Judy Woodruff

About Judy

Judy Woodruff is a senior correspondent and the former anchor and managing editor of the PBS News Hour. She has covered politics and other news for five decades at NBC, CNN and PBS.

At PBS from 1983 to 1993, she was the chief Washington correspondent for the MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour. From 1984 – 1990, she also anchored PBS' award-winning documentary series, "Frontline with Judy Woodruff." Moving to CNN in 1993, she served as anchor and senior correspondent for 12 years; among other duties, she anchored the weekday program "Inside Politics." She returned to the News Hour in 2007, and in 2013, she and the late Gwen Ifill were named the first two women to co-anchor a national news broadcast. After Ifill's death, Woodruff was named sole anchor.

In 2011, Judy was the anchor and reporter for the PBS documentary "Nancy Reagan: The Role of a Lifetime." And in 2007, she completed an extensive project on the views of young Americans, titled "Generation Next: Speak Up. Be Heard." Two hour-long documentaries aired on PBS, along with a series of reports on the NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, NPR, in USA Today and on Yahoo News.

From 2006 – 2013, Judy anchored a monthly program for Bloomberg Television, "Conversations with Judy Woodruff." In 2006, she was a visiting professor at Duke University's Terry Sanford Institute of Public Policy. In 2005, she was a visiting fellow at Harvard University's Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy.

At NBC News, Woodruff was White House correspondent from 1977 to 1982. For one year after that she served as NBC's Today Show chief Washington correspondent. She wrote the book, This is Judy Woodruff at the White House, published in 1982 by Addison-Wesley. Her reporting career began in Atlanta, Georgia, where she covered state and local government.

Woodruff is a founding co-chair of the International Women's Media Foundation, an organization dedicated to promoting and encouraging women in journalism and communication industries worldwide. She serves on the boards of trustee of the Freedom Forum, The Duke Endowment and the Carnegie Corporation of New York, and is a director of Public Radio International and the National Association to End Homelessness. She is a former member of the Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics, a former director of the National Museum of American History and a former trustee of the Urban Institute.

Judy is a graduate of Duke University, where she is a trustee emerita.

She is the recent recipient of an Emmy Lifetime Achievement Award, as well as the Radcliffe Medal, the Poynter Medal for Lifetime Achievement in Journalism, the Gwen Ifill Press Freedom Award from the Committee to Protect Journalists and the Cronkite Award for Excellence in Journalism from Arizona State University.

She is the recipient of more than 25 honorary degrees.

Judy lives in Washington, DC, with her husband, journalist Al Hunt, and they are the parents of three children: Jeffrey, Benjamin and Lauren.

Full Bio

Judy’s Recent Stories

Arts Jul 09

What political satire can reveal about the strength of a democracy

Satire plays a powerful role in challenging authority, exposing hypocrisy and testing the boundaries of free expression. It's among the forces Judy Woodruff explores in the podcast, “In Pursuit of Happiness.” She sat down with The Onion Network’s Joshua Johnson…

Nation Jul 09

How satire shaped American history

From Benjamin Franklin to The Onion, satire has long been a part of how Americans process politics and power. In this episode of “In Pursuit of Happiness,” Judy Woodruff talks to Sophia McClennen of Penn State University and Joshua Johnson…

Nation Jul 02

How George Washington shaped America

What can George Washington's life tell us about the country he helped found? In the first episode of her new limited-run podcast, "In Pursuit of Happiness," Judy Woodruff speaks with historian Lindsay Chervinsky about Washington's achievements, contradictions and enduring influence…

Nation Jun 29

Promo: In Pursuit of Happiness with Judy Woodruff

Join PBS News' Judy Woodruff on a limited six-episode journey this summer as our nation celebrates its 250th anniversary. She'll explore the stories behind the milestones of American history and look at some of the culture, places and ideas that…

Nation Jun 29

In Pursuit of Happiness with Judy Woodruff

Join PBS News' Judy Woodruff on a limited six-episode journey this summer as our nation celebrates its 250th anniversary. She'll explore the stories behind the milestones of American history and look at some of the culture, places and ideas that…

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