PBS will air separate science and foreign affairs programs next weekend after shutting the doors on its Saturday and Sunday breakscasts because of the federal government’s $1.1 billion cut in public broadcasting funding.
“PBS News Weekend” signed off Sunday, “at least for the foreseeable future,” said anchor John Yang. The weekend sister of “PBS NewsHour” began broadcasting in 2013 from New York, and moved to Washington in 2022.
From Saturday, PBS will broadcast the weekly show “Orizzonti” on issues of science and technology. The new show “Compass Points” will focus on foreign affairs on Sunday. Both programs will be taped in advance during the week, allowing PBS to save money by cutting weekend staff, said Sara Just, senior executive producer for “NewsHour.”
The weekend news had an average of 827,000 viewers for each show, roughly a million less than what brings “NewsHour” during the week, according to the Nielsen company.
The Republican-controlled Congress, responding to the wishes of President Donald Trump, eliminated funding for PBS and NPR in July. The president complained that news programming on public broadcasting is biased against conservatives.
During Sunday’s finale, the highlights broadcast by PBS showed major news stories that broke over the weekend — the Hamas attack on Israel in October 2023, the assassination attempt on Donald Trump in the summer of 2024, and Joe Biden’s exit from the presidential race on Sunday a few weeks later.
Asked if the weekend news could return if a future government re-funds PBS, Just said, “I never say never, but this is not a temporary decision.”
Also in response to funding cuts, PBS closed an office in Arizona that had allowed “NewsHour” to update its broadcasts for West Coast viewers. But Just warned against interpreting the movements as an indication that weekday news is in some danger. Through TikTok and YouTube, the broadcaster is seeing more exposure for its journalism, she said.
“I don’t see that program at risk in the near future,” she said.
Both “Horizons” and “Points of the Compass” will be 30 minute broadcasts. William Brangham will host “Horizonti”, which will focus on one topic each week, such as artificial intelligence, climate science or medical advances. Each episode of “Compass Points,” with Nick Schifrin as host, will also focus on one topic, PBS said.
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David Bauder writes about the intersection of media and entertainment for the AP. Follow him on http://x.com/dbauder and https://bsky.app/profile/dbauder.bsky.social.