NOW on PBS $1 million in red, announces eight-week furloughs

NOW on PBS is $1 million short for 2009 and has announced all employees will take unpaid, eight-week furloughs this year. John Siceloff, executive producer, said in a memo to staff that no one will be laid off. He cited “severe cuts” in grants to the show by philanthropies struggling with “plummeting endowments.” Ironically, the announcement comes just as the show was awarded the prestigious Walter Cronkite Award for Excellence in Political Journalism, given by the Annenberg Center at USC.