PBS

Gwen Ifill was presented with the eighth-annual “Be More” Award from PBS this week, a prize celebrating individuals in public television who “embody the spirit of helping Americans to discover more.”

Ifill is moderator and managing editor of “Washington Week” and senior correspondent for “NewsHour.” She received the award from PBS president and CEO Paula Kerger at the PBS annual meeting in Denver.

“Gwen is one of the best journalists in the country,” Kerger said in a statement. “She is among the most trusted people on television, someone to turn to for insightful, in-depth coverage of news and issues that matter. She represents journalism at its best: she’s skeptical about everything but cynical about nothing.”

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‘Tis commencement season, and so without further ado, we present TVNewser’s fifth annual list of who’s-speaking-where-and-when at America’s colleges and universities (in alphabetical order):

ABC/CNN’s Christiane Amanpour: University of Southern California - Annenberg School of Journalism,  May 11

NBC’s Tom Brokaw: Arizona State University , May 3…Vanderbilt University (TN) – Senior Class Day, May 10

FNC’s SVP of News Editorial Michael Clemente: Warren County Community College (NJ), May 19

ABC’s Katie Couric:  University of Virginia, May 20

NBC’s Tom Costello: University of Colorado, Journalism & Mass Communication, May 10.

NBC’s David Gregory: Emerson College (MA), May 14

CNN/CBS’s Dr. Sanjay Gupta: University of Michigan, previously on April 28

NBC’s Savannah Guthrie: Hobart and William Smith Colleges (NY), May 13

MSNBC’s Melissa Harris-Perry: Wellesley College (MA), May 25

PBS’s Maria Hinojosa: Simmons College (MA) – Morning Commencement, May 18

NBC’s Lester Holt: Pepperdine University (CA), previously on April 28

PBS’s Gwen Ifill: Holy Names University (CA), May 12… Bates College (ME), May 26

More after the jump, including Koppel, Lehrer, Sawyer, Schieffer, and three Williamses (Brian, Juan, and Pete)

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Tom Kennedy has been tapped to lead online news operations for “PBS NewsHour” as managing editor of digital news.

Kennedy will begin at “NewsHour” in June. He is currently on the faculty at Syracuse University, where he teaches multimedia storytelling and visual journalism at the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications. He also works as a media consultant for corporations and non-profits. He previously was managing editor for multimedia of the Washington Post‘s website.

“Tom is a great addition to the NewsHour team,” executive producer Linda Winslow said in a statement. “This job calls for a creative journalist with editorial and management skills, and Tom is that person.”

Martha Stewart is taking her culinary talents to PBS. Once syndicated, and more recently on Hallmark Channel, Stewart is cooking up something new for public television. “Martha Stewart’s Cooking School,” inspired by her best-selling book, will be presented in association with PBS station WETA Washington, D.C., and will air on PBS stations across the nation beginning this Fall.

“PBS is the perfect home for this series,” says Stewart of the weekly 30-minute broadcast. “We’ll show viewers how to prepare classic dishes as well as how to use proper techniques.”

Hallmark Channel canceled Stewart’s show earlier this year.

PBS’ Judy Woodruff has been elected into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Woodruff, a senior correspondent for “NewsHour,” joins the program’s co-anchor Gwen Ifill and founders Robert MacNeil and Jim Lehrer as members of the Academy. The 220 new members announced today include Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos and actor Clint Eastwood.

“This is a great honor,” Woodruff said in a statement. “I am humbled to be counted among all the accomplished individuals who have been inducted into the Academy.”

Fox News anchor Chris Wallace, the son of legendary CBS News correspondent Mike Wallace, has released a statement regarding his father’s passing over the weekend (Via the AP):

My Dad was everything you saw on television: fascinating and funny, challenging and exasperating. He was the best reporter I have ever known. And while work often came first for him, over the last 20 years, he worked hard to make connections with his family. He became my best friend. And at the end, he was surrounded by children, grandchildren, and even great-grandchildren. I already miss him terribly.

Former NBC News anchor Stone Phillips is returning to broadcast television. On Monday, April 2, the “PBS Newshour” will broadcast Phillips’ report on head injuries in youth football. Phillips originally released the story online through his website, StonePhillipsReports.com.

In February TVNewser spoke to Phillips about the story, and his decision to publish online. Of course, as the PBS news shows, just because something begins its life online, it does not mean it needs to stay there.

It was a year of change for the broadcast news organizations, as noted by the Pew Project for Excellence in Journalism 2012 State of the News Media report. Focusing on the broadcast networks, Pew noted that ABC News had its first full year under president Ben Sherwood, CBS News saw new leadership in Jeff Fager and David Rhodes, and NBC News got new owners in Comcast.

In addition, essentially every network evening and morning newscast saw at least one major change, whether it was a new anchor, or a new EP running the show. The result: higher ratings for the evening and morning newscasts. It was a trend we first reported in September, when the annual ratings came in.

For the first time since 2001, all of the evening newscasts saw an improvement in ratings, albeit slight. Likewise, the morning shows also saw a slight increase in viewership compared to 2010. Newsmagazines–with the exception of NBC’s “Dateline” and ABC’s “Nightline”–were down compared to last year.

Long-term, broadcast news continues to see declines in viewership, as a proliferation of news alternatives on cable and online makes it easier for viewers to find programming that appeals directly to their interests:

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As the Girl Scouts of the USA celebrates its 100th anniversary, we’re finding out which  tvnewsers once were Scouts themselves.

The girl pictured at right?  Yup, it’s Katie Couric, who tells ABC News online of having competed for the ‘Most Creative Dish’ award at a troop cookout.  Despite the steak sandwich she whipped up, she lost out, “much to my chagrin”.

The lesson she learned? “Sometimes life isn’t fair. It can be tougher to swallow than a steak sandwich, but that’s the way the hoagie roll crumbles.”

PBS’ Judy Woodruff also was a Scout, for about nine years. “It broadened my horizons in an important way,” she says, “and I’ll always be grateful to the Girl Scouts for that.”

Back in January, we linked to a post on Fox News Channel anchor Geraldo Rivera‘s Facebook page, in which he recalls having dinner with his former colleague from ABC News, Lowell Bergman. Rivera was upset because Bergman wanted to talk about the News Corp. hacking scandal, and whether Fox News was involved in any way. Bergman told Rivera that he was working on a story for the PBS series “Frontline” about the scandal.

Today, PBS and the CBC (which is a co-producer on the special) announced that the “Frontline” special, “Murdoch’s Scandal,” will debut on Tuesday, March 27. Based on the trailer below, there isn’t any doubt as to where “Frontline” comes down on the scandal:

Watch Murdoch’s Scandal Preview on PBS. See more from FRONTLINE.