WGBH's Beat the Press has now been on the air for two decades, and all of those years with host Emily Rooney at the helm. We sat down with Emily to learn more about the concept of the show, which she developed back in the mid-90s (and led to a trademark war with Arianna Huffington), what she's learned from two decades of covering the press, and the role the show has played in encouraging civil discourse in an otherwise crowded media landscape.
The show and its host have been repeatedly recognized for their excellence in media criticism, having been awarded the National Press Club Arthur Rouse Award for Media Criticism (five times!), the Penn State College of Communications 2013 Bart Richards Award for Media Criticism, and, most recently, a 2018 Emmy Award from the Boston/New England Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences.
Congrats to Emily and the entire Beat the Press team for 20 years of smart, engaging media coverage—for public media and beyond.
Beat the Press celebrated two decades on the air with a special live edition featuring a studio audience on Friday, December 7 at 7p.m. The broadcast aired on WGBH 2 and streamed on WGBH News’ Facebook page. Following the broadcast, the live stream continued with panelists past and present taking part in a Q&A with the audience. Learn more about how Beat the Press came to be the now-iconic show in this article from the host herself, watch the below preview of the 20th anniversary special on Greater Boston with Jim Braude, and check out behind-the-scenes photos from the special anniversary show below.
