public television

Sonya Forte Duhé will be the new CEO of Arizona PBS in Phoenix and dean of the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University. Duhé, who starts in July, will replace Arizona PBS CEO and founding Cronkite dean Christopher Callahan. Callahan was named the next president of the University of the Pacific in California.

PBS has canceled both of its major spring conferences due to concerns over the global outbreak of the coronavirus. PBS TechCon, which focuses on broadcast and digital technologies, was scheduled for April 15–17 in Las Vegas. The Annual Meeting, where PBS presents major programming and engagement initiatives, was to be held in Seattle May 11–13.

PBS has prevailed on its claim that Tavis Smiley breached a morals clause. On Wednesday, a Washington, D.C., jury returned a verdict in favor of the public broadcaster and decided that the former late night talk show host should pay $1.486 million.

Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.) has been given the Champion of Public Broadcasting award by America’s Public Television Stations at the group’s annual summit in Washington.

The APTS Public Media Summit looked at how public stations can be a rich testing ground for new ATSC 3.0 capabilities.

Charles Hobson, an Emmy Award-winning producer who helped shatter racial stereotypes by delivering a black perspective that had been missing from early television programming, died on Feb. 13. He was 83.

Gwen Ifill didn’t want it to be a big deal. The legendary journalist knew she’d served as a trailblazer for women and especially a beacon of what is professionally possible for women of color. And yet, more than three years after her death, Ifill is still making breakthroughs. This time, on a stamp.

For Lehrer, and for his friend and longtime partner Robert MacNeil, broadcast journalism was a service, with public understanding of events and issues its primary goal. Lehrer was also a frequent moderator of presidential debates. He was 85

Illinois Public Media, WILL-AM-FM-TV, licensed to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, needs a visiting multimedia environmental journalist to research, report and edit issues about the environment and climate change.

Celebrating its 50th anniversary, PBS is both looking back on its heritage and looking ahead. The public broadcaster is launching PBS American Portrait, which Paula Kerger, president and CEO, called a “digital-first national storytelling project” about “what it really means to be an American today.”

WKAR Public Media at Michigan State University and Gaian Solutions have launched the Apollo PublicTV Platform, a NextGen TV accelerator platform for public broadcasters.

Caroll Spinney, who gave Big Bird his warmth and Oscar the Grouch his growl for nearly 50 years on Sesame Street, died Sunday. He was 85.

Rebecca Eaton, executive producer of PBS’ long-running Masterpeice, is stepping aside after 35 years. Susanne Simpson will take over as executive producer of the drama series after serving as deputy executive producer for the past dozen years.

With CPB’s backing, a push to transition NPR station sites to a new content management system has expanded to include TV stations and joint licensees.

Public television’s 1973 coverage is both a preview of coming impeachment attractions and a memento of an irretrievable media past.

The former Discovery digital executive will oversee local programming operations at the flagship public broadcasting station in the nation’s capital.

Already the public broadcaster’s longest-serving president, Paula Kerger will remain through 2024. She has been with PBS since 2006 and during her tenure it has moved from the 14th most-watched network in the United States to No. 6.