About Jeffrey
Jeffrey Brown is a senior correspondent and chief arts correspondent for the PBS NewsHour.
In his 30-year career with the NewsHour, Brown has served as co-anchor, studio moderator, and field reporter on a wide range of national and international issues, with work taking him around the country and to many parts of the globe. As arts correspondent he has profiled many of the world's leading writers, musicians, actors and other artists. Recently, Brown presented a multi-year series, "Culture at Risk," about threatened cultural heritage in the United States and abroad. He created and hosts the NewsHour's online "Art Beat" and also hosts the monthly book club, "Now Read This," a collaboration with The New York Times.
Brown is author of a collection of poetry, titled "The News" and serves as an advisor to the Sun Valley Writers Conference. His numerous honors include a News & Documentary Emmy Award and multiple CINE Golden Eagle Awards. He earned a bachelor's degree in classics from the University of California, Berkeley, a master's degree from Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism, an honorary degree (D.H.L) from Wesley College, and attended the UC Berkeley School of Law.
Jeffrey’s Recent Stories
Arts Nov 16
Why ‘Widows’ isn’t just another heist movieThe new fall film “Widows” looks like a heist movie, featuring plenty of star power, thrilling plot twists and explosions, as the widows of four armed robbers band together to finish the job their late husbands’ began. But director Steve…
Arts Nov 13
Why a library fire feels like an ‘attack on humanity’In April 1986, fire raged through the Central Library in downtown Los Angeles, damaging or destroying more than a million books. Journalist and author Susan Orlean resurrects this nearly forgotten story in “The Library Book,” which also explores the emotional…
Nation Nov 12
New film ‘Boy Erased’ explores the ‘self-hatred’ dealt by gay conversion programs“Boy Erased,” a new film based on a memoir by Garrard Conley, tells the story of a young man who is forced by his parents to attend a gay conversion therapy program. Jeffrey Brown speaks to Conley about how his…
Nation Nov 05
In ‘These Truths,’ historian Jill Lepore weaves in underappreciated political storiesA new, single volume of history sets out to explore the experiment in government that is the United States. Jeffrey Brown sits down with award-winning Harvard historian Jill Lepore, author of “These Truths: A History of the United States,” to…
Nation Nov 02
This festival aims to bridge the urban-rural political divide ‘in a time of rot’A food and arts festival in central Wisconsin has grand ambitions. “Fermentation Fest” celebrates art, farming and all things fermented. But in addition to serving up sauerkraut and kombucha, festival organizers also hope it provides an opportunity for people living…
Arts Oct 31
‘American Wolf’ author Nate Blakeslee answers your questionsNate Blakeslee, author of our October pick for the NewsHour-New York Times book club Now Read This, joins Jeffrey Brown to answer questions from readers, plus Jeff announces November’s book.
Nation Oct 26
For Hilary Swank, a ‘vulnerable’ role as the daughter of an Alzheimer’s patientThe new film “What They Had” explores the painful journey of a family coping with an Alzheimer’s diagnosis. Its accomplished cast includes Blythe Danner as an ailing mother and Hilary Swank as the daughter who comes home to care for…
Arts Oct 24
Octavio Solis on growing up a ‘skinny brown kid’ on the U.S.-Mexico borderAs politicians spar over immigration, playwright Octavio Solis recounts his childhood as a “skinny brown kid” in El Paso in his memoir “Retablos”. Solis says that though he was in the U.S. legally, Border Patrol would ask him to recite…
Arts Oct 19
‘Beautiful Boy’ resonates for a country gripped by addictionA harrowing, timely film that premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival earlier this fall opens around the country today. "Beautiful Boy" chronicles meth addiction and recovery through the eyes of a father and his afflicted son. Jeffrey Brown speaks…
Arts Oct 16
For these Native American artists, business opportunities arrive by busOn South Dakota’s Pine Ridge Reservation, a substantial number of Native households earn income by creating and selling art. But many of these residents lack access to the transportation and financing that would enable them to market and grow their…
