Washington Week

''Washington Week'', originally titled as ''Washington Week in Review'' and billed as ''Washington Week with the Atlantic'' since 2023, is an American public affairs television program, which has aired on PBS and its predecessor, National Educational Television, since 1967. The program is produced by WETA-TV in Washington, D.C. Since 2023, the program has been moderated by Jeffrey Goldberg, editor-in-chief of ''The Atlantic''. Unlike other panel discussion shows, which encourage informal (sometimes vociferous) debates as a means of presentation, ''Washington Week'' consistently follows a path of civility and moderation. Its format is that of a roundtable featuring the show's moderator and two to four Washington-based journalists.

History

''Washington Week'' premiered as ''Washington Week in Review'' on February 23, 1967 on National Educational Television and was picked up by PBS in 1970. Since its first episode in 1967, the program's announcer has been Paul Anthony.

In 1971, Robert MacNeil took on the task of hosting the series, and would move on after anchoring PBS's Watergate coverage to found PBS's first weeknight newscast, ''The Robert McNeil Report'', which would eventually become the PBS News Hour; from 1974, Paul Duke served as host and moderator, until he was succeeded in 1994 by Ken Bode. In 1999, Dalton Delan fired Bode. On October 1, 1999, Gwen Ifill became the host of the program until her death on November 14, 2016. A successor was not announced immediately. Ifill shortened the program's name as ''Washington Week'' on February 9, 2001, two years after she took over, as a sign that "the show would spend more time looking forward." On April 20, 2017, WETA announced that Robert Costa of ''The Washington Post'' would become the next moderator of ''Washington Week''.

On January 8, 2010, ''Washington Week'' began broadcasting in high definition, with broadcasts presented in letterboxed and pillarboxed format for viewers with standard-definition television sets watching either through cable or satellite television. The program also introduced a new set and upconverted its existing graphics package to HD.

On July 20, 2018, the program underwent its first significant change in presentation in years, adopting a new graphics package and a reorchestrated version of its theme music (with a new set, and music by Stephen Arnold).

In January 2021, Costa left the program to devote his time to co-authoring an upcoming book with veteran journalist Bob Woodward; guest moderators were used in Costa's place.

In May 2021, Yamiche Alcindor, at the time the White House correspondent for ''PBS NewsHour,'' became the ninth moderator of ''Washington Week''. Alcindor had previously been a regular ''Washington Week'' panelist. In December 2021, WETA subsidiary NewsHour Productions began producing ''Washington Week''. In February 2023, Alcindor announced that she would step down to focus full-time on her job at NBC and writing her memoirs, saying that her final date as moderator would be February 24. After Alcindor's departure, various other journalists served as guest moderator until August 2023.

On August 2, 2023, it was announced that Jeffrey Goldberg, who has served as editor-in-chief of ''The Atlantic'' since 2016, had been named as the program's tenth moderator, and that the politics and culture publication would also enter into an editorial partnership with the television program – which was retitled accordingly as ''Washington Week with The Atlantic'' – similar to the earlier collaboration with the ''National Journal''. The first episode under the longer title, and with Goldberg as moderator, was broadcast on August 11, 2023.

On June 21, 2024, ''Washington Week'' moved to a new studio, designed by Eric Siegel and George Allison, called the David M. Rubenstein studio at WETA-TV facility in Washington, D.C. (sharing with programs, ''PBS NewsHour'' and ''PBS News Weekend''; name not revealed until September 20, 2024).

National Journal

On February 17, 2006, ''Washington Week'' agreed with ''National Journal'', ensuring that at least one ''National Journal'' reporter would be on the show. As of January 4, 2013, the agreement is no longer in effect.

Format

Since moving to PBS, ''Washington Week'' has used a panel discussion format moderated by a host. Panelists come from various national media organizations.

Distribution

''Washington Week'' is on PBS's national primetime lineup. Because of PBS's subscriber nature, local presentation of ''Washington Week'' is scheduled by individual stations, and air times vary by market. The most common airing pattern is the show leading off primetime on Friday evenings with weekend afternoon encores on most PBS member stations and several airings per week on the affiliated network, World Channel.

Notable personalities

Moderators

* 1967–1968: John Davenport
* 1968–1969: Lincoln Furber
* 1969–1971: Max Kampelman
* 1971–1974: Robert MacNeil
* 1974–1994: Paul Duke
* 1994–1999: Ken Bode
* 1999–2016: Gwen Ifill
* 2016–2017: Amy Walter