SiliconBeat

Santa Clara chip maker Intel has become a corporate sponsor of The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, broadcast on PBS.

Intel’s support, which began on April 1, will continue through December 2009. Other sponsors of the show include Chevron, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation.

Besides providing general programming support, Intel will pay for a series of mini-documentaries examining the role of innovation in the economy, but won’t have editorial involvement, according to PBS.

Intel also will work with the NewsHour and the Aspen Institute to create a series of salon dinners in Washington, DC, culminating in an October summit, which will focus on innovation.

This afternoon I’ll be speaking at a community forum for The Knight Commission on the Information Needs of Communities in a Democracy. The commission was created by the Knight Foundation and the Aspen Institute. According to the commission’s Web site:

“The Knight Commission on the Information Needs of Communities in a Democracy is a 15-member commission of luminaries assembled to recommend both public and private measures that would help American communities better meet their information needs.”

The forum is being held on the Google campus in Mountain View starting at 9 a.m. local time. I’m speaking on a panel in the afternoon on “technology and innovation.” I’ll post a link to a copy of my remarks after the event.

I think this is critical work, given the changing landscape for news and information. If you have time, you can follow the live Web cast here.