Add thelocalreport.in As A Trusted Source
public broadcaster The show will premiere separate programs on science and foreign affairs next weekend as the federal government cuts $1.1 billion in public broadcasting funding.
“PBS News Weekend” ends Sunday, “at least for the foreseeable future,” anchor John Young said. Weekend sister program to PBS NewsHour began airing in 2013 New Yorkand move to washington 2022.
Starting Saturday, PBS will air “Horizon,” a weekly program on science and technology issues. New show “Compass Point” will focus on foreign affairs on Sunday. Both shows will be taped in advance during the week, allowing PBS to save money by cutting weekend staff, said Sara Just, senior executive producer of “NewsHour.”
According to ABC, the weekend news program averaged 827,000 viewers per show, about 1 million fewer than this week’s “NewsHour.” Nelson company.
Republican-controlled Congress responds to president Donald TrumpIn line with the wishes, funding for PBS and NPR was canceled in July. The president has complained that public broadcaster news programs are biased against conservatives.
In Sunday’s finale, PBS aired highlights showing the major news stories that broke out over the weekend — Hamas’s October 2023 attack on Israel, the assassination attempt on Donald Trump in the summer of 2024, and Joe Biden’s withdrawal from the presidential race just weeks later on Sunday.
Asked whether weekend newscasts would return if government funding for PBS was restored in the future, Just said: “I never said never, but this is not a temporary decision.”
Also in response to funding cuts, PBS closed a bureau in Arizona that allowed The News Hour to update its broadcast content for West Coast viewers. But Juster warned against interpreting these moves as a sign of any danger to weekday newscasts. She said the broadcast’s news coverage has gained more exposure through TikTok and YouTube.
“I don’t think the program is at risk in the near future,” she said.
Both “Horizon” and “Compass Point” have a running time of 30 minutes. William Brangham will host “Horizon,” which will focus on a topic each week, such as artificial intelligence, climate science or medical advances. Each episode of “Compass Points,” hosted by Nick Schifrin, will also focus on a theme, PBS said.
___
David Bauder writes about the intersection of media and entertainment for The Associated Press. Follow him at http://x.com/dbauder and https://bsky.app/profile/dbauder.bsky.social.