Lehrer Says ‘News Hour’ Money Woes Are Worst Ever

In its 25 years on the air, “NewsHour” has had fallow budget periods, but none that equal the current one, Jim Lehrer acknowledged. The financial squeeze was precipitated last summer when Archer Daniels Midland ended its 14-year sponsorship of the program. That sponsorship provided nearly $4 million (and some years as much as $7 million) of the program’s yearly budget, which varies from $26 million to $28 million. On May 1, salaries were frozen at the newscast, and company contributions to 401(k) retirement funds were suspended, cutbacks suggested by the staff. “NewsHour” still has two corporate sponsors -- Chevron and the Pacific Life Insurance Company -- and it receives support from PBS and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. But only part of the Archer money has been replaced, leaving the budget several million dollars short. “NewsHour,” along with other PBS mainstays, may have a longer-term problem. Not only are corporations cutting back on all forms of advertising during the current economic slowdown, but public television’s model -- soliciting long-term commitments -- is also increasingly out of step with the changing needs of corporations, which no longer sponsor public television programs for purely philanthropic reasons.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/19/business/media/19newshour.html?ref=todayspaper
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