Posted on December 7, 2008

Gates Foundation Awards $3.5 Million to PBS's 'NewsHour' to Expand Global Health Coverage

The NewsHour With Jim Lehrer has announced a three-year, $3.5 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to the show's co-producer, public broadcaster WETA, to establish a dedicated production unit to report on global health issues.

Although the NewsHour maintains a domestic health and health policy reporting unit supported by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the new grant will enable the program to significantly expand its broadcast and online coverage of major global health issues such as malaria, HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, measles, and neglected diseases while reporting on how global health challenges are being addressed by the scientific and public policy communities.

During the life of the grant, NewsHour correspondents will travel worldwide to produce forty to fifty documentary-style reports on global health issues. In addition to airing on television, the reports will be distributed via digital platforms along with original Web-based global health content. The NewsHour will also launch an outreach effort to put the coverage in front of policy makers, scientists, medical professionals, and others in the global health community.

"Health stories and international reporting have always been important to the NewsHour and our audience," said NewsHour executive producer Linda Winslow. "Thanks to the support of the Gates Foundation, we now have the resources to give global health the attention it deserves."