Lee Banville

Notable work and positions

University of Montana School of Journalism - Director and Professor (2022-present)
PBS NewsHour - Editor-in-Chief, Online NewsHour (1995-2009)

Biography

Lee Banville is director and a professor at the University of Montana School of Journalism, where he has taught since 2009. He earned a bachelor's degree in English and government from the College of William & Mary and a master's degree in political science from the University of Montana. Before entering academia, he worked briefly in public relations and as a stringer for the Virginian-Pilot, then joined the NewsHour with Jim Lehrer in October 1995 as one of three founding editors of its website, becoming managing editor in 1997 and taking over complete operations of the Online NewsHour in 1998, a role in which he guided the program's digital coverage of seven national election cycles, the Iraq war, the September 11 attacks, eight national political conventions and the impeachment of President Clinton. He also launched one of the first podcasts in public broadcasting and developed the first video player on PBS.org. At the University of Montana, he teaches courses on covering elections, media law and the First Amendment, and an introductory course on media history and literacy; he was named director of the School of Journalism in 2022. He is the author of Debating Our Destiny: Presidential Debate Moments that Shaped History (2012, updated 2013), written for MacNeil/Lehrer Productions, and of the two-volume encyclopedia Covering American Politics in the 21st Century: An Encyclopedia of News Media Titans, Trends, and Controversies (2017).

Career highlights

• Founding editor, Online NewsHour 1995 · Helped launch and later led the digital operations of the PBS NewsHour's companion website for 13 years.
• Director, University of Montana School of Journalism 2022-present.