"Every news organization should ideally be as broadly representative as possible." -- Judy Woodruff
Judy Woodruff (born November 20, 1946) is an American television news anchor and journalist.Woodruff is a Board Member at the IWMF (International Women's Media Foundation).
"I've never seen Washington as divided as we are right now.""If image is everything, how can the Democratic presidential hopefuls compete with a President fresh from a war victory.""Is this administration, the Clinton administration, an administration that needed defending?""It's always unfortunate when a reporter is sent behind bars for failing to turn over sources. There's no way to say what the long-term outcome will be.""Politics is in my blood. I'd love to be involved in 2008, maybe even '06.""There have been trade-offs every day, every month, every year. There's a lot that I missed and I do have regrets in that area. But I have been able to bring to my family the richness of being a journalist.""We decided to focus on women because no one was singling them out."
Judy Woodruff began her journalism career at local Atlanta station WAGA-TV, once a CBS affiliate and now an affiliate of the Fox Network. Woodruff joined NBC News in 1975 and was originally based in Atlanta, where she covered the presidential campaign of then-Governor Jimmy Carter. She served as the chief White House correspondent for NBC News from 1977 to 1982, and covered Washington for The Today Show from 1982 - 83. In 1983 she moved from NBC to PBS, where for 10 years she was Chief Washington Correspondent for The MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour. From 1984 to 1990, she was also the host of the PBS documentary series Frontline with Judy Woodruff.
In 1993, Woodruff joined CNN, where for 12 years she was the host of Inside Politics, the nation's first program devoted exclusively to politics.
Woodruff stayed with CNN until 2005 when she decided not to renew her contract, looking toward teaching, writing, and working on documentaries. In August 2005, Woodruff was named a visiting fellow for the fall semester at Harvard University's Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy. She previously taught the course "Media and Politics" at Duke University's Sanford Institute for Public Policy. CNN founder Ted Turner stated in a May 7, 2009 interview on the Diane Rehm Show that he was upset that CNN had let Woodruff go.
In 2006, Woodruff returned to PBS to work on "Generation Next," a documentary about American young people and their characteristics, values and thoughts on family, faith, politics and world events, produced in conjunction with MacNeil/Lehrer Productions. "Generation Next" partnered with USA Today, Yahoo! News and NPR. Additionally, in 2006 Woodruff contributed as a guest correspondent to the National Public Radio (NPR) Morning Edition week-long series "Muslims In America," as part of NPR's fifth-year observance of the 9/11/2001 terrorist attacks.
On February 5, 2007, Judy Woodruff returned to The News Hour with Jim Lehrer on PBS full time as senior correspondent, editor of 2008 political coverage and substitute anchor. As of early 2007, she was also working on Part 2 of the "Generation Next" documentary for PBS. The Online NewsHour: About Us | Press Release | PBS
From 2006 until the present, Woodruff has also anchored a weekly program for Bloomberg Television, called "Conversations with Judy Woodruff." Streaming video podcasts of her monthly interviews are available at Bloomberg.com .
Woodruff was selected to present the 2007 Red Smith Lecture in Journalism at the University of Notre Dame. The Red Smith lectureship annually selects renowned journalists to speak at the University to foster good writing and honor high journalistic standards. PBS journalist Judy Woodruff to deliver Red Smith Lecture - University of Notre Dame : News & Information
Personal life
Born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Woodruff had her first taste of the limelight when at age 17 she won a hometown beauty pageant and was crowned Miss Augusta Junior Miss 1963. After high school, Woodruff attended Meredith College and Duke University, where she earned a degree in political science and was involved in the Student Union, Publications Board, Alpha Delta Pi sorority, and Associated Students of Duke University (precursor to Duke Student Government). One of her first jobs in TV news broadcasting was with WAGA-TV in Atlanta, Georgia as a news anchor, where she served from 1970 to 1975.
Woodruff is a founding Co-Chair of the International Women's Media Foundation; on the Boards of Trustees of the Freedom Forum and of the Freedom Forum's Newseum; and a member of the steering committee of the Reporters' Committee for Freedom of the Press.
Woodruff is the parent of three children including a son born with spina bifida. Her husband is Al Hunt, formerly of CNN and The Wall Street Journal, now Executive Editor of the Bloomberg News Washington, D.C, bureau. She is not related to journalist Bob Woodruff.
