John Yang Named Anchor of PBS News Weekend

                                                                                                 Media Contacts
Nick Massella, nmassella@newshour.org
Ella Richardson, erichardson@newshour.org

Arlington, VA (December 8, 2022)Sharon Percy Rockefeller, President and C.E.O. of WETA and President of NewsHour Productions, L.L.C., today named John Yang anchor of PBS News Weekend, beginning Saturday, Dec. 31, 2022. Yang, who joined PBS NewsHour as a correspondent in 2016, succeeds Geoff Bennett as anchor of PBS’s weekend evening newscast. In this capacity, Yang will continue to cover the Supreme Court and other national issues for PBS NewsHour.

Rockefeller noted, “With his distinguished background in journalism and his dedication to high standards of the NewsHour, John is the ideal anchor for this important program. We are committed to providing thoughtful coverage and analysis 365 days of the year; and with John at the helm of our PBS News Weekend, our audiences will continue to be well-served.”

johnyang

Mike Morgan

Yang added, “Now more than ever, in-depth, independent reporting is critical to a healthy, vibrant democracy. It’s an honor to take on this role and continue working with the NewsHour’s team of incredibly talented, committed journalists. I’m grateful and humbled to be entrusted with this responsibility.”

Sara Just, PBS NewsHour senior executive producer and a WETA SVP, also added, “I’ve been lucky enough to work with John Yang in so many roles in journalism, as a foreign correspondent, a White House correspondent, a breaking news correspondent, a feature reporter, and now anchor. His insight and experience, coupled with his curiosity and compassion are exactly what we need to lead PBS News Weekend.”

Yang joined the NewsHour in February 2016 as a national correspondent covering the 2016 presidential campaign and later the first year of the Trump administration. He has since focused much of his reporting on the Supreme Court and other major national issues from the nation’s capital and across the country.

Previously, Yang was a Chicago-based correspondent for NBC News, reporting for NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt, Today, and MSNBC. Yang was part of an NBC team that reported on “In Plain Sight: Poverty in America,” a 2013 George Foster Peabody Award recipient, and his reporting in April 2011 on tornado devastation in Alabama was included in an NBC Nightly News broadcast that received an Edward R. Murrow Award for Best Newscast.

PBS NewsHour took over production of PBS NewsHour Weekend, since renamed PBS News Weekend, from WNET in April 2022. The 30-minute broadcast airs Saturdays and Sundays on PBS stations and streams online and is executive produced by Rachel Wellford.

About PBS NewsHour

PBS NewsHour is a production of NewsHour Productions LLC, a wholly-owned non-profit subsidiary of WETA Washington, DC. Major corporate funding is provided by BDO, BNSF, Consumer Cellular, Fidelity, Johnson & Johnson, and Raymond James, with additional support from the Carnegie Corporation of New York, the Ford Foundation, the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, The Kendeda Fund, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, the National Science Foundation, The Pew Charitable Trusts, the Skoll Foundation, the Walton Family Foundation, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, Friends of the NewsHour and others. More information on PBS NewsHour is available at www.pbs.org/newshour. On social media, visit PBS NewsHour on Facebook or follow @NewsHour on Twitter.

About WETA

WETA and its subsidiary NewsHour Productions LLC serve local and national public media audiences by producing and distributing content of intellectual integrity and cultural merit. As the leading public broadcaster in the nation’s capital, WETA serves Virginia, Maryland and the District of Columbia with educational initiatives and with high-quality programming on television, radio and digital platforms. WETA is the second-largest producer of programming for the PBS system, producing news and public affairs programs, including PBS NewsHour, PBS News Weekend and Washington Week; films by Ken Burns and Florentine Films, including Benjamin Franklin, Muhammad Ali and the recent The U.S. and the Holocaust; documentaries and series with Henry Louis Gates, Jr., including Making Black America: Through the Grapevine and Finding Your Roots; performance specials including In Performance at the White House, The Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song, National Memorial Day Concert and A Capitol Fourth; and health content from Well Beings, a multiplatform campaign of digital and broadcast content and robust resources. More information on WETA and its programs and services is available at www.weta.org. Visit www.facebook.com/wetatvfm on Facebook and follow @WETAtvfm on Twitter.