Woodruff to Step Down From PBS NewsHour

Veteran journalist will leave as anchor after midterms, work on specials, projects for WETA-TV
By Jenn Gidman,  Newser Staff
Posted May 13, 2022 2:00 PM CDT
PBS NewsHour to Lose Its Anchor After Midterms
Judy Woodruff, anchor of "PBS NewsHour," takes part in a panel discussion at the Beverly Hilton on July 31, 2018, in Beverly Hills, Calif.   (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP)

Judy Woodruff fans, enjoy the next seven months or so. That's about how long the PBS NewsHour anchor will remain at the helm, with plans to step down sometime after the midterms, she announced to program staffers in a memo cited by Deadline. Two sources confirm to Variety that Woodruff is set to leave sometime in early 2023. After midterm season, "I'll transition to reporting longer pieces, doing projects and specials for WETA, and maintaining a regular presence on the NewsHour, at least through the 2024 presidential election," Woodruff, 75, wrote in the memo. The veteran journalist has been part of the DC press corps since 1976 and "a member of its ruling class more or less ever since," notes Puck, which was first to report the news of Woodruff's departure.

She has anchored NewsHour since 2013, when she co-anchored with Gwen Ifill. After Ifill died in 2016, Woodruff became the sole anchor. Although official succession plans aren't set to be announced until the fall, sources tell Deadline that Woodruff will be replaced by two co-anchors: Amna Nawaz, the show's chief correspondent, and Geoff Bennett, the program's head DC correspondent. "I love working at the PBS NewsHour and can't imagine it not being a part of my life," Woodruff wrote in her memo. "Bottom line, I'm thrilled to be part of this vibrant, most extraordinary news organization, and to help the NewsHour remain that way well into the future." (More Judy Woodruff stories.)

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