PUBLIC TV ALTERS CONGRESS COVERAGE

“The MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour” plans a significant enhancement of its coverage of Congress for public TV audiences next year.

It will come, however, at the expense of “Capitol Journal,” a two-year-old series about Congress that had been underwritten by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting to the tune of $1 million a year. That nonprofit organization, which funnels federal funds to noncommercial broadcasters, has decided to shift the bulk of that allocation to “NewsHour.”

As a result, “Capitol Journal” will leave the air in January.

“The MacNeil/Lehrer News-Hour” plans to establish a permanent production unit on Capitol Hill by March 1, consisting of a three- or four-member staff and an on-air correspondent.

In addition to regular coverage of hearings, floor debates, briefings and other congressional issues and legislative business, the new production team is expected to produce four to six in-depth special reports that would be broadcast on public television stations outside the nightly “NewsHour” program.

“For a program with a regular on-air presence to now have a physical presence on Capitol Hill means that we will be able to better cover what Congress is doing and what its impact is on the rest of the country,” “NewsHour” executive producer Lester Crystal said.

The expanded coverage will be made possible by a grant of about $800,000 from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

According to a spokeswoman for CPB, the organization considered four proposals for covering the coming 100th session of Congress, including one to continue “Capitol Journal” for a third season. The reason for choosing “MacNeil/Lehrer,” she said, was that it “already has a devoted and ever-growing audience and delivers news on a regular basis nationwide.”

Crystal stressed that the Capitol Hill coverage would be consistent with the “NewsHour” format of analysis, interpretation and discussion, and would not merely duplicate the “on the spot” reporting by Capitol Hill correspondents seen regularly on the three major networks’ nightly news programs.

He cited the upcoming House and Senate select committee hearings on the Iranian/ contras aid affair as an example of the kind of Congressional story that the “NewsHour” would have an advantage in covering with its one-hour format.

He also cited the current foreign-policy crisis facing the Reagan Administration as an example of the kind of “issue that reaches paramount news importance” that will be chosen for the special reports to be produced throughout the year. Acknowledging that “NewsHour” already devotes a generous portion of its news coverage to congressional issues, with co-anchor Jim Lehrer and national correspondent Judy Woodruff reporting from the show’s Washington base, Crystal said: “But having a staff and cameras right there (on Capitol Hill) will allow us to be more on top of what’s going on, in a more effective way.”