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For 40 years, Washington Week
has delivered the most interesting conversation of the week.
Washington Week is the longest-running
public affairs program on PBS. The show first aired locally on WETA
on February 23, 1967 as Washington Week In Review. A few months later it began broadcasting over
Eastern Educational Network, a group of 14 stations located between
Washington, D.C. and Maine. In January 1969, it became the first
local program to air on the new Public Broadcasting Service (PBS).
Washington Week features a group
of journalists participating in roundtable discussion of major
news events. In its early years, Washington Week
maintained three regular correspondents — Peter Lisagor, Charlie Cordry, and Neil McNeil — but in
1970 the format changed to three regular reporters and a weekly
guest reporter. The program currently maintains a small core group
of regular correspondents and a larger group of occasional guests.
WETA's public affairs director, John Davenport, served as Washington Week In Review's first moderator. He was succeeded by former CBS newscaster Lincoln Furber; Max Kampelman, Washington attorney and chief arms control negotiator in the Reagan administration; Robert MacNeil, co-anchor of The MacNeil/Lehrer Newshour; veteran journalist Paul Duke, and former NBC national political correspondent Ken Bode. October 1, 1999 marked the arrival of Washington Week's newest moderator, Gwen Ifill. As chief Congressional and political correspondent for NBC News, Ifill has been a frequent Washington Week panelist since 1992, and has occasionally served as guest moderator on the show.
In 1974, the program won the Alfred duPont–Columbia University Award, in recognition of outstanding journalistic achievement. Other awards include a Silver Medal from the International Film and Television Festival of New York; Emmy Awards from the Washington Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, and local awards around the country.
Washington Week is currently carried by 90 percent of the 306 PBS stations around the country and reaches 97 percent of U.S. television households. In 1975 the Armed Forces Radio and TV Network was granted permission to carry the program on a regular basis to troops throughout the world.
Washington Week's future has
been in question only once during its existence. In 1972 the
Nixon administration, citing Washington Week
specifically, generated intense pressure against public affairs
programs on PBS. The deluge of mail from avid viewers saved it.
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