Friday program brings print and broadcast together for Legislative spotlight
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — News from the West Virginia Legislature takes a new form today when Charleston Daily Mail reporter Dave Boucher and the State Journal’s Ann Ali join West Virginia Public Broadcasting’s Ashton Marra for a special segment of WVPB’s The Legislature Today.
The long-running legislative news program – hosted each night at 6:30 p.m. by Beth Vorhees and Marra – will feature reporters from West Virginia newspapers on its Friday broadcast during the legislative session. Boucher and Ali are the first to join Marra in studio to discuss legislative topics.
This week the three journalists will look at both the Legislature’s actions and the continuing water crisis in the region around the state Capitol.
The program airs weeknights at 6:30 p.m. and 11:30 p.m. on WV PBS. Weekdays at 6:00 a.m. on WVPBS.2. Also weekdays at 6:30 p.m. on WV Public Radio. The only live television program covering the West Virginia Legislature, the broadcast features reports from the Senate, House and committee meetings with in-depth interviews and analysis of the legislative process in West Virginia.
Boucher and Ali bring their reports and updates to the program through an agreement between WVPB and the WVPA and its member newspapers.
Other journalists scheduled to join Marra, who will host the Friday segments, are regular statehouse reporters Whitney Burdette of The Charleston Daily Mail and Eric Eyre and Phil Kabler, both of The Charleston Gazette. Reporters from The Herald-Dispatch of Huntington, The Register-Herald of Beckley and the Dominion Post of Morgantown have been invited to appear. Those regular statehouse reporters, along with others from WVPA newpapers and the WVPA Capitol team, make up the field of print journalists involved in the program.
WVPA Executive Director Don Smith, who worked with Marra, Vorhees and WVPB’s executive director Scott Finn to arrange the joint effort, said the program is good for West Virginians wanting more information on the Legislature, for West Virginia newspapers and for West Virginia Public Broadcasting.
“The West Virginia newspaper industry’s excellent group of statehouse reporters gets additional exposure and a chance to promote their work and newspapers, WVPB gets a well-informed guest for The Legislature Today on Fridays and all West Virginians get reports from some of the best of the print and broadcast journalists in the state,” Smith said. “We are very pleased to be involved and encourage everyone to watch.
Smith also thanks the editors of the WVPA member newspapers for their support of the effort. “The Charleston Gazette’s Executive Editor Robert Byers and The Charleston Daily Mail’s Publisher and Editor Brad McElhinny were extremely supportive of this effort and involved in making it a success,” Smith said.