PBS News Hour West to go dark after ASU discontinues contract

Summary

ASU's Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication will not renew its contract with PBS News Hour West, ending a reporting hub that covered the western U.S. and updated the nightly news produced on the East Coast for West Coast viewers. Located on the Downtown Phoenix campus, the bureau offered internship opportunities for journalism students at the University. The bureau was created to help the national News Hour program, which is broadcast by WETA, "work more closely with PBS stations and other media partners on the West Coast," according to an ASU News article announcing the launch of the bureau in 2019. More than 20% of News Hour's audience resides in that region. News Hour West will make its last contribution to the national broadcast on Dec. 19. Michael Rancilio, the general manager of News Hour Productions and WETA's executive vice president and chief content officer, said in an email to PBS News supporters that the decision was "based on Arizona State University's revised priorities," according to Current. READ MORE: Federal funding cuts to public media may impact Arizona PBS, students A spokesperson for the University declined to comment on the closing, referring The State Press to PBS. Both PBS News and Arizona PBS responded to the news of the closure but did not provide any reasoning for the choice. "We are grateful to our partners at ASU and the Cronkite School on our effort to launch PBS News Hour West back in 2019 and the important journalism our small but nimble team there has been able to produce," PBS News' executive director of communications, Nick Massella, said in a written statement. Jeremy Cauthen, the senior director of brand engagement and marketing at Arizona PBS, said in a written statement that the ASU-News Hour West partnership benefited audiences in the western U.S. as well as University students. "Even though the station will no longer be providing production support for 'PBS News Hour', we'll continue our nightly broadca...