Knight Foundation Partners With NewsHour to Expand Digital Offerings
Knight Foundation Partners With PBS's NewsHour to Expand Digital Offerings
The Miami-based John S. and James L. Knight Foundation has announced a three-year, $1.15 million funding and technology partnership with the PBS program the NewsHour with Jim Lehrer.
The partnership seeks to encourage audience interaction with the show by making the Online NewsHour a more accessible and interactive source of in-depth reporting and analysis of national and world events. It will also help the online version of the program better serve a growing audience and more fully meet the needs of the general public, educators, and students. To that end, the partnership will focus on creating online forums, enhanced data and graphics, interactive video segments, and NewsHour Extra, an online educational resource for high school students and teachers. In addition, the NewsHour TeacherCenter will assist teachers in reviewing, ranking, and shaping lessons from the show's content, offer professional development, and provide rights-cleared video and other media for classroom use.
According to NewsHour executive director Linda Winslow, the funding will enable visitors to the site to actively participate in the program. "By increasing the opportunity for people to have a real conversation with the NewsHour, we hope to expand the understanding of our audience about the world around them," she said. "We also see a great opportunity to broaden and expand our coverage of the 2008 presidential election."
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