NewsHour closing two offices, dropping 10 positions, according to internal memo

PBS NewsHour is shutting offices in Denver and San Francisco and eliminating several positions at its headquarters in Washington, D.C., Executive Producer Linda Winslow and Bo Jones, president of MacNeil/Lehrer Productions, told staff in a memo Monday.

In all, 10 workers are affected, in addition to several jobs that will remain unfilled, NewsHour spokesperson Anne Bell told Current.

The program is also planning future changes in technical production processes, in cooperation with co-producer WETA, “in order to streamline and further digitize operations,” the memo said.

NewsHour‘s fiscal year begins July 1, and all changes will roll out over the next six months, Bell said.

“We believe the staff restructuring and production changes, along with continuing web investment, will make us stronger and enable us to be more effective and nimble,” the memo said. “Along with sending our own teams into the field, we will build new relationships with journalists around the country.”

Managing Producer Patti Parson will remain.

The decisions were made after a yearlong review of the NewsHour‘s production processes, the memo noted.