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Judy Woodruff

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Judy Woodruff

About Judy @judywoodruff

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

Politics Feb 28

How governors are working on solutions amid intense political polarization

At a time of intense polarization across the country and bitter partisan battles in Washington, some of the nation’s governors are attempting to find a way forward to solve their own states’ problems. Judy Woodruff sat down with two governors…

Nation Feb 14

How young voters feel about the presidential candidates and nation’s political divide

The Republican nominee won’t be officially decided until the GOP convention in Milwaukee this July. But this past weekend in Virginia, nearly 2,000 college students held a Republican convention of their own. Judy Woodruff spoke with young Republicans and Democrats…

Politics Jan 31

Conservative Trump critic discusses his impact on the GOP and a divided America

Primary season is in full swing as a seemingly unstoppable GOP nomination approaches for former President Trump. Judy Woodruff explores what another Trump nomination and presidency could mean for the Republican party and for the country. It’s part of her…

Politics Jan 19

New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu goes all out to stop Trump’s renomination

With election year 2024 now fully underway, the effort to understand what is dividing Americans politically has become even more urgent. For her "America at a Crossroads" series, Judy Woodruff turned to New Hampshire for a look at how popular…

Nation Jan 03

How citizen investigators are helping the FBI track down Jan. 6 rioters

The Jan. 6 investigation is the largest FBI operation in history. More than 1200 people have been charged and over 900 convicted. But it has stretched the bureau’s resources and has often had to rely on the work of citizen…

Nation Dec 20

What’s behind the shortage of workers who support people with disabilities

The nearly five million direct care workers who support older adults and people with disabilities are the largest workforce in the U.S. But despite high demand, many are paid little more than minimum wage. A longstanding workforce shortage means people…

Nation Dec 19

WATCH: America at a Crossroads with Judy Woodruff

PBS NewsHour’s special, “America at a Crossroads with Judy Woodruff,” will air on PBS on Tuesday, December 19th at 9:00 p.m. ET (check local listings) and on NewsHour’s YouTube channel.

Politics Dec 19

This is what political division looks like in the U.S. right now

Eleven months, 14 states and 21 reports into "America at a Crossroads," I’ve seen examples of people trying to bridge the partisan divide, but I’m still dismayed by the division and the vitriol.

Politics Dec 18

Political experts examine America’s divisions heading into 2024 election

All this year, Judy Woodruff has been exploring the deep divisions we see playing out every day in the country. She’s distilled much of that reporting into a special airing Tuesday night on PBS. For that, she recently sat down…

Politics Dec 06

How the pandemic made it difficult for Americans to separate politics from public health

Just over 15 percent of American adults have gotten the latest COVID booster. Demand for the vaccine has dropped sharply since it was first introduced at the height of the pandemic. That's partly because the government's response to COVID-19 has…

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