Shelley Lewis -- a senior VP of programming at Air America Radio and a veteran of television news at ABC, NBC and CNN -- has been tapped as executive producer of WNET.org's upcoming newsmagazine Need to Know.
The show is scheduled to bow May 7 on PBS. It will originate from the New York public broadcasters new studio at Lincoln Center.
Need to Know has been conceived as a television/web hybrid with stories taking shape online and culminating with produced field reports for each week's television hour. There will be five primary beats: the economy; the environment and energy; health; national security; and culture.
Most recently Lewis served as executive producer of American Morning with Paula Zahn and Greenfield at Large on CNN. She was an executive producer at ABC News Productions where she helped launch World News Now.
She was the co-creator of the women's how-to web site Howdini.com.
"Need To Know continues WNET.ORG's long-standing tradition of offering in-depth, accurate and relevant news and public affairs programming to PBS viewers," Neal Shapiro, president and CEO of WNET.ORG said in a statement. "Shelley's extensive news broadcast experience provides a fresh, creative perspective to catapult Need To Know to the forefront of innovative broadcast and online news reporting."
