AJR  The Beat
From AJR,   July/August 1999

New Nightly News   

MacNeil-Lehrer Productions joins the New York Times, WNET in New York and WETA in Washington in developing an alternative to the traditional 11 p.m. newscast.

By Lori Robertson
Lori Robertson (robertson.lori@gmail.com), a former AJR managing editor, is a senior contributing writer for the magazine.      



MacNeil-Lehrer Productions joins the New York Times , WNET in New York and WETA in Washington in developing an alternative to the traditional 11 p.m. local newscast. "National Edition," likely to launch on PBS stations sometime in 2000, will spend half its 30 minutes on hard news but also will cover science, arts, culture, technology and business with longer-than-average stories. It will have "opt-outs," opportunities for PBS affiliates to insert local news highlights and weather forecasts. Veteran broadcast journalist Robert MacNeil , who retired from PBS' "The MacNeil-Lehrer NewsHour" in 1995, says "National Edition" will air weekdays.

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