Sara Just Discusses PBS News Hour’s New Look: ‘It Was Time for a Refresh’ (2024)

So long PBS NewsHour—hello PBS News Hour. On Monday, regular PBS viewers were greeted with some big changes to the public broadcaster’s storied evening news program, including a new studio, show logo, graphics look, and a new name.

According to Sara Just, PBS News Hour’s senior executive producer and WETA’s senior vice president, the new studio space enables anchors Amna Nawaz and Geoff Bennett the opportunity to work with the latest tools in news presentation and delivery. “But [we’re] not changing anything about the trust and authenticity that comes with PBS news programming,” Just tells TVNewser.

Thisis the first studio and graphics makeover in almost 10 years for PBS’ flagship news program.Designers Eric Siegel and George Allison reimagined the studio space,which features a new lighting design by Dennis Size. The new studio is part of a recently completed $58 million expansion project of WETA’s Arlington headquarters that includes new PBS News studios and editorial offices. PBS News Weekend and Washington Week with The Atlantic will utilize the new space, as will PBS News special programming.

Meanwhile, the graphics refresh was overseen by Kojo Boateng, PBS News’ creative director for broadcasting, who collaborated with Lippincott for the logo redesign and Adolescent, Inc. for the new opening titles. And one more change is still to come: On June 17, content produced for digital and social platforms will be rebranded as PBS News.

TVNewser spoke with Just for more details about the new look forPBS News Hour.

The PBS NewsHour has a new home.

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After four years of planning and constructing, the NewsHour will now be delivering you the news from a brand new studio in the WETA headquarters in Arlington.

The studio will also be home to the PBS News Weekend and @washingtonweek. pic.twitter.com/hC7uQwkPvL

— PBS NewsHour (@NewsHour) June 10, 2024

(This interview has been edited for length and clarity)

This is a massive visual change for News Hour. What brought this up and why now?

We changed the set of the News Hour and the look of the graphics package music almost 10 years ago when I came to PBS, and it was time for a refresh. Our equipment needed updating in the control room and the studio, so we’ve done a massive upgrade all across WETA to support News Hour and other programs. It was time to update our logo and the look of the show as well. The PBS logo, which is part of our brand, has also been updated in the last few years. So it was an opportunity to align all of those things and give us a new home for the News Hour, which we’re very excited to be doing.

What was the design inspiration for the new studio and logo?

The new studio and the logo are not a dramatic departure from our old logo and old studio, but they are a more modern, updated look that our audience will see on-air and online. It works and functions like our old studio in terms of the number of interview spaces we have to communicate the stories. But we have a lot of new tools, [like] video walls, robotic cameras and manned cameras—just a lot more ways to tell our stories and bring the audience into the stories with us. We are excited to finally be able to do that with all of these new bells and whistles.

How long did the construction of the studio take?

It’s been a long time coming. It’s something that we’ve been talking about doing for years, but things slowed down when the pandemic hit. It was part of a construction process for our building that has also been underway for two or three years. We have a new newsroom, edit rooms and control room. All of WETA’s office headquarters are now in one building, whereas our studio used to be down the street. Now it’s part of the same building and it’s a really beautiful space for everyone to work together. The design and construction for the studio itself have been in the works for at least a year and a half.

Looking at the new studio, you didn’t go overboard with design elements—it seems very simple and spare. Were you trying to avoid information and design overload?

We wanted the new studio to be true to our brand, which is telling factual stories with depth and context. We didn’t want the production of TV to get in the way of any of that. But we also wanted to use the tools and skills that the latest and greatest television products allow you to use to tell our story. So it was a balance of trying to be true to our brand and our old studio in that room.

We do look and feel different from some of our competitors. We’re not as busy in the way we tell the news or show the news. We also want to be as modern and forward-leaning in terms of the way we tell our stories and the way that people expect it be presented online and on-air today. We have a new generation of anchors here at News Hour, and wanted our sets in our studio to reflect that next chapter of our brand as well.

The new studio space also has an intimate feel, particularly in the interview nook. Do you want viewers to feel a personal connection to the show?

We keep on looking for new ways to do this. We want people to feel closer to the story—not that we are presenting everything like it’s the “official word,” but more a conversation you could be a part of that you can also pull up a chair and join in. You’ll see that [approach] across our programs, because we also have a new set for Washington Week with The Atlantic that’s debuting next week. It’s a chance to keep our existing brand, but make it feel more accessible, more modern and more intimate than ever before without changing anything about the trust and authenticity that comes with PBS news programming.

Will there be any special sets built for the conventions or Election Night?

The great thing about our new studio is that because there are many video walls, so we can make it look special and different for special events coverage. Election Night is certainly a big one, and we’ll really utilize the the tools of those video walls and interactive video to help explain the story of the election as it goes on. So you’ll see our set look different as we use it for different kinds of programs. But every night, it’s going to be the PBS News Hour as it always has been.

Will you have different Washington, D.C. backdrops behind the anchors?

Well, that backdrop is our view. We’re here in Arlington, and we look out over Washington as the backdrop. But we’re a program that covers far more than Washington—we do a lot of coverage around the country and the world. We didn’t want to make the background too Washington-focused, so [the image] is subtle and you won’t always see it in every shot. It’s not Washington Week, which is much more Washington iconic. This one is just a view of where we are in our studios and we look out on the world to cover all the stories that matter to our audience.

In refreshing the logo specifically, did you want to strike a balance between nostalgia and making it feel new?

I don’t know about nostalgia, but definitely familiarity. We don’t want to shock the audience, like “What is this show? I don’t think I recognize it.” We want it to be the program that they’ve trusted for almost 50 years, but also bring all the technology, production values and creativity that our team can [use] now. It’s an iteration of the brand that we’ve been and the look that we’ve had, but also a new and fresh one that we are very excited about.