PBS NewsHour will join forces with NPR News to co-produce and broadcast joint, live, prime time coverage of the 2016 Republican National Convention July 18 – 21 in Cleveland and the 2016 Democratic National Convention July 25 – 28 in Philadelphia on PBS and NPR stations and across PBS NewsHour, PBS, NPR and member stations’ digital sites. The partnership between PBS NewsHour and NPR is a first-time collaboration for the two organizations at the conventions.
Prime time coverage starts on local PBS and NPR stations at 8 p.m. ET each night of the conventions and is scheduled through 11 p.m. ET. Coverage will be co-anchored by Gwen Ifill and Judy Woodruff.
At both conventions, NPR host Rachel Martin will serve as the podium reporter with NPR’s Susan Davis as the floor reporter. At the RNC convention, Lisa Desjardins will join Davis on the convention floor, with additional reporting outside the convention hall by John Yang. At the DNC convention, Yang will join Davis on the convention floor.
In addition to guest interviews to be announced, Ifill and Woodruff will be joined by NPR’s Mara Liasson, Ron Elving and Domenico Montanaro, among others, and NewsHour regular contributors including syndicated columnist Mark Shields, New York Times columnist David Brooks and Cook Political Report’s Amy Walter.
The coverage will extend to the digital and social platforms for PBS NewsHour, NPR, and PBS. PBS NewsHour will produce 24-hour convention coverage by providing live video, a live blog, a broad range of analysis, reporting inside and outside the event space in both cities and social media updates for our diverse audiences.
During the conventions, PBS NewsHour’s nightly newscast will be anchored on location by Ifill and Woodruff, with Hari Sreenivasan providing additional reporting in Washington.
Sreenivasan will preview each convention on PBS NewsHour Weekend leading up to the start of events on Monday.
Washington Week with Gwen Ifill will host live-audience special editions at 8 p.m. ET from Cleveland on July 15 and Philadelphia on July 22, in advance of the Republican and Democratic national political conventions in each city including a second half hour, Washington Week Extra.