Elizabeth Farnsworth (born December 23, 1943) is a journalist, author, and filmmaker. She is a former foreign correspondent and former chief correspondent and principal substitute anchor of

PBS NewsHour ''PBS News Hour'', previously stylized as ''PBS NewsHour'', is the news division of PBS and an American daily evening news broadcasting#television, television news program broadcast on over 350 PBS Network affiliate#Member stations, member stat ...

with

Jim Lehrer James Charles Lehrer ( ; May 19, 1934 – January 23, 2020) was an American journalist, novelist, screenwriter, and playwright. He was the executive editor and a news anchor for the ''PBS News Hour'' on PBS and was known for his role as a debate ...

. She has written two books, including a novella, ''Last Light'', which was published by Flint Hills Publishing (March, 2024), and a memoir. Her 2008 documentary, The Judge and the General, (co-directed with Patricio Lanfranco), aired on television around the world, winning many awards. She has reported from Cambodia, Vietnam, Chile, Haiti, Iraq, and Iran, among other places. Having previously lived in Peru, Chile,

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

, and

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

for extended periods, she now lives in

Berkeley, California Berkeley ( ) is a city on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay in northern Alameda County, California, United States. It is named after the 18th-century Anglo-Irish bishop and philosopher George Berkeley. It borders the cities of Oakland, Cali ...

, with her husband, Charles E. Farnsworth. They have two married children and six grandchildren.

Early life and education

Farnsworth was born Elizabeth Fink in Minneapolis, Minnesota, the daughter of Jane (Mills) Fink (1911- 1953) and H. Bernerd Fink (1909–1999), while her father was stationed at Wold–Chamberlain Naval Air Station during WW II (now known as

Minneapolis–Saint Paul International Airport Minneapolis–Saint Paul International Airport — also less commonly known as Wold–Chamberlain Field — is a joint civil-military public international airport serving the Twin Cities in the U.S. state of Minnesota. It is located in Fort ...

). From this union, she had one older sister, Marcia (Fink) Anderson (1937–2022). Shortly after Elizabeth's birth, the family moved (1944) back to Topeka, Kansas, where both her parents had been born and raised. Both of her parents are descended from easterners who came to Kansas as pioneers. Farnsworth's mother's great-grandparents were abolitionists. In 1953, when she was 9 years old, her mother died of cancer. Her father remarried in 1955 to a widow, Ruth (Garvey) Cochener, who had three children from her previous marriage. Farnsworth graduated from

Topeka High School Topeka High School (THS) is a public secondary school in Topeka, Kansas, United States. It serves students in grades 9 to 12, and is one of five high schools operated by the Topeka USD 501 school district. In the 2010–2011 school year, there w ...

in 1961 and was inducted into the school's Hall of Fame in 1998. She attended

Middlebury College Middlebury College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Middlebury, Vermont, United States. Founded in 1800 by Congregationalism in the United States, Congregationalists, Middlebury w ...

, Middlebury, VT, where she graduated magna cum laude in 1965. She earned an M.A. in

Latin American History The term ''Latin America'' originated in the 1830s, primarily through Michel Chevalier, who proposed the region could ally with "Latin Europe" against other European cultures. It primarily refers to the French, Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking cou ...

from

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

in 1966. She received an honorary doctorate degree from

Colby College Colby College is a private liberal arts college in Waterville, Maine, United States. Founded in 1813 as the Maine Literary and Theological Institution, it was renamed Waterville College in 1821. The donations of Christian philanthropist Gardner ...

(2002) and

Washburn University Washburn University (WU), formally Washburn University of Topeka, is a public university in Topeka, Kansas, United States. It offers undergraduate and graduate programs as well as professional programs in law and business. The university enroll ...

(2021).

Career

Farnsworth first appeared regularly on public television in 1975 as a panelist covering Latin America on the national television program "World Press", produced by KQED in San Francisco. In the 1970s and 80's she contributed articles to the

San Francisco Chronicle The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and M. H. de Young, Michael H. ...

Foreign Policy Foreign policy, also known as external policy, is the set of strategies and actions a State (polity), state employs in its interactions with other states, unions, and international entities. It encompasses a wide range of objectives, includ ...

, and

Mother Jones (magazine) ''Mother Jones'' (abbreviated ''MoJo'') is a nonprofit American Left-wing politics in the United States, left-wing magazine that focuses on news, commentary, and investigative journalism on topics including politics, Biophysical environment, en ...

, among other publications. With Eric Leenson and Richard Feinberg, she wrote about the economic blockade against Chile during the years

Salvador Allende Salvador Guillermo Allende Gossens (26 June 1908 – 11 September 1973) was a Chilean socialist politician who served as the 28th president of Chile from 1970 until Death of Salvador Allende, his death in 1973 Chilean coup d'état, 1973. As a ...

was president. That research became a book, El Bloqueo Invisible, in Buenos Aires in 1973. In 1984 she became a contributing correspondent to ''The MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour'', later known as ''

The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer ''PBS News Hour'', previously stylized as ''PBS NewsHour'', is the news division of PBS and an American daily evening television news program broadcast on over 350 PBS member stations since October 20, 1975. It airs seven nights a week, and ...

'' and then ''

PBS News Hour ''PBS News Hour'', previously stylized as ''PBS NewsHour'', is the news division of PBS and an American daily evening television news program broadcast on over 350 PBS member stations since October 20, 1975. It airs seven nights a week, and ...

''. In 1995 she became chief correspondent and principal substitute anchor, and in 1999 became senior correspondent and head of the

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

office. From 1984 until 2005, she reported in print and on television from numerous countries, among them: Vietnam, Cambodia, South Korea, Japan, Chile, Peru, Guatemala, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq, Israel (the West Bank and Gaza), Botswana, Malawi and Turkey. Farnsworth was a Fellow at the Center for Art Environment of the

Nevada Museum of Art The Nevada Museum of Art, is an art museum in Reno, Nevada. Located at 160 West Liberty Street in Reno, it is the only American Alliance of Museums (AAM) accredited art museum in the state of Nevada. The museum has chosen a thematic approach, pl ...

from 2010 to 2013. In June 2013 an exhibit, Fracked: North Dakota's Oil boom, featuring photographs by

Terry Evans (photographer) Terry Evans (born 1944) is an American photographer. After growing up in Kansas City, she moved to Salina, Kansas, where she was inspired to explore the themes of human relationship with the land. Evans' work explores the environmental impact of ...

and written by Farnsworth, opened at the

Field Museum of Natural History The Field Museum of Natural History (FMNH), also known as The Field Museum, is a natural history museum in Chicago, Illinois, and is one of the largest such museums in the world. The museum is popular for the size and quality of its educationa ...

in Chicago. After a year, the exhibit traveled to the North Dakota Museum of Art, and since then it has traveled to other cities in North Dakota. Farnsworth is a former member of the Board of Directors of the World Affairs Council (Northern California) and currently a member of that organization's Advisory Committee. She also serves on the Advisory Committee of the UC

Berkeley School of Law The University of California, Berkeley School of Law (Berkeley Law) is the law school of the University of California, Berkeley. The school was commonly referred to as "Boalt Hall" for many years, although it was never the official name. This cam ...

Human Rights Center.

Awards and honors

*1984 –

San Francisco Film Festival The San Francisco International Film Festival (abbreviated as SFIFF), organized by SFFILM, is held each spring for two weeks, presenting around 200 films from over 50 countries. The festival highlights current trends in international film and vi ...

s, Golden Gate Award for ''The Gospel and Guatemala'', co-produced by Farnsworth and

Stephen Talbot Stephen Henderson Talbot (born February 28, 1949) is a TV documentary film producer, producer, writer and reporter. Talbot directed and produced "The Movement and the 'Madman' " for the PBS series American Experience in 2023. He is a longtime co ...

. The production aired on PBS. *1991 – CINE's Golden Eagle Award for ''Thanh's War'', co-produced by Farnsworth and John Knoop. The production aired on PBS. *1992 – American Film and Video Festival Blue Ribbon Award and the National Educational Film Festival Award for ''Thanh's War'', co-produced by Farnsworth and John Knoop. *1995 -

The Topeka Capital-Journal ''The Topeka Capital-Journal'' is a daily newspaper in Topeka, Kansas, owned by Gannett. History The paper was formed following numerous name changes and mergers, including the merger of ''The Topeka Daily Capital'' and ''The Topeka State Jou ...

's 1997 Distinguished Kansan Of The Year Award. *2001 –

New York Festivals New York Festivals are a collection of related annual arts and media awards based in New York City. The awards include the New York Festivals Advertising Awards, "Advertising and Marketing Effectiveness" AME Awards, Bowery Awards, Global Awards, ...

, Silver World Medal for TV Programming, The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, ''AIDS in Africa-Global Help'' (four-part series). Farnsworth did the reporting for this series that was produced by Joanne Elgart. *2010 – Alfred I. duPont–Columbia University Award for excellence in broadcast journalism, for The Judge and the General. The production aired on PBS.

Nominations

*1991 – San Francisco Bay/ Northern CA Area Emmy nomination for Outstanding Individual Achievement: Writing-program for ''Thanh's War'', written by KQED's, Elizabeth Farnsworth. *2001 –

Emmy Awards The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the year, each with their own set of rules and award categor ...

nomination: PBS NewsHour 4 part 2001 series, ''AIDS crisis in Bostwana and Malawi'', produced by Joanne Elgart, reported by Elizabeth Farnsworth. *2008 –

Directors Guild of America The Directors Guild of America (DGA) is an entertainment guild that represents the interests of Film director, film and Television director, television directors in the United States motion picture industry and abroad. Founded as the Screen Dir ...

nomination for Outstanding Directorial Achievement for ''The Judge and the General'', (a feature-length documentary film about the personal transformation of Chilean Judge Juan Guzmán as he tries to bring Augusto Pinochet to justice for human rights crimes), co-produced by Farnsworth and co-producer/director Patricio Lanfranco. *2009 – Emmy Awards nomination for Best Historical Documentary for ''The Judge and the General'', co-produced by Farnsworth and co-producer/director Patricio Lanfranco.

Select interviews of Farnsworth

* * * * * *

Select interviews by Farnsworth

Shimon Peres Shimon Peres ( ; ; born Szymon Perski, ; 2 August 1923 – 28 September 2016) was an Israeli politician and statesman who served as the prime minister of Israel from 1984 to 1986 and from 1995 to 1996 and as the president of Israel from 2007 t ...

(Israeli Prime Minister), *

14th Dalai Lama The 14th Dalai Lama (born 6 July 1935; full spiritual name: Jetsun Jamphel Ngawang Lobsang Yeshe Tenzin Gyatso, shortened as Tenzin Gyatso; ) is the incumbent Dalai Lama, the highest spiritual leader and head of Tibetan Buddhism. He served a ...

(spiritual leader of the Tibetan people), *

Renée Fleming Renée Lynn Fleming (born February 14, 1959) is an American soprano and actress, known for performances in opera, concerts, recordings, theater, film, and at major public occasions. A recipient of the National Medal of Arts, Fleming has been nom ...

(opera star), *

Henry Kissinger Henry Alfred Kissinger (May 27, 1923 – November 29, 2023) was an American diplomat and political scientist who served as the 56th United States secretary of state from 1973 to 1977 and the 7th National Security Advisor (United States), natio ...

(American diplomat), *

Amos Oz Amos Oz (; born Amos Klausner (); 4 May 1939 – 28 December 2018) was an Israeli writer, novelist, journalist, and intellectual. He was also a professor of Hebrew literature at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. From 1967 onwards, Oz was a pro ...

(Israeli writer),

Selected works

* Elizabeth Farnswort
"Last Light"
(Berkeley, California, 2024) * Elizabeth Farnswort
''A train through time''
(Berkeley, California, 2017)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Farnsworth, Elizabeth 1943 births Living people Middlebury College alumni American women television personalities Stanford University alumni Writers from Topeka, Kansas Writers from Minneapolis Journalists from Minneapolis Topeka High School alumni