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William Brangham

About William

William Brangham is an award-winning correspondent, producer, and substitute anchor for the PBS News Hour. He also serves as the host of Horizons from PBS News.

Brangham was part of the News Hour team that won a 2022 Peabody Award for its coverage of guns and gun violence in America. His reporting that year culminated in the NewsHour documentary, “Ricochet: An American Trauma.”

Over the years, Brangham has also reported extensively on the climate crisis, covering the complexity and severity of the issue at everything from U.N. climate conferences to the glaciers of Antarctica. Brangham’s climate reporting has helped establish the News Hour as the clear leader in broadcast news. Among his many stories, his four-part series from Antarctica was nominated for a 2020 News & Documentary Emmy, and became the basis for the News Hour’s first ever podcast series, “The Last Continent.”

Brangham has also done considerable reporting on health, healthcare, and pandemics. In addition to playing a central role in the News Hour’s Covid-19 coverage, his multi-part series about the fight against influenza won the 2020 News & Documentary Emmy Award for “Outstanding Science, Medical and Environmental Report.” His five-part series looking at why America has failed to achieve universal health care (when so many other nations have) was turned into another News Hour documentary: “Critical Care: America vs The World.”

In 2018, Brangham and the News Hour team produced an investigative series about sexual assault, rape, and retaliation within the U.S. Forest Service. The day after that series aired, the head of the Forest Service suddenly stepped down. This reporting won a 2019 News & Documentary Emmy Award for "Outstanding Investigative Report in a Newscast,” won a Webby Award, was nominated for a Peabody, and won the 2018 Al Neuharth Innovation in Investigative Journalism Award.

In 2017, Brangham and his colleagues won another News & Documentary Emmy Award for their series "The End of AIDS?," which looked at the state of the global campaign against HIV. That series also received several other awards, including the National Academies of Sciences Communication Award.

Brangham’s reporting on the Syrian refugee crisis in 2015, where he followed Syrian families trying to cross from Hungary into Austria, was among the work cited when the News Hour won a Peabody that year for its ongoing series “Desperate Journey.”

When he is not out reporting in the field, Brangham is a regular interviewer on the News Hour, and is the substitute anchor for the program.

During his career, Brangham has also worked on video and television projects for The New York Times, ABC News, National Geographic and Frontline. Prior to joining the NewsHour, he was a producer and correspondent for Need to Know on PBS, and before that, on Bill Moyers Journal. Brangham worked on multiple Moyers' documentary series in the 1990s, and was a producer on the critically acclaimed magazine series Now with Bill Moyers in the early 2000s.

In 2014, he was an adjunct professor at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism.

Brangham and his wife live in Washington D.C. and have three children.

Full Bio

William’s Recent Stories

Oct 16

The hopes and risks of bringing humanoid robots into our homes

Life-like, humanoid robots have captured our imagination for decades. Now, those robots work in factories and assembly lines all over the world. Will they soon be working in our own homes? Horizons moderator William Brangham explores our robotic future with…

Oct 09

Exploring the science of keeping your mind sharp as you age

Everyone wants to keep a sharp mind as they age, especially as dementia cases continue to rise. Now, a growing body of evidence suggests almost half of the key risks for cognitive decline can be prevented or delayed. Horizons moderator…

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