Press Release
Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly
Bob Abernethy
Executive Editor and Host
Veteran television news correspondent Bob Abernethy is the executive editor and host of RELIGION & ETHICS NEWSWEEKLY, which he created for PBS in 1997. The series has been widely praised by critics and has won numerous awards for its thoughtful and insightful coverage of all religions, all denominations and all expressions of spirituality in American life as well as for balanced presentation of profound moral issues and of religion’s role in national and international news.
Abernethy's original proposal for the program grew out of his longtime interest in religion and in response to widespread criticism of American television for what many observers felt was a lack of attention to religion news. Currently, RELIGION & ETHICS NEWSWEEKLY airs on more than 250 public stations nationwide with a weekly audience of 550,000 viewers. Its major funder is Lilly Endowment Inc.
Abernethy is also the co-editor, with William Bole, of the widely praised book “The Life of Meaning: Reflections on Faith, Doubt and Repairing the World,” published in 2007 by Seven Stories Press in New York.
Before launching RELIGION & ETHICS NEWSWEEKLY, Abernethy served as a correspondent for NBC News for more than four decades, reporting from Washington, Los Angeles, London and Moscow. In 1984, he took a one-year leave from NBC to study theology and social ethics at the Yale Divinity School.
Abernethy is an alumnus of Princeton University where he received bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. Abernethy has also received the 2003 “Distinction in Ministry Award” from the Alumni Association of Yale Divinity School and honorary doctorates from Knox College, San Diego University, Westminster College, and St. John’s University in Minnesota.
Abernethy is married to the former Marie Cheremeteff Grove and has two daughters, one stepdaughter and three stepsons. He lives in Jaffrey, New Hampshire and in Washington, D.C. and is a member of the United Church of Christ.
Executive Editor and Host
Veteran television news correspondent Bob Abernethy is the executive editor and host of RELIGION & ETHICS NEWSWEEKLY, which he created for PBS in 1997. The series has been widely praised by critics and has won numerous awards for its thoughtful and insightful coverage of all religions, all denominations and all expressions of spirituality in American life as well as for balanced presentation of profound moral issues and of religion’s role in national and international news.
Abernethy's original proposal for the program grew out of his longtime interest in religion and in response to widespread criticism of American television for what many observers felt was a lack of attention to religion news. Currently, RELIGION & ETHICS NEWSWEEKLY airs on more than 250 public stations nationwide with a weekly audience of 550,000 viewers. Its major funder is Lilly Endowment Inc.
Abernethy is also the co-editor, with William Bole, of the widely praised book “The Life of Meaning: Reflections on Faith, Doubt and Repairing the World,” published in 2007 by Seven Stories Press in New York.
Before launching RELIGION & ETHICS NEWSWEEKLY, Abernethy served as a correspondent for NBC News for more than four decades, reporting from Washington, Los Angeles, London and Moscow. In 1984, he took a one-year leave from NBC to study theology and social ethics at the Yale Divinity School.
Abernethy is an alumnus of Princeton University where he received bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. Abernethy has also received the 2003 “Distinction in Ministry Award” from the Alumni Association of Yale Divinity School and honorary doctorates from Knox College, San Diego University, Westminster College, and St. John’s University in Minnesota.
Abernethy is married to the former Marie Cheremeteff Grove and has two daughters, one stepdaughter and three stepsons. He lives in Jaffrey, New Hampshire and in Washington, D.C. and is a member of the United Church of Christ.