PBS AND THE NEWSHOUR WITH JIM LEHRER WILL PROVIDE VIEWERS THE ONLY COMPLETE PRIMETIME BROADCAST TELEVISION COVERAGE OF BOTH CONVENTIONS ON UNC-TV

BROADCAST COVERAGE ANCHORED BY JIM LEHRER, WITH MARK SHIELDS AND DAVID BROOKS

RAY SUAREZ TO ANCHOR EXTENSIVE ONLINE COVERAGE

UNC-TV'S ESZTER VAJDA AND KELLY McCULLEN ALSO TO PROVIDE CONVENTION COVERAGE
ON NORTH CAROLINA NOW

When this summer’s national political conventions take place (Democratic National Convention in Denver, CO; August 25 to 28; Republican National Convention in St. Paul, MN; September 1 to 4), The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer and PBS will be the only nationally televised over-the-air broadcast to air complete, primetime coverage of podium activities and speeches. The coverage will be carried on UNC-TV, North Carolina's statewide public television network.

Jim Lehrer, Executive Editor and Anchor of The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, will anchor the convention coverage from skyboxes in the convention halls, where he will be joined by The NewsHour’s regular analysts: syndicated columnist Mark Shields and New York Times columnist David Brooks. Senior Correspondents Judy Woodruff and Gwen Ifill will be reporting from the convention floors, as well as interviewing delegates and newsmakers on the scene; Senior Correspondents Margaret Warner and Ray Suarez will also be conducting interviews and moderating analysis panels at both Conventions. In addition, Suarez will anchor The Online NewsHour’s extensive web coverage.

UNC-TV will also have North Carolina Now correspondents Eszter Vajda and Kelly McCullen providing nightly reports from the two conventions. Vajda will cover the Democratic convention and Cullen will cover the Republican convention.

Details of PBS and the NewsHour’s extensive broadcast and online coverage follow:

DATES & LOCATIONS: Democratic Convention, August 25-28, 2008 in Denver, CO

Republican Convention, September 1- 4, 2008 in St. Paul, MN

HOURS: 8:00-11:00 p.m. ET (or until the convention ends), each night, broadcast by PBS.

BROADCAST Extended uninterrupted coverage of podium activities and

COVERAGE: speeches; reports and interviews from the convention floor by Judy Woodruff and Gwen Ifill; Newsmaker interviews; panel discussions with political leaders and campaign representatives; conversations with historians to provide perspective and context; ongoing political analysis provided by Mark Shields and David Brooks.

ANCHOR: Jim Lehrer, executive editor and anchor of The NewsHour

SENIOR Judy Woodruff, The NewsHour’s political editor and a veteran

CORRESPONDENTS: journalist who has covered politics for NBC, CNN and PBS

Gwen Ifill, former reporter for the New York Times and NBC, NewsHour senior correspondent since 1999 and moderator of PBS’ Washington Week with National Journal.

Ray Suarez, NewsHour senior correspondent since 1999 and former host of NPR’s Talk of the Nation. Suarez will also anchor The NewsHour’s extensive online coverage.

Margaret Warner, NewsHour correspondent since 1993 and

former White House correspondent for Newsweek.

POLITICAL Mark Shields, syndicated columnist.

ANALYSTS: David Brooks, New York Times columnist.

Michael Beschloss, prolific writer and award–winning historian of the U.S. Presidency

Richard Norton Smith, scholar in residence at George Mason University.

Peniel Joseph, professor of history and African-American studies at Brandeis University.

Andy Kohut, president of the Pew Research Center.

ONLINE Reporter's Notebook – NewsHour senior correspondents

COVERAGE: Judy Woodruff and Gwen Ifill will file daily video reports at the beginning and end of each day with a preview of and reaction to the day’s events.

Insider Forum – Ray Suarez will pose viewers’ questions in video interviews with key political leaders, candidates and delegates to discuss the state of the race and the ongoing conventions.

2pm News Summary - Ray Suarez will anchor a special mid-day news summary highlighting the top stories from inside and outside the convention hall as well a preview of that night's NewsHour coverage.

Multimedia Slideshows – daily audio and video slideshows of significant events and key moments from the conventions.

Twitter/Flickr - live quotes, reactions, photos and updates from behind the scenes of the NewsHour editorial operations, as well as from events like delegate meetings, convention events and major speeches.

http://twitter.com/NewsHour

http://www.flickr.com/photos/newshour

Convention Blog – continuous coverage by NewsHour web reporters throughout the convention halls will provide brief and timely updates that will tie-in with the NewsHour Twitter coverage.

EDUCATIONAL Student journalists - NewsHour Extra, the NewsHour’s web

RESOURCES: resource for high school students and teachers will partner with Children’s Pressline (CPL) and create unique reports geared to what’s important to kids. CPL is a media organization based in New York City that trains kids (ages 8-18) to be journalists. These young journalists will attend the conventions, interview participants and file reports online and via podcast about events at the convention, what they reveal about this year’s candidates and th e political process itself.

Lesson Plans - NewsHour Extra offers lesson plans covering a wide range of issues related to the election at: http://www.pbs.org/newshour/extra/

Daily Convention Lesson Plans - NewsHour Extra will provide teachers tools to incorporate NewsHour convention coverage in their daily civics, social studies and or current events lesson plans. Each day, Extra will offer a lesson plan composed of a 5-10 minute video with suggestions for a warm up activity, select quotes and discussion questions to spark debate and critical thinking.

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/extra/teachers/blog/

THE NEWSHOUR: In addition to anchoring PBS’ complete convention coverage, Jim Lehrer will anchor the week-nightly NewsHour broadcast from the PBS Skybox within the convention hall in Denver and St. Paul.

The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer is seen five nights a week on more than 315 PBS stations across the country (check local listings) and is also available online, via public radio in select markets and via podcast.
PBS VOTE 2008

PBS goes behind the headlines throughout the summer and fall with the “PBS Vote 2008” election line-up, offering Americans a unique opportunity to explore the Presidential elections. PBS’ trusted news brands and personalities bring viewers in-depth information and insight into the issues and candidates. PBS’ election coverage will be led by THE NEWSHOUR WITH JIM LEHRER, WASHINGTON WEEK WITH GWEN IFILL AND NATIONAL JOURNAL, NOW ON PBS, BILL MOYERS JOURNAL and TAVIS SMILEY, and enhanced by programming from other trusted PBS sources, including AMERICAN EXPERIENCE, FRONTLINE, NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT and P.O.V.. PBS.org’s election hub page, pbs.org/vote2008, provides further p erspectives. The site aggregates video from PBS, features syndicatable content from across public media and highlights innovative Web-only projects from PBS producers and stations.