A couple of reports this morning based on a leaked internal memo said PBS NewsHour was planning on shuttering its San Francisco bureau, and now Poynter is reporting that a spokesman for the show has confirmed the closure. The staff reductions include longtime correspondent Spencer Michels, a native of San Francisco and former news anchor for KQED.
The show is also closing its Denver office and letting go of employees in its Washington, D.C. office.
The changes will take effect July 1.
From TVNewser's report:
This difficult step comes after more than a year spent reviewing how the ‘NewsHour’ functions, and determining the streamlining necessary to address both the funding challenges (primarily a steady drop in corporate revenue) and the opportunities presented by new technologies,” wrote “NewsHour” EP Linda Winslow and MacNeil/Lehrer president Bo Jones in the memo to staff.
Here at News Fix, we've enjoyed working with Spencer Michels a couple of times, and we particularly got a kick out of a post he did for us in January about one of the psychological motivations driving Jerry Brown, at least as speculated on by some journalists.