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Editor’s Note: Encyclo has not been regularly updated since August 2014, so information posted here is likely to be out of date and may be no longer accurate. It’s best used as a snapshot of the media landscape at that point in time.

PBS is an American public television network owned by its member stations.

The network was founded in 1970 and is funded by a combination of private donations, foundation funding, and state and federal money, primarily through the nonprofit Corporation for Public Broadcasting. It has been named as the most widely trusted media organization in the U.S.

PBS distributes, but does not produce, a variety of television programming. Its most popular news programs are PBS NewsHour (MacNeil/Lehrer Productions) and Frontline (WGBH). In May 2010, PBS added distribution of the hourlong newsmagazine Need to Know (WNET). PBS launched a U.K. channel in November 2011.

The NewsHour, founded in 1975, is an hour-long nightly news program known for taking a relatively sober, in-depth approach to the news. It faced a severe funding shortfall in recent years and underwent an overhaul in late 2009 to enhance its digital news operation.

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The changes included a merger of the show’s television and online staff and tweaks to the broadcast, as well as a revamped website with more blogs and social media involvement. They also included an international reporting partnership with the online startup GlobalPost. In announcing the changes, Jim Lehrer also listed the show’s guiding principles, saying they would remain unchanged.

Frontline is a documentary series that has won numerous awards since it debuted in 1983, and which has also worked to expand its digital and online presence, notably in social media and emerging platforms.

While PBS does not produce television programming, it does produce web content. PBS redesigned its website and launched an iPad app in October 2010, with a focus on making local public stations’ content available alongside national content. It has also announced plans to launch PBSNews.org, a specifically news-oriented site. PBS has been one of the most successful media organizations on the social media site Pinterest.

PBS launched PBS Digital Studios in 2012 to produce original online content, developing more than a dozen original YouTube-based series and drawing more than 200 million monthly viewers of video at PBS.org in 2013. It also had 250,000 registered users of its Roku app and 46,000 YouTube subscribers as of 2013.

PBS also runs MediaShift, a website founded in 2006 that examines changes in media and journalism, particularly online.

In early 2010, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting announced it would create five regional journalism centers focusing on local reporting through partnerships with PBS and NPR stations. The centers would feed content to national shows on the two broadcasters through a $10 million initiative.

Critics have occasionally called for PBS to be dissolved, or to be weaned from federal funding. PBS officials have responded by arguing that the network provides a valuable counterpart to other broadcast news outlets, particularly through its thorough reporting and measured tone.

Video:

Jim Lehrer announcing changes to NewsHour and a description of the show’s principles in December 2009:

Peers, allies, & competitors:

BBC News, NPR, CNN

Recent Nieman Lab coverage:

Feb. 6, 2025 / Joshua Benton

The Trump war on the news media takes an absurd turn — Here are a few of the things that, in the opening weeks of the second Trump administration, have gone from “totally normal” to “DEVIANT BEHAVIOR THAT SHOWS THE EVIL LURKING AT THE HEART OF THE AMERICAN ...

Jan. 7, 2025 / Andrew Deck

Thousands of documentaries are fueling AI models built by Apple, Meta, and Nvidia — In November, The Atlantic published a groundbreaking investigation that showed more than 138,000 films and TV episodes had been used as training data for AI models. Until then it had been widely speculated, but not confi...

Sept. 25, 2024 / Joshua Benton

What would Project 2025 do for (or to) journalism? — Has there ever been a more talked-about 922-page policy document than Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise? Oh — perhaps you know it better under the name of the group that produced it, Project 2025. The He...

Sept. 12, 2024 / Andrew Deck

Documentary filmmakers publish new AI ethics guidelines. Are news broadcasters next? — Last year, Rachel Antell was working on her latest documentary. An archival producer, Antell’s credits include the Academy Award-nominated Crip Camp and the CNN Film Chowchilla. She was tasked with sourcing archival ph...

March 26, 2024 / Hanaa' Tameez

War correspondent Jane Ferguson pulls back the curtain on her career covering global conflicts — Jane Ferguson, a seasoned war and conflict reporter for PBS NewsHour and a visiting professor at Princeton University, was teaching a course titled “War Reporting: Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow” last fall when the I...

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Primary author: Mark Coddington. Main text last updated: October 2, 2013.

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