Clarity, a diverse perspective, intelligent insight, and meaningful analysis are the hallmarks of WHYY's trusted News & Public Affairs Service.

In a non-partisan Roper Poll, the American people for the third year in a row named public broadcasting their most trusted source for news and information programming.

WHYY's News & Public Affairs Service continues to stand out in a cluttered marketplace with an exceptional mix of trusted daily local and national news programming on TV12, 91FM and on whyy.org: Delaware Tonight, our local award-winning Morning Edition broadcast, our evening news services such as NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, Nightly Business Report and Washington Week in Review with Gwen Ifill, Radio Times with Marty Moss-Coane, Marketplace, and BBC News Hour - and through special initiatives like The Next Mayor project, the construction of a state-of-the-art news bureau in Dover, DE, and the Violence in Philadelphia online forum.

With reporters stationed throughout Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware, WHYY is one of the most trusted and honored news agencies in the region. Available anytime, anywhere over WHYY's multiple broadcast platforms, WHYY's News & Public Affairs Service helps Delaware Valley residents put today's most complex regional, national and international issues into context.

Daily Services
A part of WHYY News & Public Affairs daily news service, Delaware Tonight continued to provide the day's news from Delaware and the region, along with in-depth analysis. The only weekday news program produced and broadcast in the First State, WHYY's Delaware Tonight airs on TV12 Monday-Friday at 5:30 p.m. and on WHYY Wider Horizons (Comcast Channel 242) at 8 a.m., 5:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Each episode of Delaware Tonight is available online at whyy.org and ON DEMAND from Comcast Digital Cable for one week after its original broadcast. In June 2006, Delaware Tonight anchor Nancy Karibjanian was named the Critics' Choice for Best Television News Anchor by Delaware Today magazine.

Marty Moss-Coane, host of WHYY 91FM's Radio Times, estimates that she interviewed more than 700 people last year. Stand-out interviews include talks with actor Laurence Fishburn, author Salmon Rushdie, eminent historian John Hope Franklin, and John E. Jones, the judge who decided that intelligent design could not be introduced into Dover (PA) Area School District classrooms.

Available free of charge at whyy.org, more than 10,000 full episodes of Radio Times with Marty Moss-Coane were downloaded for podcast per month in FY'06.

Heard by 294,700 listeners each week, WHYY's Morning Edition with host Brenda Jorett connects Delaware Valley residents with up-to-date local, national and international news, traffic and weather. In FY'06, WHYY's Morning Edition won both the Pennsylvania Associated Press award for "Best Regularly Scheduled Radio Newscast" and the Public Radio News Directors Inc. Award for "Best Newscast" in the major market stations category. These highly prestigious awards cement WHYY's place as one of the region's greatest sources for News & Public Affairs programming.

WHYY-FM's Dave Heller updates listeners in the afternoon and early evening with expanded local coverage from WHYY reporters during Here and Now, Day to Day and All Things Considered. Heller also has a weekly segment with Franklin Institute Chief Astronomer Derrick Pitts called SkyTalk, and discusses political and social polling with Frank Newport of the Gallup Poll.

Stand out reporting by WHYY-TV reporters included Delaware Tonight's coverage of the Hurricane Katrina disaster, Delaware governor Ruth Ann Minner's State of the State address, and "Teens and Drugs: The Changing Face of Abuse."

Special Projects
The Next Mayor project is an innovative multimedia partnership between WHYY, the Philadelphia Daily News, and the Committee of Seventy. Broad in its scope, The Next Mayor project focuses on the issues leading to Philadelphia's 2007 mayor's race. A "one stop shop" for media professionals and voters interested in the election, TheNextMayor.com offers in-depth coverage, history and perspective on the regional issues that fuel the mayoral campaign. The site features special reports from WHYY's radio and TV stations, Daily News reports as well as links to political publications, news publications and political blogs.

An overarching project for WHYY's News & Public Affairs service was the design and construction of WHYY's new Dover, DE news bureau. Slated to open in the fall of 2006, this new state-of-the-art facility will provide coverage of news and cultural events in Kent and Sussex counties. Stationed in the heart of Dover at 8 Loockerman Street, this location will allow WHYY to bring updated live news content from nearby Legislative Hall to First State residents.

Utilizing the online capabilities of WHYY, the News & Public Affairs Service launched the Violent Crime in Philadelphia online initiative, which sets out to compile and organize the most effective and creative ideas to halt the rising tide of violence within the city.

Looking Ahead
In the coming year, WHYY's News & Public Affairs service will continue to cover the issues surrounding Philadelphia's mayoral election for the Next Mayor project; expand Dave Heller's Gallup Poll feature segment into a 30-minute program; provide coverage of elections in both Pennsylvania and Delaware; devote significant on-air time to addressing the issues raised through the Violence in Philadelphia online initiative; and begin broadcasting news from the legislature, beaches and farms in the Dover Community News Bureau.