PBS NewsHour Ups Politics Game – Adds Bob Kovach as Senior Producer for Politics

WASHINGTON, DC (July 9, 2015) – The PBS NewsHour today announces the hire of Emmy-award winning journalist Bob Kovach as Senior Producer for Politics. In this role, Kovach will serve as the lead producer for NewsHour political coverage as national focus pivots toward the 2016 presidential election. Kovach will join NewsHour on July 13.

“As the 2016 election cycle ramps up, we are so happy to have Bob joining our team. He shares the NewsHour’s commitment to covering politics and elections with depth, balance and curiosity,” said Sara Just, executive producer of PBS NewsHour and WETA senior vice president. “Bob’s experience further compliments our strong political team, including Political Director Lisa Desjardins. I am looking forward to what this team will do on air and online and especially with our upcoming partnership with NPR and the political conventions. It’s going to be quite a year.”

Kovach spent 24 years at CNN, in both Atlanta and D.C., where he served as executive producer of Capital Gang among other series. He spent his last several years at CNN as Washington coverage manager, coordinating and deploying resources to breaking news and producing stories for CNN broadcast and digital platforms.

“I am thrilled to be joining the talented journalists at PBS NewsHour and excited to be part of this outstanding team that will lead in coverage of the 2016 presidential election,” added Kovach.

Most recently, Kovach served until 2014 as senior executive producer at Al Jazeera America, where he coordinated all Washington-based coverage, assignments and bureau needs with the New York based headquarters. While much of his work focused on major political events, Kovach who hasn’t missed a political convention in nearly two decades, has also covered many other major breaking news stories, including the Boston Marathon Bombing, 9/11 and the funeral of Pope John Paul II.

About PBS NewsHour

PBS NewsHour is seen by over four million weekly viewers and is also available online, via public radio in select markets, and via podcast. PBS NewsHour is a production of NewsHour Productions LLC, a wholly-owned nonprofit subsidiary of WETA Washington, D.C., in association with WNET in New York. Major funding for PBS NewsHour is provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, PBS and public television viewers. Major corporate funding is provided by BAE Systems, BNSF and Lincoln Financial Group with additional support from Carnegie Corporation of New York, the J. Paul Getty Trust, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, the Lemelson Foundation, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, National Science Foundation, the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, Friends of the NewsHour and others. More information on PBS NewsHour is available at www.pbs.org/newshour. On social media, visit NewsHour on Facebook or follow @NewsHour on Twitter.

Media Contact: Nick Massella
Director of Audience Engagement and Communications
PBS NewsHour
nmassella@newshour.org

PBS NewsHour Names Lisa Desjardins Political Director; Total of Five Promotions

WASHINGTON, DC (July 7, 2015) – The PBS NewsHour is excited to announce the promotion of several staff members, including Lisa Desjardins as Political Director, P.J. Tobia and Frank Carlson as producers, Alexis Cox as segment unit producer, and Corinne Segal as a reporter/producer on the arts team.

“Lisa is a tremendous talent, whose experience covering politics is an asset to the NewsHour every day, whether she is appearing on camera, as she does frequently, or online, in one of her popular articles, or in all of the ways that she works behind the scenes as we plan our coverage,” said Sara Just, PBS NewsHour executive producer and WETA senior vice president.

Just added, “As we grow and expand the NewsHour, both on air and online, we are asking for more from our hard working staff and they are delivering with creativity, energy, and insight. These promotions are well deserved and demonstrate the high quality of work they are consistently bringing to our audiences.”

Cox, a graduate of College of William and Mary, joined NewsHour in 2000 as a production assistant. She most recently served as a reporter/producer in the segment unit.

Tobia, the host of NewsHour’s latest podcast Shortwave, came to the NewsHour in 2011 and has served as a foreign affairs and defense reporter/producer. Prior to joining NewsHour, Tobia lived and worked in Afghanistan, where he covered both the conflict there and the lives of average Afghans it affected.

Carlson, a graduate of Northwestern’s Medill School of Journalism, first joined the NewsHour in 2009 as a desk assistant, and has most recently served as a reporter/producer covering the arts.

Segal, a graduate of Tufts University, joined NewsHour in the summer of 2014 as editor of NewsHour Extra, which provides students and teachers with quality educational resources based on current issues and events.

Desjardins joined NewsHour in October of 2014 as politics reporter and editor and regularly reports on broadcast and online both in-studio and from the U.S. Capitol. The 2016 election will be her fifth time reporting on a Presidential campaign. Prior to joining NewsHour, Desjardins spent nearly ten years with CNN and early in her career at WIS-TV in South Carolina, she broke news of the compromise to bring down the Confederate flag from the dome. Desjardins is the recipient of a Peabody Award for CNN’s coverage of the 2008 election and a Society of Professional Journalists’ Sigma Delta Chi award for national breaking news for coverage of the Haiti earthquake.

About PBS NewsHour

PBS NewsHour is seen by over four million weekly viewers and is also available online, via public radio in select markets, and via podcast. PBS NewsHour is a production of NewsHour Productions LLC, a wholly-owned nonprofit subsidiary of WETA Washington, D.C., in association with WNET in New York. Major funding for PBS NewsHour is provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, PBS and public television viewers. Major corporate funding is provided by BAE Systems, BNSF and Lincoln Financial Group with additional support from Carnegie Corporation of New York, the J. Paul Getty Trust, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, the Lemelson Foundation, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, National Science Foundation, the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, Friends of the NewsHour and others. More information on PBS NewsHour is available at www.pbs.org/newshour. On social media, visit NewsHour on Facebook or follow @NewsHour on Twitter.