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
Science May 31
At Smithsonian’s renovated Hall of Fossils, dinosaurs are just the beginningThe dinosaur bones at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History now boast new accommodations. After a four-year, $125 million renovation, the Hall of Fossils now features state-of-the-art technology and new exhibits housing more than 700 specimens. As William…
World May 01
In Venezuela, Maduro holds on to power as Guaido’s military support faltersAfter Tuesday’s violent clashes, Wednesday dawned quiet in Caracas but eventually grew chaotic again. Police threw tear gas at Venezuelans demonstrating in support of opposition leader Juan Guaido. Meanwhile, it was unclear why Guaido’s earlier talks with military leaders about…
Science Apr 24
Can Antarctica remain a refuge for science and peace?Antarctica is virtually uninhabited by people. There are no roads, no cities, no government. But thanks to a remarkable Cold War diplomatic breakthrough, the last continent ever discovered remains a place devoted almost exclusively to science. William Brangham reports on…
World Apr 17
How Antarctica’s tourist boom could affect Earth’s ‘last great wilderness’Antarctica was the last of the seven continents to be discovered, and it wasn’t until the late 1950s that commercial tourism began there. But now, Antarctica has become a popular travel destination, amid growing concerns about the effect that increasing…
Science Apr 10
Antarctica is losing ice at an accelerating rate. How much will sea levels rise?The frozen continent of Antarctica contains the vast majority of all freshwater on Earth. Now that ice is melting at an accelerating rate, in part because of climate change. What does this transformation mean for coastal communities across the globe?…
Nation Apr 09
On the Fire LineScience Apr 03
Antarctic penguins have existed for 60 million years. Can they survive climate change?Ron Naveen used to be a lawyer for the EPA, but he left government in the 1980s to start Oceanites, a nonprofit that tracks the health of penguins that breed on the Antarctic Peninsula. Now, that 800-mile stretch of land…
Nation Jan 17
How Colin O’Brady mentally prepared for his Antarctic featThere have been many expeditions on the frozen continent of Antarctica, but Colin O'Brady's 54-day solo trek across more than 930 miles without any assistance was the first of its kind. "You are locked in a prison of your own…
Health Dec 17
Why helicopter parenting may jeopardize kids’ healthHas protective parenting gone too far? Several high-profile news stories, along with increasing rates of childhood obesity, anxiety and depression, have sparked a movement encouraging parents to allow their children greater freedom. The nonprofit Let Grow is leading the call…
Nation Sep 20
It took 2 days for the FBI to investigate Anita Hill’s sexual harassment allegationHere’s what we know about how the FBI handles these claims and how the call by Democrats to open an investigation into Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh could play out.
