The PBS NewsHour will receive the Chairman’s Award at this year’s News and Documentary Emmy Awards.

The program is being honored for its contributions to broadcast journalism, but it is also helping lead the digital transformation of news and information.

In fall 2009, the PBS NewsHour launched in a new format that merged its broadcast program and digital platforms. A 2007 grant from Knight Foundation had helped the program add interactive graphics and media to its web site. The grant also helped build the site’s educational features, which include teacher resources and student-produced content.

The Online NewsHour now features an online-only video correspondent and a news blog called The Rundown. The site integrates content from other correspondents’ blogs and web sites, such as Making Sense with Paul Solman and Jeff Brown’s Art Beat. It also collaborates with other public media content producers like Frontline and NPR.

Knight Foundation also supports Patchwork Nation, a multimedia project with the PBS NewsHour that uses demographic data to identify different community types and trends across the United States.’ In the coming years, the project’s analysis of congressional districts will help programs like the PBS NewsHour report on state-wide elections.

Robert MacNeil and Jim Lehrer, the original co-anchors of The MacNeil Lehrer NewsHour, will accept the Chairman’s Award at Lincoln Center on Sept. 27. They will be joined by Les Crystal, the president of MacNeil/Lehrer Productions, and NewsHour Executive Producer Linda Winslow.