Business PBS weekend newscasts shut down due to funding cuts, replaced by single-topic programs - Funded By Taxpayers Like You

PBS Kids show characters including the title character from “Arthur” decorate boxes at the Arizona PBS offices in the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication in Phoenix, May 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Katie Oyan, File)

By DAVID BAUDER

PBS will premiere separate programs on science and foreign affairs next weekend after shutting the doors on its Saturday and Sunday breaking newscasts because of the federal government’s cut of $1.1 billion in funding to public broadcasting.

“PBS News Weekend” signed off Sunday, “at least for the foreseeable future,” anchor John Yang said. The weekend sister of “PBS NewsHour” began broadcasting in 2013 from New York, and moved to Washington in 2022.

Starting Saturday, PBS will air the weekly show “Horizons” on science and technology issues. The new show “Compass Points” will focus on foreign affairs Sunday. Both programs will be taped in advance during the week, enabling PBS to save money by cutting back on weekend staff, said Sara Just, senior executive producer for “NewsHour.”

The weekend newscast averaged 827,000 viewers per show, roughly 1 million less than what “NewsHour” gets during the week, according to the Nielsen company.

The Republican-controlled Congress, responding to President Donald Trump’s wishes, eliminated funding for PBS and NPR in July. The president has complained about news programming on public broadcasting being biased against conservatives.

During Sunday’s finale, highlights aired by PBS illustrated important news stories that broke over weekends — Hamas’ attack on Israel in October 2023, the assassination attempt on Donald Trump in summer 2024, and Joe Biden’s exit from the presidential race on a Sunday a few weeks later.

Asked if the weekend newscasts could return if a future government restores funding to PBS, Just said, “I never say never, but this is not a temporary decision.”

Also in response to funding cuts, PBS shut down a bureau in Arizona that had enabled “NewsHour” to update its broadcasts for West Coast viewers. But Just cautioned against interpreting the moves as an indication the weekday newscast is in any danger. Through TikTok and YouTube, the broadcast is seeing more exposure for its journalism, she said.

“I don’t see that program at risk in the near future,” she said.

Both “Horizons” and “Compass Points” will be 30-minute broadcasts. William Brangham will host “Horizons,” which will focus on a single topic each week, such as artificial intelligence, climate science or medical advances. Each episode of “Compass Points,” with Nick Schifrin as host, will also concentrate on one topic, PBS said.

Source (Archive)

 

[Pokemon Conquistador]

I'll bet the shows being cut featured fair and balanced news reports and weren't at all Globohomo Climate Change propaganda.

 

[The Last Stand]

PBS will premiere separate programs on science and foreign affairs next weekend after shutting the doors on its Saturday and Sunday breaking newscasts because of the federal government’s cut of $1.1 billion in funding to public broadcasting.

Perhaps if we didn't have an immigration problem, a crime problem and an inflation crisis, they'd have more money in the budget for public broadcasting.

 

[Blewberry Nausea]

Maybe they could try doing a Naked News program to boost donations?

 

[Ibanez RG 350EX]

Maybe they could try doing a Naked News program to boost donations?

I know I'd have watched News Hour religiously if Jim Lehrer had gotten his cock out more often.

 

[Super-Chevy454]

I'll bet the shows being cut featured fair and balanced news reports and weren't at all Globohomo Climate Change propaganda.

Yeah, it would have been too good to be true if it the shows being cut was the ones who promote globohomo climate change propaganda crap.

 

[Uncle_Teds_Cabin25]

I'll bet the shows being cut featured fair and balanced news reports and weren't at all Globohomo Climate Change propaganda.

Speaking of fair and balanced, I Found this little slanted gem. It's worth reading.
My own opinion: I want birthrates to fall in 3rd world hellholes.

ETA: Two more titles from NPR:
How much money is Trump making off the presidency?
How much money Trump and his family have made?

I tried looking for similar terms with Biden and Obama and came up with nothing.

​

 

[Chicha Drinker]

As a poorfag who grew up with pretty much only PBS, it was mildly gay in the 2000s, in the same haughty, implicative, academic way rather than directly liberal. After Obama they dropped a lot of pretenses and the bias became incredibly apparent, and today its a shadow of itself. Good riddance, just another thing i loved that died

 

[smartypants302]

So PBS has a chance to go back to it's golden era and being more local based. How is that bad, that not reporting what some West or East coast urban center is outraged about but more local based. They use to be a local nature show about outdoors in the state and PBS does not even air the episodes anymore, a reboot would be great.

 

[Mechanical Pencil]

All I want is to be able to absorb content about the natural world without having half the shit being hamfisted, ideologically driven, non-replicated or peer reviewed muhviornmental garbage.

First it was five minutes at the end of a program, then ten, then I woke up one day and half the damn show was a complete waste of my time. So instead of PBS I turned to YouTubers who understand it's best to discuss the topic at hand and shut the entire fuck up about anything else.

Nigga, I just want to watch some birds of paradise, hear what info geology can share about the hadean, or learn about the abyssal zones inhabitants. Youtubers figured this out, for fucks sake.

 

[Sneed's Feed And Seed]

I know I'd have watched News Hour religiously if Jim Lehrer had gotten his cock out more often.

Ver archivo adjunto 8417320

Why do you think it was only an hour? MacNeil didn't like his cock being dry for more than 60 minutes at a time.

 

[CIS White Droid]

As a poorfag who grew up with pretty much only PBS, it was mildly gay in the 2000s, in the same haughty, implicative, academic way rather than directly liberal. After Obama they dropped a lot of pretenses and the bias became incredibly apparent, and today its a shadow of itself. Good riddance, just another thing i loved that died

The only good programing on PBS post 2008 was the cooking shows and even those have steadily gone down in quality since then.

 

[Bland Crumbs]

There were no PBS news broadcasts there were propaganda programs.

 

[Super-Chevy454]

So PBS has a chance to go back to it's golden era and being more local based. How is that bad, that not reporting what some West or East coast urban center is outraged about but more local based. They use to be a local nature show about outdoors in the state and PBS does not even air the episodes anymore, a reboot would be great.

While we're at it, it'll be hard to find a painter as talented as the late Bob Ross although one guy menaged to do some good tribute with a new series of Joy of Painting and doubtful they would hire Steven Crowder for a new Joy of Painting series.

 

[OrionBalls]

They use to be a local nature show about outdoors in the state and PBS does not even air the episodes anymore, a reboot would be great.

That's sad. We still have a bunch of local shows, here. History about the steel mills in YTown, about local historical amusement parks, about nature reserves. Then of course your obligatory BBC programs, NOVA for science, nature shows... Hell, PBS has more history than the History Channel and more education than the Learning Channel. Best part, it's free. I don't really watch the news, but early in the morning, they talk about the local farming outlooks, which is nice. The second PBS is an "indigenous station" and they broadcast kids shows in Navajo and stuff. The third channel shows live broadcasts of the Ohio government sessions. I'll be sad when PBS finally dries up.

 

[The Internet Dick]

All Right-of-center folks ever asked of PBS is that it stop bombarding us with far-Left political agitprop. That's it, that's all. Not a big ask. Nobody likes an hours-long lecture from the commissar. We like nonpartisan science and nature documentaries and classical concerts and in-depth foreign policy analysis, boring as it sounds. Our kids grew up watching Sesame Street. Comes to that, we grew up watching Sesame Street. But PBS refused to back off and kept churning out Marxist propaganda, maybe thinking that army of crazed communist cat ladies would protect it in perpetuity.

Too bad, so sad, cry me a river.

 

[MirrorNoir]

So PBS has a chance to go back to it's golden era and being more local based. How is that bad, that not reporting what some West or East coast urban center is outraged about but more local based. They use to be a local nature show about outdoors in the state and PBS does not even air the episodes anymore, a reboot would be great.

There is no God damn thing as local PBS or NPR news/tv programming. It's a lie used by (((them))) to trick people to give PBS and NPR more money to spread anti-life perversions calling for the destruction of anyone not left of Stalin.....

 

[The Last Stand]

Our kids grew up watching Sesame Street. Comes to that, we grew up watching Sesame Street. But PBS refused to back off and kept churning out Marxist propaganda, maybe thinking that army of crazed communist cat ladies would protect it in perpetuity.

I think Sesame Street even had a segment with a LGBTQ+ parade. No, that was Blue's Clues. Never mind.

 

[Super-Chevy454]

I think Sesame Street even had a segment with a LGBTQ+ parade. No, that was Blue's Clues. Never mind.

Keep quiet, that might give some ideas to Sesame Street producers.