About William @WmBrangham
William Brangham is a correspondent and producer for PBS NewsHour in Washington, D.C. He joined the flagship PBS program in 2015, after spending two years with PBS NewsHour Weekend in New York City.
In his first three years, Brangham has done a range of award-winning reporting across the United States and internationally, covering everything from the severity of America’s opioid crisis, the integration of women into combat roles in the U.S. Marine Corps, to a profile of Ina Garten, the “Barefoot Contessa.”
Brangham’s reporting on the Syrian refugee crisis in 2015 was among the work cited when the NewsHour won a George Foster Peabody Award that year. The next year, he reported a six-part series on the global HIV/AIDS epidemic, which won a series of major awards including an Emmy and the National Academies of Sciences Communication Award. In 2018, Brangham worked on an investigative series about sexual assault and retaliation in the U.S. Forest Service. The day after that series aired, the head of the Forest Service suddenly stepped down.
When he is not out reporting in the field, Brangham is a regular interviewer on the NewsHour, and he has occasionally anchored the weekday and Weekend broadcasts.
During his career, Brangham has also worked on video 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, for Bill Moyers Journal. Brangham worked on several Moyers' documentary series in the 1990s, and was a producer on the critically acclaimed Now with Bill Moyers in the early 2000s.
In 2014, he was an adjunct professor at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism.
Brangham lives in Washington, D.C., with his wife and three children.
William’s Recent Stories
Nation May 28
2021 could be one of the driest years in a millennium, and there’s no relief in sightNearly half of the country — from the Pacific coast to the Great Plains and upper Midwest — is experiencing moderate to exceptional drought conditions. That's expected to get worse throughout the summer. As William Brangham reports, it's the western…
World May 27
What the shakeups, legal losses for fossil fuel companies mean for climate change effortsThree major oil and gas firms — ExxonMobil, Royal Dutch Shell and Chevron — suffered hits in court and among their own investors Wednesday, amid pressure for businesses and governments to seriously curtail emissions that drive climate change. William Brangham…
Nation May 24
Antisemitic attacks spread like ‘wildfire’ in the U.S. during Gaza conflictThe cease-fire in Gaza is holding for now. But while the confrontation between Israel and Hamas was taking place, there were growing reports of antisemitic attacks and slurs in several American cities. William Brangham focuses on the disturbing questions this…
World May 21
4 ways the US can help stem COVID deaths globallyWhile the pandemic's toll is easing in the U.S., COVID-19 still has a deadly grip on many other countries. The estimated global death toll remains around 13,000 people a day, and the World Health Organization's new estimates are far higher.
World May 19
‘Vaccine passports’ may be critical for equity, but polarization could undermine effortsDespite good progress on vaccinations in the U.S., the Biden administration and most officials are weary of requiring "vaccine passports" to prove inoculation. William Brangham discusses the related concerns with Dr. Georges Benjamin, the executive director of the American Public…
Nation May 17
An emergency room physician weighs in on CDC’s relaxed masking, distancing guidelinesEver since the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention eased mask recommendations substantially for fully vaccinated adults, there's been a wide range of reaction — including some outright confusion, anxiety and criticism — over how this will play out. William…
Arts May 14
DC art exhibit makes shoes out of trash in nod to the ‘Great Shoe Spill of 1990’The year 1990 saw the “Great Shoe Spill" where tens of thousands of Nike shoes fell into the Pacific. The accident led to some scientific discoveries, and now, whimsical art packed with an eco-friendly message. William Brangham plunges into an…
Nation May 13
Here’s the latest on gas shortages in the US and the plans to prevent future hacksAlthough Colonial Pipeline has resumed operations after a cyberattack, things are yet to return to normal. William Brangham has a look at the new claims about the hack and the resulting gas crunch with Patrick De Haan, the head of…
World May 11
Is the Russian government involved in the Colonial Pipeline hack? One expert weighs inThe Colonial Pipeline ransomware attack showed the vulnerability of key parts of America's critical infrastructure, and how hostile actors can exploit those weaknesses. William Brangham and investigative reporter Michael Weiss look at what role — if any — the Russian…
Science May 10
FDA greenlights Pfizer vaccine for children ages 12 to 15New York became the latest state to require students at publicly funded colleges be vaccinated for the fall term — a move that comes as overall, new infections in the U.S. have fallen to their lowest since last September. Vaccine…