Hosts familiar to public media filling ‘PBS NewsHour’ co-anchor slots

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Guest co-anchors are rotating onto weeknightly broadcasts of the PBS NewsHour, working beside Judy Woodruff, co-anchor and managing editor.

Woodruff shared the job of helming PBS NewsHour with Gwen Ifill, who died in November.

The show’s management is still “considering next steps for the program,” NewsHour spokesperson Nick Masella told the Journal-isms blog.

Inskeep (Photo: Doby Photography/NPR)

Inskeep (Photo: Doby Photography/NPR)

Correspondent Hari Sreenivasan, anchor of NewsHour Weekend, initially stepped up as co-anchor while Alison Stewart filled in for him on the weekend broadcast. Stewart, former host of PBS’s Need to Know newsmagazine and NPR’s Bryant Park Project, co-anchored the weeknight NewsHour last week. Starting tonight, Morning Edition host Steve Inskeep will co-anchor for the next few days, Masella told Current.

Ifill also moderated the Friday-night political roundtable Washington Week. For now, producing station WETA in Washington, D.C., is relying on guest hosts for that show, according to spokesperson Mary Stewart. No decision has been made on a new moderator, she said.

“The future of the show is solid,” Stewart said. “The moderator is the outstanding question.”

26 thoughts on “Hosts familiar to public media filling ‘PBS NewsHour’ co-anchor slots

  1. Our house here on the Central California Coast LOVE Steve Innskeep. He’s properly expressive. We’d love to see him in Gwen’s chair. I still cry when you do shows on Gwen. I never realized I could love a news anchor!

  2. Hari has earned it but I also like Steve. Steve seems a bit more polished but Hari comes across with credibility and warmth. Either would be excellent but I’d chose Hari ! I still miss Hari’s Friday nights chats with Brooks and Shields. ?

  3. I’ve truly enjoyed seeing the face behind the voice of NPR’s early morning show. Steve Inskeep was just awesome, and oh so articulate. The voice that I have awakened to, nearly every morning for the last handful of years; now on my favorite evening news program…perfect! Seriously though he brings a great presence, and seems like such a natural compliment to the Newshour. I love the entire news crew, and Hari Sreenivasan in particular. Steve Inskeep is a natural fit! Those of us who rely on the PBS Newshour for fair, and very balanced news content, and presentation, are truly blessed!

  4. I think Inskeep comes across very badly on TV. He makes odd faces and keeps moving his hand up and down,pointing into the desk, which comes across as very strange and aggressive. I think he is very awkward and I almost can’t look at the screen when he is on.

    • FWIW, we had Steve Innskeep anchoring Morning Edition from Providence one morning last summer, and I dragged myself in at oh-dark-thirty to chat a bit with him and the crew. One of the things me mentioned…and I saw this in action as the show progressed…is that it helps to be overly expressive in your facial expressions and body gestures while you talk, because it affects how your voice sounds and helps convey various emotions to the listener.

      It’s quite possible that, despite Innskeep being a consummate broadcast professional, it’s hard to learn (overnight, even!) how to stop doing that entirely for TV.

  5. I find Steve Inskeep a wonderful addition to the PBS Newshour! It was a joy to put a face to that distinctive wonderful voice. He is clear eyed and straightforward; he reminds me of the old Walter Cronkite days when you knew the man on screen wasn’t just a talking head reading cue cards. He is a natural. Please make him the permanent co-host! He’s a perfect balance for Judy Woodruff.

  6. PBS has always been my choice for the news; with objective and unbiased moderators who always kept their opinions and biases to themselves. I sensed a change during this election; with even Judy Woodruff occasionally crossing over the line of pure objectivity; with pounding and repetitive questions spoken in the tone of a prosecutor bound and determined to get “the truth” (as she believed it) from the defendant.

    Steve Inskeep confirms the change. Steve is one of the guys who have caused me to stop listening to NPR. The ultimate “attack dog”; a person who injects opinion and emotion into virtually everything he does. You can almost feel him calling a person a liar in an interview by the the inflections in his voice and that “sound of incredulousness”. I watched him on TV for the first time yesterday. Even his mannerisms (head inflections, eyebrows) inject “bias”. I thought I was watching FOX News.

    On the other hand, there’s Ray Suarez and Hari Sreenivasan. Both consumate professionals who can “drill down” in interviews to get all the news that’s there; while doing it in a way that isn’t prosecutorial, opinionated or emotional. But one day Ray simply disappeared from the newscast. In the last part of the year it looked like Hari would get Gwen’s seat. Great choice; and a guy who earned it! But when I turned on the broadcast yesterday, there was Steve Inskeep.

    Come on, PBS! You’re loosing your “core values” and going the way of other “sensationalizing” news organizations.

  7. Please keep Steve Inskeep as co-anchor. I think he’s a good balance for Ms. Woodruff and that they make a good team.

  8. In response to the comment made by Thomas Sadlowski below, with this current election, there is no way to appear unbiased to some degree without looking like you are trying to put a cocktail napkin over the body of the elephant in the room to try to hid it. At some point, you have to deliver the news, as unpleasant as it may be. This president and regime is not normal and you would look foolish to try to make it appear that way. What I was writing for was to endorse Hari as the next coanchor with Judy. I feel he has earned the position and when I see other coanchors step in, I ask why not Hari?

  9. The issue of who will anchor is now over. However, as to who fills in when Judy is not there…..that’s another matter. Please, please do not continue with Ms. Nawaz. She is a total bore! You have so much other talent. John Yang is a great fill in as is William Brangham. Anchors should at least, seem to be interested in the subject matter!!!!

    Patricia Luke

  10. I have been where correspondent Hari Sreenivasan has been during the nightly PBS broadcasts. Instead I see him delegated to weekend host. I have been surprised to see a new corespondent; Ms. Nawaz on almost nightly. Although Ms. Nawaz is pleasant.. I don’t feel she brings the same balance and experience to the show that Hari does. PBS has been fortunate to have some really fine corespondents…but I feel like your not cashing in so to speak on the established rapor they have developed with your viewers. Stick to what works and develop it… don’t keep throwing new people into the mix. We are creatures of habit…we enjoy being able to depend on our favorites.

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