The list which follows is designed primarily as an introduction to the Public Broadcasting Service line-up and will therefore benefit mostly high school students, college freshmen, and those looking for general information. Anyone beginning to study journalism, communications, or political science is encouraged to explore beyond this overview.
PBS NewsHour
With roots in the 1973 Senate Watergate hearings, this program flourished as a nightly collaboration between journalists Robert MacNeil and Jim Lehrer. Its trademark style involves polite, often politically moderate discourse and wide-ranging subject matter, from hard news to science and humanities coverage.
MacNeil left the show in 1995. Subsequently entitled The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, the series is scheduled to be renamed The PBS NewsHour at the end of 2009. Although significant format changes are likely, Lehrer has not announced any new plans concerning his involvement at this writing.
Bill Moyers Journal
This weekly broadcast, which has appeared on PBS intermittently since 1972, continues the well-known Moyers tradition of thoughtful, outside-the-box interviews. Topics tend to reflect current events of national or global importance, although the weekly format lends itself to long-view analysis rather than commentary on unfolding situations.
While few would characterize Bill Moyers as anything but left-of-center, he has displayed an eclectic range of interests in past years, conducting extensive interviews with mythology expert Joseph Campbell, for example, and producing documentaries about religion, medicine, and other topics. Bill Moyers Journal has focused on political news but sometimes ventures into these human-interest areas.
Frontline
Headquartered at WGBH in Boston, this documentary series ranges from cultural topics to gritty political and military stories. For its first seven years an anchor introduced the show, but in 1990 that position was dropped in favor of voice-over narration. Frontline’s signature narrator is actor Will Lyman, whose subtle bass intonations infuse each issue with a sobering urgency.
The series has garnered several Emmy Awards, including those given to The Lost Year in Iraq, The Torture Question, and The Kevorkian File. In addition, one of broadcast journalism’s highest honors, the Peabody Award, was bestowed upon Cheney’s Law and Waco: The Inside Story.
NOW on PBS
Begun as a co-production between National Public Radio and PBS, this news magazine show features reporting, interviews, and commentary. It was originally hosted by Bill Moyers, but that position was taken over by David Brancaccio (formerly of public radio’s Marketplace) in 2003. Moyers departed from the series as a result of disagreements with Kenneth Tomlinson, the former head of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, who soon became a target of ethical and financial investigations.
In 2008, NOW received an Edward R. Murrow Award from the Overseas Press Club for a report on child brides. The program is also a recipient of a National Business Emmy Award and a National News Emmy for best news magazine segment.
Other PBS Journalism and Commentary Programs
The roster of in-depth news programming is extensive at PBS. Additional programs that have or overlap with a journalistic focus include Charlie Rose, Washington Week, and The Nightly Business Report. Some of these use a talk-show format while others employ a round-table or panel discussion approach. All are useful in studying the constantly evolving landscape of television journalism.
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