Need to Know (TV program) - Misplaced Pages

(Redirected from Need to Know (PBS))

2010 American TV series or program

Need to Know

Presented by	Alison Stewart Jon Meachem
Country of origin	United States
No. of seasons	3
No. of episodes	166
Production
Running time	54 minutes (May 7, 2010 – September 9, 2011) 24 minutes (September 16, 2011 – June 28, 2013)
Production company	WNET
Original release
Network	PBS
Release	May 7, 2010 (2010-05-07) – June 28, 2013 (2013-06-28)

Need to Know is an American public television news program produced by WNET (a New York City PBS station) and broadcast weekly on all Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) affiliate-stations in the United States (plus, ABC News 24, in Australia). It aired from May 2010 until June 2013.

PBS stated that the show was intended to fill the public affairs and "hard"/investigative news void left by both the one-hour Bill Moyers Journal (which had ended with Mr. Moyers' retirement), and the cancelled, half-hour NOW on PBS (hosted by investigative journalist David Brancaccio, a Moyers protégé). Both departing shows had been long-running, highly rated, and critically acclaimed for their journalistic quality and focus on issues that deeply impacted regular Americans' lives, yet went largely ignored by commercial TV news outlets. "NTK" branded itself the "TV and Web newsmagazine gives you what you need to know."

PBS had described the show as "a multi-platform current affairs news magazine, uniting broadcast and web in an innovative approach to newsgathering and reporting." Initially, it was co-hosted by Alison Stewart (a regular contributor to NPR, and, at the time, The Rachel Maddow Show's main substitute-host)) and Jon Meachem (a journalist, author, and then-editor-in-chief of Newsweek magazine). Later, the show was hosted by one journalist (out of a rotating group of three) who presented pre-taped correspondent pieces, then asked follow-up questions of the correspondent, in-studio. A short segment followed, in which a prominent person reflected on a difference-making period from his or her past.

Throughout its first year-plus, the show failed to live up to the lofty expectations and high production budget that PBS had set for it. Many loyal PBS viewers were sharply critical of the show's style and content (or, the alleged lack thereof), and thousands of "viewer mail" comments flooded into the offices of PBS' ombudsman.

The show's ratings fell far short of those it replaced, and several attempts to re-tool it were made. For example, in April 2011, Meacham's role changed to that of "contributing editor" (i.e., a recurring commentary segment) and Stewart became the show's sole anchor. The show's format was changed further effective September 16, 2011, for both the broadcast and website; NPR's Scott Simon guest-hosted the first episode with this new format. The website stated that the show would "spend the next 15 months covering the campaign for president, but we’re going to do it differently...covering the campaign from the voters’ perspective, not the candidates’". The costly production was halved to a 30-minute format, and Stewart left the show on September 9, 2011, citing the desire to focus on a book project and her family, plus, a lack of interest in the show's new direction.

In May 2013, PBS officials informed the network's member stations that Need to Know would be replaced by Charlie Rose Weekend (later retitled Charlie Rose: The Week) in July. WNET declined to comment on the cancellation.

Many of the employees who had worked on Need to Know were expected to move to PBS NewsHour's new, weekend edition, also produced by WNET. Marc Rosenwasser, who was the executive producer of Need to Know, served in the same capacity for PBS NewsHour Weekend, which premiered on September 7, 2013.

Anchors

External links

PBS site
Need to Know at IMDb

References

Need to Know. PBS. June 19, 2013. Retrieved July 19, 2013.
Need to Know. Official website. (No longer so branded there 2011-09-18.)
O'Connor, Rory (February 2, 2011). "Is PBS Show 'Need to Know' on the Ropes?". AlterNet.
^ Jensen, Elizabeth (August 28, 2011). "Anchor to Leave PBS's 'Need to Know'". The New York Times Media Decoder blog.
Need to Know. PBS. Retrieved September 18, 2011. NTK's home page.
"Privatizing-infrastructure-government-and-the-private-sector". Need to Know. PBS. September 18, 2011.
Lewis, Shelley (September 14, 2011). "Welcome to the new Need to Know website". Need to Know. Retrieved September 18, 2011.
Stewart, Alison (September 9, 2011). "Alison signs off". Need to Know. Retrieved September 18, 2011.
Jensen, Elizabeth (May 19, 2013). "Charlie Rose to Host a Show in Prime Time on PBS". The New York Times. Retrieved July 19, 2013.
Vyse, Graham (July 2, 2013). "PBS expands NewsHour and Charlie Rose". Current. American University School of Communication. Retrieved July 19, 2013.

v t e PBS
Documentaries	Independent Lens (episodes) (since August 9, 1999) PBS Short Film Festival (since 2012) POV (episodes) (since July 5, 1988)
Drama	Masterpiece (since January 10, 1971)
Music and fine arts	American Masters (since June 22, 1986) Art:21 (since 2001) Austin City Limits (since January 3, 1976) Bluegrass Underground (since 2011) Craft in America (since 2007) Great Performances (episodes) (since November 4, 1972) Next at the Kennedy Center (since 2023)
History	American Experience (episodes) (since October 4, 1988) Antiques Roadshow (since January 9, 1997) Finding Your Roots (since March 25, 2012) Secrets of the Dead (since May 15, 2000)
News and public affairs	Amanpour & Company (since September 10, 2018) BBC World News America (since June 3, 2019 from American Public Television) Firing Line (episodes) (April 4, 1966 – December 26, 1999; since June 22, 2018) Frontline (episodes) (since January 17, 1983) PBS News Hour (since October 20, 1975) To the Contrary (since April 3, 1992) Washington Week (since February 23, 1967)
Personalities	Samantha Brown Ken Burns Ric Burns Michael Gerson Amy Holmes Bill Moyers Hari Sreenivasan Judy Woodruff
How-to and special interest	MotorWeek (since October 15, 1981) This Old House (episodes) (since January 1, 1979)
Science and nature	Nature (episodes) (since October 10, 1982) Nova (episodes) (since March 3, 1974)
Networks	Create PBS PBS America (UK) PBS Digital Studios PBS Kids PBS YOU World Channel
Major stations	Boston WGBH WGBX Chicago WTTW Dallas KERA Houston KUHT Los Angeles KCET KLCS KOCE Maryland MPT Miami–Ft. Lauderdale–West Palm Beach WLRN WPBT WXEL New Jersey NJ PBS New York WLIW WNET Philadelphia–Wilmington–Lehigh Valley WHYY WLVT Pittsburgh WQED San Francisco/Watsonville/San Jose KQED KQEH KQET Tampa–St. Petersburg WEDQ WEDU Washington, D.C. WETA WHUT
Former	BBC OS (January 1, 2020 – March 30, 2023) A Chef's Life (September 7, 2013 – October 22, 2018) Need to Know (May 7, 2010 – June 28, 2013) We'll Meet Again with Ann Curry (January 23, 2018 – January 8, 2019)
Related	Public broadcasting in the United States Corporation for Public Broadcasting America's Public Television Stations List of PBS member stations List of programs broadcast by PBS PBS Distribution PBS Satellite Service
Defunct network Distributed by American Public Television (APT)

Categories: