John Yang anchors final ‘PBS News Weekend’ after federal funding cuts

Veteran broadcast journalist John Yang delivered his final broadcast as anchor of PBS News Weekend on Jan. 11, confirming during the closing minute that the program would not continue. Yang said the show was ending because of the loss of federal funding for public media, cuts that followed a 2025 congressional move to reduce support distributed through the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. PBS has said the show will be replaced by lower-cost, single-topic weekly programs focused on areas such as science and global affairs.

Yang’s closing words: “As you may know, this is the last broadcast of ‘PBS News Weekend,’ at least for the foreseeable future,” the 67-year-old news anchor said in his closing moments on air. He explained that the program was canceled “due to the loss of federal funding for public media” and thanked audiences for making the show their destination for weekend news. Yang also confirmed he will step away from full-time work at PBS News later this month.

Yang joined “PBS News Weekend” as anchor in late 2022, succeeding Hari Sreenivasan, after more than four decades in national journalism. His career includes senior reporting and editorial roles at NBC News and ABC News, along with service as president of the Asian American Journalists Association in the 1990s. His tenure at PBS placed him among a small group of Asian American journalists to anchor a national television newscast.

“I’ve reported from six of the seven continents,” Yang reflected in a separate video posted to PBS social media on Jan. 15, ”The only continent I’ve missed so far is Antarctica, and I don’t know that I’m gonna make that one.” He also noted his roots in Chillicothe, Ohio, saying that despite decades of international reporting, “there’s still a lot of me that is a small-town Midwestern kid.” In the same video, he added that he is a fan of classic films and has appeared in two feature movies, “Dave” and “Junior.”

End of an era: PBS leadership announced the program’s cancellation two days earlier on PBS NewsHour, citing reduced federal support that required changes across the network’s news division. Federal support for public broadcasting was cut in July after the Republican-controlled Congress voted to eliminate funding for PBS and NPR, a move backed by President Donald Trump, who has repeatedly criticized public media coverage as biased against conservatives. According to PBS, the loss of that funding prompted a review of production costs that led to the decision to end the weekend newscast.

PBS plans to introduce new weekly programs focused on single subject areas, including science and global affairs. Network executives have said the shift allows PBS to maintain original journalism while operating with smaller production teams and lower budgets. The new programs are expected to debut later this month across broadcast and digital platforms.