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 covered the western U.S. and updated the nightly news produced on the East Coast for West Coast viewers.
Located on the Downtown Phoenix campus, the bureau offered internship opportunities for journalism students at the University.
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," according to an ASU News article announcing the launch of the bureau in 2019. More than 20% of News Hour's audience resides in that region.
News Hour West will make its last contribution to the national broadcast on Dec. 19.
Michael Rancilio, the 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," according to Current.
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A spokesperson for the University declined to comment on the closing, referring The State Press to PBS.
Both PBS News and Arizona PBS responded to the news of the closure but did not provide any reasoning for the choice.
"We are grateful to our partners at ASU and the Cronkite School on our effort to launch PBS News Hour West back in 2019 and the important journalism our small but nimble team there has been able to produce," PBS News' executive director of communications, Nick Massella, said in a written statement.
Jeremy Cauthen, the senior director of brand engagement and marketing at Arizona PBS, said in a written statement that the ASU-News Hour West partnership benefited audiences in the western U.S. as well as University students.
"Even though the station will no longer be providing production support for 'PBS News Hour', we'll continue our nightly broadcast of PBS' flagship news program and our ongoing commitment to keeping Arizonans informed through 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 communication, is one of the broadcast production interns at News Hour West. The internship was one of her first professional experiences, she said.
"I was just so relieved to find out that they were so willing to take the time to teach everything that we needed to know to produce the news at night," Ceglia said. "It's very upsetting to hear that it was shut down."
Ceglia said she was told that ASU made the decision, not PBS. She was only told that the contract was not being renewed and did not know any of the logistics of the closure.
The agreement between News Hour West and the University was mutually beneficial, Ceglia said. PBS got a headquarters in the West at a school with reliable broadcasting equipment, and the University's contributions were rewarded with heightened 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 News Hour West staff members will lose their jobs because of the closure.
"It's just upsetting that they really enjoyed being able to support the students that did the program, and they really liked being able to share so much experience," Ceglia said.
Ceglia said she sympathizes with the interns who were set to work at News Hour West for the spring semester because "they're having it basically ripped out of their hands." To fulfill the internship requirement to graduate with a journalism and mass communication degree, they must now find another way to gain those credits.
"It's not anything my producers can control, but what (the producers are) doing is they are really trying to put those soon-to-be interns to another place to work," Ceglia said. "That is something they're very focused on right now."
Current interns are still able to get the internship credit, Ceglia said. Nonetheless, the closure has had a personal impact on her.
"I feel so strongly about it because it really was a great opportunity to learn and one of my first real professional ones," Ceglia said. "I'm sad to see it go."
Edited by Carsten Oyer, Henry Smardo, Sophia Braccio and Pippa Fung.
Reach the reporter at elbradfo@asu.edu and follow @emmalbradford__ on X.
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Emma Bradford is a junior studying journalism and mass communication and political science with a minor in business. She has previously worked at the Cronkite News Washington, D.C. bureau as a Politics and Money Reporter. Bradford is in her fourth semester with The State Press and on the politics desk.
