseclose, a professor of political science and economics at UCLA, has evaluated various media programs based on "think tank" citations to map liberal verses conservative media slantsMedia bias in the United States
Media bias in the United States occurs when the media in the United States systematically presents a particular point of view. Claims of media bias in the United States include claims of liberal bias, conservative bias, mainstream bias, and corporate bias...
. He has said that, based on his research, PBS NewsHour is the most centrist news program on television and the closest to a truly objective stance.
International broadcasts
- In the United Kingdom, seen Mondays to Fridays, four-times a day on PBS UKPBS UKPBS UK is a British pay-TV version of the American non-profit television network PBS. It is a joint venture between entrepreneur David Lyons and PBS Distribution, which owns the international rights to the bulk of PBS's output...
, the day after broadcast in the US.
- In the Middle East, this program is seen daily on OSN News.
- In Australia, seen Tuesdays to Saturdays at 4:30pm on SBS One.
- In New Zealand, seen Tuesdays to Saturdays at 10pm on Triangle Stratos and Triangle TVTriangle TVTriangle Television and Stratos Television are public service television stations based in Auckland, New Zealand. Triangle broadcasts across Auckland on analogue UHF, while Stratos broadcasts around New Zealand on the Freeview, Sky TV and TelstraClear cable digital platforms...
(Auckland).
- In Japan, seen every weekday through NHK BS-1NHKNHK is Japan's national public broadcasting organization. NHK, which has always identified itself to its audiences by the English pronunciation of its initials, is a publicly owned corporation funded by viewers' payments of a television license fee....
.
- Internationally through Voice of AmericaVoice of AmericaVoice of America is the official external broadcast institution of the United States federal government. It is one of five civilian U.S. international broadcasters working under the umbrella of the Broadcasting Board of Governors . VOA provides a wide range of programming for broadcast on radio...
and World Radio NetworkWRN BroadcastWRN Broadcast, formerly known as WRN, is an international broadcast services company that works with television channels and radio broadcasters, media owners and brands enabling them to deliver content to target audiences worldwide....
.
Sponsors
For most of the run, funding has been provided by:- AT&TAT&TAT&T Inc. is an American multinational telecommunications corporation headquartered in Whitacre Tower, Dallas, Texas, United States. It is the largest provider of mobile telephony and fixed telephony in the United States, and is also a provider of broadband and subscription television services...
- Archer Daniels MidlandArcher Daniels MidlandThe Archer Daniels Midland Company is a conglomerate headquartered in Decatur, Illinois. ADM operates more than 270 plants worldwide, where cereal grains and oilseeds are processed into products used in food, beverage, nutraceutical, industrial and animal feed markets worldwide.ADM was named the...
- PepsiCoPepsiCoPepsiCo Inc. is an American multinational corporation headquartered in Purchase, New York, United States, with interests in the manufacturing, marketing and distribution of grain-based snack foods, beverages, and other products. PepsiCo was formed in 1965 with the merger of the Pepsi-Cola Company...
- New York Life
- Smith BarneySmith BarneyMorgan Stanley Smith Barney is a retail brokerage joint venture between Morgan Stanley and Citigroup.On January 13, 2009, Morgan Stanley and Citigroup announced that Citigroup would sell 51% of Smith Barney to Morgan Stanley, creating Morgan Stanley Smith Barney, which was formerly a division of...
- Travelers Group
- PfizerPfizerPfizer, Inc. is an American multinational pharmaceutical corporation. The company is based in New York City, New York with its research headquarters in Groton, Connecticut, United States...
- CIT Group
- ChevronChevron CorporationChevron Corporation is an American multinational energy corporation headquartered in San Ramon, California, United States and active in more than 180 countries. It is engaged in every aspect of the oil, gas, and geothermal energy industries, including exploration and production; refining,...
- Grant Thornton LLP
- The Pew Charitable TrustsThe Pew Charitable TrustsThe Pew Charitable Trusts is an independent non-profit, non-governmental organization , founded in 1948. With over US$5 billion in assets, its current mission is to serve the public interest by "improving public policy, informing the public, and stimulating civic life."-History:The Trusts, a single...
- William and Flora Hewlett FoundationWilliam and Flora Hewlett FoundationThe William and Flora Hewlett Foundation is a private foundation, established by Hewlett-Packard cofounder William Reddington Hewlett and his wife Flora Lamson Hewlett in 1967. The Hewlett Foundation awards grants to support educational and cultural institutions and to advance certain social and...
- Pacific LifePacific LifePacific Life Insurance Company is an insurance company providing life insurance products, annuities, and mutual funds, and offers to individuals, businesses, and pension plans a variety of investment products and services. Pacific Life also counts more than half of the 100 largest U.S...
- Ford FoundationFord FoundationThe Ford Foundation is a private foundation incorporated in Michigan and based in New York City created to fund programs that were chartered in 1936 by Edsel Ford and Henry Ford....
- Carnegie Corporation of New YorkCarnegie Corporation of New YorkCarnegie Corporation of New York, which was established by Andrew Carnegie in 1911 "to promote the advancement and diffusion of knowledge and understanding," is one of the oldest, largest and most influential of American foundations...
- National Science FoundationNational Science FoundationThe National Science Foundation is a United States government agency that supports fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering. Its medical counterpart is the National Institutes of Health...
- John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation
- Atlantic PhilanthropiesAtlantic PhilanthropiesThe Atlantic Philanthropies is a private foundation created in 1982 by US businessman Charles F. "Chuck" Feeney. The Atlantic Philanthropies grant-making supports health and social projects in Australia, Bermuda, Northern Ireland, Republic of Ireland, South Africa, the United States and Viet Nam...
- Park Foundation
- Alfred P. Sloan FoundationAlfred P. Sloan FoundationThe Alfred P. Sloan Foundation is a philanthropic non-profit organization in the United States. It was established in 1934 by Alfred P. Sloan, Jr., then-President and Chief Executive Officer of General Motors.-Overview:...
- BPBPBP p.l.c. is a global oil and gas company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the third-largest energy company and fourth-largest company in the world measured by revenues and one of the six oil and gas "supermajors"...
- Toyota
- WachoviaWachoviaWachovia was a diversified financial services company based in Charlotte, North Carolina. Before its acquisition by Wells Fargo in 2008, Wachovia was the fourth-largest bank holding company in the United States based on total assets...
- Wells FargoWells FargoWells Fargo & Company is an American multinational diversified financial services company with operations around the world. Wells Fargo is the fourth largest bank in the U.S. by assets and the largest bank by market capitalization. Wells Fargo is the second largest bank in deposits, home...
- Bank of AmericaBank of AmericaBank of America Corporation, an American multinational banking and financial services corporation, is the second largest bank holding company in the United States by assets, and the fourth largest bank in the U.S. by market capitalization. The bank is headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina...
- Intel
- MonsantoMonsantoThe Monsanto Company is a US-based multinational agricultural biotechnology corporation. It is the world's leading producer of the herbicide glyphosate, marketed in the "Roundup" brand of herbicides, and in other brands...
- The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
- EarthGrains
- BNSF RailwayBNSF RailwayThe BNSF Railway is a wholly owned subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway Inc., and is headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas. It is one of seven North American Class I railroads and the second largest freight railroad network in North America, second only to the Union Pacific Railroad, its primary...
- United Healthcare
- Corporation for Public BroadcastingCorporation for Public BroadcastingThe Corporation for Public Broadcasting is a non-profit corporation created by an act of the United States Congress, funded by the United States’ federal government to promote public broadcasting...
- PBS Viewers Like You (Thank You)Public Broadcasting ServiceThe Public Broadcasting Service is an American non-profit public broadcasting television network with 354 member TV stations in the United States which hold collective ownership. Its headquarters is in Arlington, Virginia....
External links
- PBS NewsHour official website
- NewsHour video archive
- NewsHour story index
- Segment broadcast on November 16, 2005 on citizen journalism mentioning Wikinews and Wikipedia
- NewsHour Podcast Directory
- Segment on U.S. casualties in Afghanistan that preceded the NewsHours announcement that its Honor Roll would henceforth include US military personnel killed in Afghanistan
- April 20091204_pbsnewshour.mp3 Segment from 12/04/09 in which Lehrer introduces new format, including enumeration of editorial guidelines.