- Hello, I'm Maura Daly Phinney,
and I'm thrilled to be on the set of the PBS 'News Hour'
with Judy Woodruff.
Thank you so much
for inviting me on to talk about membership.
- Very Glad to talk to you Maura.
It's great to have you visiting Washington.
- I know. Well, as you know,
I worked here over the years and it's really
a treat to be back.
Now, we've talked before
about the importance of membership.
Why do you think that individual support
is really so critical?
- Because that's what keeps us going.
It allows us to do our reporting,
it allows us to do our investigative work,
it allows us to put a program, a news program on the air
to tell the American people what is going on in the world
every day.
If we don't have that support, we cannot keep going.
It goes directly to the heart of what we do.
And so we are just, you know,
beyond grateful for the support that we get.
- And as you know millions of Americans
from throughout the country
support their local PBS stations.
You must meet them when you travel
and you're out in the community,
what do they say to you?
- Well, they've been some nice things
that have been said over the years, I have to say.
But Maura, the thing that has struck me is that since
this pandemic started in early 2020,
I have more people either in person or by email
or in other ways, people say we are so grateful
for the 'News Hour'.
It has kept us anchored.
It has kept us stable and steady.
It reminds us that the world is still
gonna be here tomorrow.
Yes, things are bad, we have this terrible pandemic,
we have economic challenges in this country.
We have challenges around race and around equity,
but we keep going, we keep working on our problems
in this country.
And that's part of our mission here
at the 'News Hour', not just to shine a light
on the problems, but also to shine a light
on what we're doing to make life better for people.
And so that's what, we are all driven by that.
And I hear that back from people
when I'm lucky enough to run into people
who either in person, or as I said,
they'll just drop a note and say,
"We're so grateful for what this program means."
- When you started at the 'News Hour' very long time ago,
working with Robert MacNeil and Jim Lehrer.
But now there's this whole new generation of correspondents
and do you sort of think of yourself as that bridge between
the founders and Yamiche and Amna and the rest of them?
- No, I hadn't thought about it that way.
But in a way, yes, because I did work with Robin
and Jim, almost from the beginning and learned so much
from the two of them.
Robin continues to be a mentor, Jim certainly
was a beloved Jim Lehrer.
And from Charlayne Hunter Gault.
And, you know, from the very early days of the program,
colleagues who stood for the very best things in journalism.
And today you're right,
I'm working with the younger generation.
I am so lucky to work with all of the ones you mentioned,
from Yamiche and Amna and Lisa, to...
I'm gonna leave somebody out,
William, Nick, Miles, John Yang,
And this just extraordinary group of journalists.
And, you know, what they bring is
they bring the very best in the mission of journalism,
but they also bring new ideas about the way to deliver
that journalism which you have to have.
I mean, today it's television, but it's also social media,
it's the internet, it's everything,
it's Twitter, Instagram, and much more Facebook.
And we have to think about all those things every day.
- Now all of us at PBS were so delighted when you won
the first ever Peabody for Journalistic Integrity,
I thought it was perfect.
It really seems to be what the 'News Hour' stands for.
When you heard about that, I'm sure you were thrilled,
but how do you think working for the 'News Hour',
led up to that?
That seems like it's the very sort of roots of the program.
- Well, I'm, first of all, I was deeply grateful.
But as you may know, I accepted it on behalf
of the entire 'News Hour' organization.
Because what we stand for is accuracy,
trying to get to the truth of the story,
resting on our laurels,
never thinking we've got all the answers.
We're constantly on a quest to understand what's going on
to try to get answers to questions,
try to pose the most important questions of the day
to constantly think about the American people
who we're reporting to.
And so for me, that award was simply a recognition
of what the 'News Hour' has done over time.
And without that, I mean, I'm standing on the shoulders
of the people you just mentioned.
Of Robin, of Jim, Charlayne, and the amazing Gwen Ifill,
who of course was with us for so many years,
and we lost her.
And everything Gwen stood for is still what we believe in
and what we do every day.
- Well, thank you.
Do you have any final thoughts for people who are viewers?
Maybe thinking about supporting their local PBS station?
- Well, just to say that, that support that you give
from watching the 'News Hour' and all the PBS
means everything to us.
It allows us to do the essential work that we do.
We couldn't do what we do, literally,
if the public didn't support us and we're so grateful
for their belief in us and their confidence in us
as a source of news.
- All right, well thank you.
And if you haven't made that contribution yet,
we hope you will go to the phone right now,
or go to the secure website and make your gift right now.
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