Armanpour on PBS

In mid-December 2017, PBS began airing Amanpour on PBS in the first half of the old Charlie Rose Show timeslot. My local PBS station didn't begin carrying the program until the first of 2018. Christiane Amanpour is an anchor and the Chief International Correspondent for CNN. She has been with CNN since 1983 except for a brief stint with ABC. She was raised in Iran and England and brings a unique perspective to the news. She is based in London but does many shows from New York also.

This is primarily an interview show. Occasionally she recaps a top story or two at the top of the show. The format is one or two guest interviews during the half hour. These guests are a combination of the newsmakers, experts, and other journalists. So far, she very rarely has more than one guest on at a time. On those occasions, the guests have been mostly civil and didn't talk over each other. It was a bit heated one night when a representative of Palestine and one from Israel were on together. Thankfully, both on satellite from different locations. 

I enjoy the news value and especially the more international perspective than we usually see on US news programs. 

I am not a big fan of Christiane's interview style. She often comes across as agreeing with her guests rather than being objective. That can lead to some softball questions. She can be tougher but also may apologize before asking the tough question. 

Overall, I like getting the information and the international flavor. It is not yet a real substitute for Charlie Rose.

The program has only been on the air for a little over two months, so there is plenty of time for improvement. I'll continue to watch, at least for now. My grade after two months is a C+.

wjh