POSITION OVERVIEW:
The News Assistant program is designed to give recent college graduates practical experience in a broadcast news setting, covering a wide variety of subjects, including science, medicine, education and economics. During their tenure, News Assistants are exposed to many aspects of producing a nightly television news program. The National Affairs News Assistant will work directly with the national affairs unit to assist with logging video, gathering footage, research, guest outreach and field shoots. The News Assistant will work with the national affairs unit for 9 months, during which the News Assistant will also rotate through control room and studio shifts, assisting the anchors and other producers with scripts and other crucial needs of the daily broadcast. The News Assistant will then work with the digital team for another 3 months to assist with online production of the PBS News Hour.
PRIMARY RESPONSIBILITIES:
ADDITIONAL SKILLS AND QUALIFICATIONS:
EDUCATION:
BA/BS (4-year College/University Degree)
LOCATION:
WETA and NewsHour Productions are Washington, DC established media and news organizations. We are a largely local workforce based out of the Campbell Place office in Arlington, VA. WETA and NewsHour Productions value employee flexibility when possible. Most positions based in our Arlington, VA office will be onsite or hybrid, depending upon the role.
COMPANY OVERVIEW:
WETA, the flagship public media station in the nation’s capital, produces and distributes content that informs, inspires, and enriches lives.
As the second-largest producing station for the public media system, WETA creates programming to explore history, arts, and culture, partnering with acclaimed filmmakers such as Ken Burns and Dr. Henry Louis Gates, Jr. National WETA productions include The American Revolution and Finding Your Roots, among many others. WETA is also home to PBS News, the primary daily, breaking, and special news producer for PBS. Its broadcast productions include PBS News Hour, Washington Week with The Atlantic, Horizons from PBS News, and Compass Points from PBS News, as well as specials, documentaries, and a robust footprint across digital platforms.
Locally, WETA serves audiences across Washington, D.C., Virginia, and Maryland, through television, radio, and digital platforms. Audiences access WETA on broadcast channels WETA PBS, WETA UK, WETA Metro, WETA World, and WETA PBS Kids, and digitally through the free streaming platform WETA+. Listeners tune into WETA Classical, the exclusive home for classical music in the Greater Washington area, via radio, online, and the WETA Classical app. Benefits | WETA
EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY:
WETA and NewsHour Productions are equal opportunity employers committed to diversity and inclusion in the workplace. We prohibit discrimination and harassment of any kind based on race, color, sex, religion, sexual orientation, national origin, disability, genetic information, pregnancy, or any other protected characteristic as outlined by federal, state, or local laws.
This policy applies to all employment practices within our organization, including hiring, recruiting, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, leave of absence, compensation, benefits, training, and internships. WETA and NewsHour Productions make hiring decisions based solely on qualifications, merit, and business needs at the time.
WETA provides public media content for local and national audiences through TV, digital, and community services. It runs five TV channels, including WETA PBS and WETA Classical, and distributes national and local programs such as PBS NewsHour and documentaries produced with partners like Ken Burns and Henry Louis Gates Jr.; content is also accessible on weta.org, WETA Passport, and related apps. It differentiates itself by offering a mix of local public media, exclusive classical music in Washington, DC, and high-profile documentary partnerships that yield in-depth, culturally meaningful programs. Its goal is to inform, engage, and enrich the public through reliable journalism, cultural programming, and educational outreach.
Company Size
201-500
Company Stage
Grant
Total Funding
$11.3M
Headquarters
Arlington, Virginia
Founded
1961
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Deep Green funds year-long swimming programme for women in Trafford. Data centre firm Deep Green teams up with Trafford Leisure and WETA Community Services to fund free swimming lessons for 12 women facing cultural and financial barriers, tying in with a nearby heat-recycling data centre opening. Deep Green, a UK data centre developer and operator, has partnered with Trafford Leisure and community organisation Women's Empowerment Through Art (WETA) Community Services CIC to fund a year-long swimming and water safety programme. Funded through Deep Green's Community Hours programme, the initiative will provide swimming lessons and water confidence training for 12 women over a 12-month period. The programme is intended to address cultural, social and financial barriers that can prevent women from accessing swimming opportunities, with the aim of helping participants develop water safety skills while improving confidence, health and wellbeing. The partnership coincides with the planned opening of a Deep Green data centre in Urmston, which is designed to capture heat generated by computing equipment and supply it, according to the company, free of charge, to the neighbouring Trafford Leisure Centre. The swimming programme will be delivered by Trafford Leisure, with participant recruitment and community engagement supported by WETA Community Services CIC, an organisation that works on women's and family empowerment through education, wellbeing and social inclusion initiatives. Participants have been selected from local communities where cultural and financial barriers can limit access to swimming lessons and water safety education. Throughout the programme, they will receive structured training aimed at building confidence in the water and providing water safety skills.
Maggie Baird, support+feed and WETA announce new public media series in development: Climate Kitchen. Mar 26, 2026, 12:51 ET WETA Well Beings Initiative Expands Programming to Include a First-of-its-Kind Lifestyle Cooking Series Hosted by Maggie Baird, Where Good Food and a Recipe for Sustainable Living Are on the Menu for a Healthier Planet WASHINGTON, March 26, 2026 /PRNewswire/ - Maggie Baird and WETA Washington, D.C., the leading public media organization in the nation's capital, today announced a new original series called Climate Kitchen, slated to begin production later this year and premiere on public media nationwide in 2027. Part cooking show, part lifestyle series, part docuseries, Climate Kitchen is where practical meets powerful, as Maggie explores, from around the country as well as in her own kitchen, how our daily choices are linked to some of the most urgent issues of our time, from chronic disease to food waste and environmental justice to affordability. Providing recipes for sustainable living alongside delicious and affordable home cooked plant-based meals, Climate Kitchen will see Baird bring together some of the world's most revered sustainable living experts, celebrity guests and members of her family to her kitchen, sharing stories and recipes that are both kinder to our planet and each other. Special guests include indigenous climate justice activist Xiye Bastida; longevity researcher and best-selling author of The Blue Zones Dan Buettner; multiple GRAMMY(R) and Academy Award-winning artists Billie Eilish and Finneas O'Connell; the iconic Martha Stewart; co-founder of the Farm Link Project Aidan Reilly; actor and Cyklar founder and creative director Claudia Sulewski; renowned oceanographer and Mission Blue founder Sylvia Earle; and many more. Co-created by Executive Producer, host, and Support+Feed founder Maggie Baird - also mother to Billie Eilish and Finneas O'Connell - Climate Kitchen will provide actionable insights, exploring what and how we live and eat can help or hurt our planet, while sharing easy-to-implement, budget-conscious ideas and delicious plant-based recipes to try at home. The series will be directed by award-winning filmmakers Kristin Lazure and Stephanie Soechtig of Atlas Films, co-produced by Support+Feed, WETA, and Atlas Films, and is part of Well Beings, the WETA award-winning, multi-year, multiplatform initiative addressing critical health needs in America, which is designed to raise awareness, provide educational resources, reduce stigma and change the national conversation. "I am excited to work with WETA to address a critical issue of our time: Finding ways to live more responsibly and being a steward of the natural world that surrounds us," said Maggie Baird, Host and Executive Producer. "Living a more sustainable, earth-friendly lifestyle can seem all-or-nothing, overwhelming, and expensive, but Climate Kitchen is about embracing progress over perfection, debunking the myths around affordability and investment of time, and showing how small, simple behavior shifts can build toward lasting difference in our own health and the health of our planet. Plant-based food is not the only solution to climate change, but there is no solution without it." "Maggie Baird is an extraordinary partner for public media audiences," said Tom Chiodo, Executive Producer of Special Projects in National Productions at WETA. "Climate Kitchen is dedicated to showing how every person can make a healthy difference in their own lives, as well as the lives of their family and community - one recipe, one meal or household hack at a time. Maggie's relatable approach will be refreshing to audiences of all ages, meeting them where they are, and helping them to institute incremental changes that will make a difference for all of us, including future generations." Generous underwriters committed to educating audiences about health and wellness are making Climate Kitchen possible. Initial sponsors include Little Saint Healdsburg, Universal Music Group, Sam Ballmer, and the PATH Foundation. Climate Kitchen Extends Impact as Newest Campaign from Well Beings Climate Kitchen will include a national engagement campaign that will explore individual actions that can improve sustainability. This campaign will develop relationships with a large network of committed partners and public media stations for a dynamic digital experience and produce in-person and virtual engagement events and provide educational materials, among other resources, tailored to the specific needs of their unique communities. Since launching in May 2020, the WETA Well Beings initiative has produced original digital-first content ranging from feature-length and short-form documentaries to animated explainer shorts; convened forums and discussion events, centering lived experiences; and created signature broadcast and streaming content, including the 2025 documentary Caregiving, about the state and stakes of providing care in America, from executive producer Bradley Cooper; and the 2022 documentary Ken Burns Presents Hiding in Plain Sight: Youth Mental Illness, A film by Erik Ewers and Christopher Loren Ewers. The public can join the conversation about Climate Kitchen by using #WellBeings, visiting wellbeings.org, or following @WellBeingsOrg on Instagram, Facebook, or X. Climate Kitchen Production Team Climate Kitchen is a production of Support+Feed and WETA Washington, D.C., in association with Atlas Films. The Executive Producers are Maggie Baird and Allison Kingsley for Support+Feed; Tom Chiodo and Kate Kelly for WETA; and Kristin Lazure and Stephanie Soechtig for Atlas Films. About Support+Feed Founded in 2020 by Maggie Baird, Support+Feed is committed to mitigating climate change and increasing food security by driving global demand, acceptance, and accessibility of plant-based food. Support+Feed has reached 41 cities globally, has a consistent presence in eleven anchor cities in the U.S., and is now expanding through partnerships in the EU, UK, and Australia. The organization has worked with hundreds of volunteers, 200+ community organizations, and over 150+ local restaurants to deliver over 2.2 million nourishing and delicious plant-based meals and pantry items alongside educational resources connecting the dots between what people put on our plates and the climate crisis. More information is available at supportandfeed.org. About WETA WETA is the leading public media organization in the nation's capital, serving Virginia, Maryland, and the District of Columbia with educational initiatives and with high-quality programming on television, radio, and digital. WETA Washington, D.C., is the second-largest producing station for public television, with news and public affairs programs including PBS News Hour and Washington Week with The Atlantic; films by Ken Burns and Florentine Films, such as The American Revolution; series and documentaries by Prof. Henry Louis Gates, Jr., including Finding Your Roots with Henry Louis Gates, Jr. and Black and Jewish America: An Interwoven History; performance specials including National Memorial Day Concert; and health content from Well Beings, a multiplatform initiative. Sharon Percy Rockefeller is president and CEO. More information on WETA and its programs and services are available at weta.org. About Atlas Films Atlas Films is an award-winning, female-run, full-service production company with offices in Los Angeles and New York. Productions include the forthcoming The Game Changers 2: Beyond the Game, Emmy Award-winning Poisoned, Knock Down The House, winner of the Festival Favorite Award in 2019; the critically acclaimed The Devil We Know; Under the Gun; FED UP, a New York Times Critic's Picks; Tapped; Get Smart with Money on Netflix; The Disruptors on Apple+; Invisible Monsters on A&E; and Alive on Epix. More information is available at atlasfilms.com or on Instagram at @AtlasFilmsOfficial. About Well Beings Well Beings is a multiplatform, multi-year initiative from public media to address the critical health needs in America through original broadcast and digital content; engagement campaigns and educational resources; and impactful local events. Well Beings, created by WETA, brings together partners from across the country, including individuals with experience of health and mental health challenges, families, caregivers, educators, medical and mental health professionals, social service agencies, private foundations, filmmakers, corporations and media sponsors, to create awareness and resources for better health and well-being. The public can join the conversation by using #WellBeings, visiting wellbeings.org, or following @WellBeingsOrg on Instagram, Facebook, or X. SOURCE WETA
Maggie Baird, support+feed and WETA announce new public media series in development: Climate Kitchen. PR Newswire Today at 9:51am PDT WETA Well Beings Initiative Expands Programming to Include a First-of-its-Kind Lifestyle Cooking Series Hosted by Maggie Baird, Where Good Food and a Recipe for Sustainable Living Are on the Menu for a Healthier Planet WASHINGTON, March 26, 2026 /PRNewswire/ - Maggie Baird and WETA Washington, D.C., the leading public media organization in the nation's capital, today announced a new original series called Climate Kitchen, slated to begin production later this year and premiere on public media nationwide in 2027. Part cooking show, part lifestyle series, part docuseries, Climate Kitchen is where practical meets powerful, as Maggie explores, from around the country as well as in her own kitchen, how our daily choices are linked to some of the most urgent issues of our time, from chronic disease to food waste and environmental justice to affordability. Providing recipes for sustainable living alongside delicious and affordable home cooked plant-based meals, Climate Kitchen will see Baird bring together some of the world's most revered sustainable living experts, celebrity guests and members of her family to her kitchen, sharing stories and recipes that are both kinder to our planet and each other. Special guests include indigenous climate justice activist Xiye Bastida; longevity researcher and best-selling author of The Blue Zones Dan Buettner; multiple GRAMMY(R) and Academy Award-winning artists Billie Eilish and Finneas O'Connell; the iconic Martha Stewart; co-founder of the Farm Link Project Aidan Reilly; actor and Cyklar founder and creative director Claudia Sulewski; renowned oceanographer and Mission Blue founder Sylvia Earle; and many more. Co-created by Executive Producer, host, and Support+Feed founder Maggie Baird - also mother to Billie Eilish and Finneas O'Connell - Climate Kitchen will provide actionable insights, exploring what and how we live and eat can help or hurt our planet, while sharing easy-to-implement, budget-conscious ideas and delicious plant-based recipes to try at home. The series will be directed by award-winning filmmakers Kristin Lazure and Stephanie Soechtig of Atlas Films, co-produced by Support+Feed, WETA, and Atlas Films, and is part of Well Beings, the WETA award-winning, multi-year, multiplatform initiative addressing critical health needs in America, which is designed to raise awareness, provide educational resources, reduce stigma and change the national conversation. "I am excited to work with WETA to address a critical issue of our time: Finding ways to live more responsibly and being a steward of the natural world that surrounds us," said Maggie Baird, Host and Executive Producer. "Living a more sustainable, earth-friendly lifestyle can seem all-or-nothing, overwhelming, and expensive, but Climate Kitchen is about embracing progress over perfection, debunking the myths around affordability and investment of time, and showing how small, simple behavior shifts can build toward lasting difference in our own health and the health of our planet. Plant-based food is not the only solution to climate change, but there is no solution without it." "Maggie Baird is an extraordinary partner for public media audiences," said Tom Chiodo, Executive Producer of Special Projects in National Productions at WETA. "Climate Kitchen is dedicated to showing how every person can make a healthy difference in their own lives, as well as the lives of their family and community - one recipe, one meal or household hack at a time. Maggie's relatable approach will be refreshing to audiences of all ages, meeting them where they are, and helping them to institute incremental changes that will make a difference for all of us, including future generations." Generous underwriters committed to educating audiences about health and wellness are making Climate Kitchen possible. Initial sponsors include Little Saint Healdsburg, Universal Music Group, Sam Ballmer, and the PATH Foundation. Climate Kitchen Extends Impact as Newest Campaign from Well Beings Climate Kitchen will include a national engagement campaign that will explore individual actions that can improve sustainability. This campaign will develop relationships with a large network of committed partners and public media stations for a dynamic digital experience and produce in-person and virtual engagement events and provide educational materials, among other resources, tailored to the specific needs of their unique communities. Since launching in May 2020, the WETA Well Beings initiative has produced original digital-first content ranging from feature-length and short-form documentaries to animated explainer shorts; convened forums and discussion events, centering lived experiences; and created signature broadcast and streaming content, including the 2025 documentary Caregiving, about the state and stakes of providing care in America, from executive producer Bradley Cooper; and the 2022 documentary Ken Burns Presents Hiding in Plain Sight: Youth Mental Illness, A film by Erik Ewers and Christopher Loren Ewers. The public can join the conversation about Climate Kitchen by using #WellBeings, visiting wellbeings.org, or following @WellBeingsOrg on Instagram, Facebook, or X. Climate Kitchen Production Team Climate Kitchen is a production of Support+Feed and WETA Washington, D.C., in association with Atlas Films. The Executive Producers are Maggie Baird and Allison Kingsley for Support+Feed; Tom Chiodo and Kate Kelly for WETA; and Kristin Lazure and Stephanie Soechtig for Atlas Films. About Support+Feed Founded in 2020 by Maggie Baird, Support+Feed is committed to mitigating climate change and increasing food security by driving global demand, acceptance, and accessibility of plant-based food. Support+Feed has reached 41 cities globally, has a consistent presence in eleven anchor cities in the U.S., and is now expanding through partnerships in the EU, UK, and Australia. The organization has worked with hundreds of volunteers, 200+ community organizations, and over 150+ local restaurants to deliver over 2.2 million nourishing and delicious plant-based meals and pantry items alongside educational resources connecting the dots between what people put on our plates and the climate crisis. More information is available at supportandfeed.org. About WETA WETA is the leading public media organization in the nation's capital, serving Virginia, Maryland, and the District of Columbia with educational initiatives and with high-quality programming on television, radio, and digital. WETA Washington, D.C., is the second-largest producing station for public television, with news and public affairs programs including PBS News Hour and Washington Week with The Atlantic; films by Ken Burns and Florentine Films, such as The American Revolution; series and documentaries by Prof. Henry Louis Gates, Jr., including Finding Your Roots with Henry Louis Gates, Jr. and Black and Jewish America: An Interwoven History; performance specials including National Memorial Day Concert; and health content from Well Beings, a multiplatform initiative. Sharon Percy Rockefeller is president and CEO. More information on WETA and its programs and services are available at weta.org. About Atlas Films Atlas Films is an award-winning, female-run, full-service production company with offices in Los Angeles and New York. Productions include the forthcoming The Game Changers 2: Beyond the Game, Emmy Award-winning Poisoned, Knock Down The House, winner of the Festival Favorite Award in 2019; the critically acclaimed The Devil We Know; Under the Gun; FED UP, a New York Times Critic's Picks; Tapped; Get Smart with Money on Netflix; The Disruptors on Apple+; Invisible Monsters on A&E; and Alive on Epix. More information is available at atlasfilms.com or on Instagram at @AtlasFilmsOfficial. About Well Beings Well Beings is a multiplatform, multi-year initiative from public media to address the critical health needs in America through original broadcast and digital content; engagement campaigns and educational resources; and impactful local events. Well Beings, created by WETA, brings together partners from across the country, including individuals with experience of health and mental health challenges, families, caregivers, educators, medical and mental health professionals, social service agencies, private foundations, filmmakers, corporations and media sponsors, to create awareness and resources for better health and well-being. The public can join the conversation by using #WellBeings, visiting wellbeings.org, or following @WellBeingsOrg on Instagram, Facebook, or X. SOURCE WETA This is a paid placement. For further inquiries, please contact PR Newswire directly.
AWARD-WINNING ACTRESS UZO ADUBA NARRATES THE DOCUMENTARYON HISTORY, CHALLENGES AND TRIUMPHS OF CAREGIVING IN AMERICAFred Rogers Productions to Collaborate with Special Contentfrom Beloved Children's Series in Fall 2025Latest Project from Well Beings Campaign Also Includes 18 Original Short Films and"We Are Well Beings Storywall" for Caregiving Stories from the PublicWASHINGTON, March 20, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- PBS and WETA Washington, D.C., today announced that Caregiving, the documentary created with executive producer Bradley Cooper highlighting the challenges and triumphs of caregiving in America, will premiere Tuesday, June 24, 2025 at 9 p.m. ET on PBS (check local listings), and on the PBS YouTube Channel. Caregiving will be available to stream on PBS.org and the PBS App beginning Tuesday, May 27, 2025.Award-winning actress Uzo Aduba (The Residence, Painkiller, Orange is the New Black) was also announced as the film's narrator, bringing her own experience as a caregiver for her mother to the project.The two-hour documentary is centered on the personal experiences of caregivers providing for loved ones, and the challenges and triumph they face each day. These stories are interwoven with the broader context of the cultural and economic conditions in the U.S., leading to a care system tipping into crisis. According to recent studies1, in addition to 5 million paid caregivers nationally, it is estimated that between 53 million to 105.6 million U.S. adults provide unpaid caregiving for ill, aging, or disabled family members and friends
New Dr. Henry Louis Gates, Jr. Docuseries Tells the Story of African American Movement Over the Last Two Centuries; Thinking Nation Resources Support Educators in Teaching Social Studies as a Discipline, Empower Students to Thrive as Engaged and Critical ThinkersNORTHRIDGE, Calif., Jan. 24, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Thinking Nation, a national 501(c)(3) committed to empowering students to thrive as engaged and critical thinkers for the future of democracy, today announced its partnership with WETA, the flagship public media company in the nation's capital, to make historical thinking resources available across the nation concurrent with the release of the new PBS docuseries Great Migrations: A People On The Move. The series premieres Jan. 28 at 9 p.m