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 used to cover the western US and update nightly news produced on the East Coast for West Coast viewers.
Located on the Downtown Phoenix campus, the bureau provided internship opportunities for journalism students at the university.
According to an ASU News article announcing the bureau’s launch in 2019, 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.” More than 20% of the News Hour’s viewers live in that area.
NewsHour West will make its final contribution to the national broadcast on 19 December.
According to the Current, Michael Rancilio, 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.”
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A university spokesperson declined to comment on the closing, referring The State Press to PBS.
PBS News and Arizona PBS both responded to the news of the closure but did not provide any rationale for the alternative.
“We are grateful to our partners at ASU and the Cronkite School for their efforts in launching PBS News Hour West in 2019 and for the important journalism produced by our small but agile team,” Nick Masella, executive director of communications for PBS News, said in a written statement.
Jeremy Cauthen, senior director of brand engagement and marketing at Arizona PBS, said in a written statement that the ASU-News Hour West partnership benefits audiences across the western US as well as the university’s students.
“Even though the station will no longer provide production support for ‘PBS News Hour,’ we will continue our continued commitment to keeping Arizonans informed through our nightly broadcast of PBS’s flagship news program and local news and public affairs programs like ‘Arizona Horizon’ and ‘Horizonte,'” Cauthen said in a written statement.
AJ Ceglia, a senior studying journalism and mass communications, is one of the broadcast production interns at News Hour West. The internship was one of his first professional experiences, he said.
Ceglia said, “I was so relieved to know that they were willing to take the time to teach us everything we needed to know to produce the nightly news.” “Very sad to hear it’s being closed.”
Ceglia said he was told the decision was not made by PBS, but by ASU. She was only told that the contract was not being renewed and had no information about the closure.
The agreement between News Hour West and the university was mutually beneficial, Ceglia said. PBS found its headquarters in a school in the West with reliable broadcasting equipment, and the university’s contributions were rewarded with increased visibility.
An aerial shot of the Cronkite building is shown at the end of the nightly News Hour broadcast, crediting the school for its support.
Ceglia said that News Our West staff members would lose their jobs due to the closure.
“What’s so upsetting is that he really enjoyed supporting the students who participated in the program, and he really liked being able to share so much of the experience,” Ceglia said.
Ceglia said he sympathized with the interns who were set to work at NewsHour West for the spring semester because “that job has basically been taken out of their hands.” To satisfy the internship requirement to graduate with a journalism and mass communications degree, they now have to find another way to earn those credits.
“It’s not something my producers can control, but what (the producers) are doing is really trying to put those interns in another place to work,” Ceglia said. “That’s something they’re very focused on right now.”
Current interns are still able to receive internship credits, Ceglia said. However, the strike has had a personal impact on him.
Ceglia said, “I feel very strongly about it because it was really a great learning opportunity and one of my first real professional opportunities.” “I’m sad to see it go.”
Edited by Carsten Oyer, Henry Smardo, Sophia Braccio, and Pippa Fung.
Reach and follow the reporter at elbradfo@asu.edu @emmalbradford__ On X.
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Emma Bradford is a junior studying journalism and mass communications and political science and has a minor in business. She previously worked as a politics and money reporter for the Cronkite News Washington, DC bureau. Bradford is in his fourth semester on The State Press and Politics desk.
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