BACK IN JUNE, Emily Rooney announced that Beat the Press on GBH was going on hiatus for the summer – “a first for us but a welcome break,” she said.
It turns out that was her farewell. GBH announced on Friday that the weekly show is being canceled after 22 years on the air. The national radio series Innovation Hub with Kara Miller was also canceled.
In a press release, Pam Johnston, general manager of GBH News, chalked the cancelations up to a shift in programming focus. “GBH News is deepening its focus on audience-centered local stories, and concentrating its editorial efforts on the critical issues of education, social justice, Covid/public health, and politics,” she said.
“This was a difficult decision. Beat the Press has been one of GBH’s longest running news shows and has provided viewers with informative and thought-provoking insight, commentary and perspective on the workings of the media. We are grateful to Emily Rooney for her award-winning work, her dedication to her craft, and her many contributions to GBH over 24 years.”
The summer hiatus for
Beat the Press followed a controversy over comments Rooney made during a show on April 2 in which she defended documentary filmmaker Ken Burns and his close ties with PBS. Her remarks came during a discussion of complaints raised by a group called Beyond Inclusion, which in March
released a letter questioning the network’s commitment to diversity and its heavy reliance on Burns, who is white.
“For the record, it’s all about Ken Burns, regardless of what this group says, it’s resentment that a white guy is getting all this time,” Rooney said at the end of the show.
She also was somewhat dismissive of a documentary called Asian Americans by Grace Lee, one of the filmmakers who signed the Beyond Inclusion letter.
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Editor, CommonWealth
About Bruce Mohl
Bruce Mohl is the editor of CommonWealth magazine. Bruce came to CommonWealth from the Boston Globe, where he spent nearly 30 years in a wide variety of positions covering business and politics. He covered the Massachusetts State House and served as the Globe’s State House bureau chief in the late 1980s. He also reported for the Globe’s Spotlight Team, winning a Loeb award in 1992 for coverage of conflicts of interest in the state’s pension system. He served as the Globe’s political editor in 1994 and went on to cover consumer issues for the newspaper. At CommonWealth, Bruce helped launch the magazine’s website and has written about a wide range of issues with a special focus on politics, tax policy, energy, and gambling. Bruce is a graduate of Ohio Wesleyan University and the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. He lives in Dorchester.
About Bruce Mohl
Bruce Mohl is the editor of CommonWealth magazine. Bruce came to CommonWealth from the Boston Globe, where he spent nearly 30 years in a wide variety of positions covering business and politics. He covered the Massachusetts State House and served as the Globe’s State House bureau chief in the late 1980s. He also reported for the Globe’s Spotlight Team, winning a Loeb award in 1992 for coverage of conflicts of interest in the state’s pension system. He served as the Globe’s political editor in 1994 and went on to cover consumer issues for the newspaper. At CommonWealth, Bruce helped launch the magazine’s website and has written about a wide range of issues with a special focus on politics, tax policy, energy, and gambling. Bruce is a graduate of Ohio Wesleyan University and the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. He lives in Dorchester.
“The only other thing I want to say is, I didn’t see
Asian Americans, but there’s a possibility it wasn’t as good as some of Ken Burns’ films,” Rooney said. “You’ve got to throw that out there.”
Rooney came under fire for those remarks and subsequently apologized, calling her comments “uninformed, dismissive, and disrespectful.”
