Judy Woodruff

Judy Woodruff
Woodruff in 2012
Born	(1946-11-20) November 20, 1946 Tulsa, Oklahoma United States
Alma mater	Meredith College Duke University
Occupation	Journalist Television anchor Writer
Years active	Since 1970
Spouse(s)	Al Hunt

Judy Woodruff (born November 20, 1946) is an American television news anchor and journalist. She is also a writer.

During her career, Woodruff has worked at television organizations including CNN, NBC News, and PBS.

She is a board member at the International Women's Media Foundation and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

Early life and education

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, she attended Meredith College and Duke University, where she earned a degree in political science and was involved in the Student Union, the Publications Board, the Alpha Delta Pi sorority, and the Associated Students of Duke University (precursor to Duke Student Government).

Career

She began her journalism career at local CBS affiliate WAGA-TV, in Atlanta, Georgia, where she served as a news anchor from 1970 to 1975.

Woodruff joined NBC News in 1975 and was originally based in Atlanta, where she covered the 1976 U.S. presidential campaign of then-Georgia governor Jimmy Carter.

She served as the chief White House correspondent for NBC News from 1977 to 1982, and covered Washington, for NBC's The Today Show from 1982 to 1983.

In 1983, Woodruff moved 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, she joined CNN, where for 12 years she was the host of Inside Politics, the nation's first program devoted exclusively to politics.^{[citation needed]} Woodruff stayed with CNN until 2005 when she decided not to renew her contract, looking toward teaching, writing, and working on documentaries. 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 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 had previously taught the course Media and Politics at Duke University's Sanford School of Public Policy.

In 2006, she 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 September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

On February 5, 2007, Woodruff returned to PBS on The News Hour With Jim Lehrer 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.

Since 2006, she has also anchored a weekly program, Conversations With Judy Woodruff, for Bloomberg Television. 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.

Bibliography

She has published various books including This is Judy Woodruff at the White House (1982; ISBN 978-0-201-08850-2).

Professional memberships

Woodruff is a founding co-chairperson of the International Women's Media Foundation; she serves on the boards of trustees of the Freedom Forum and of the Freedom Forum's Newseum and is a member of the steering committee of the Reporters' Committee for Freedom of the Press.

Personal life

Woodruff is the mother of three children, including a son born with spina bifida.

Her husband is Al Hunt, formerly of CNN and The Wall Street Journal, now an executive editor of the Washington, D.C., bureau of Bloomberg News.

She is related to journalist Bob Woodruff.

See also

• List of American writers
• List of CNN anchors
• List of Duke University people
• List of Harvard University people
• List of people from Atlanta
• List of people from Tulsa, Oklahoma
• List of television reporters

References

^ "1986: A Life-Changing Year". The Washington Post. July 25, 1999.

External links

• PBS Online NewsHour Profile
• Judy Woodruff at the Internet Movie Database
• Works by or about Judy Woodruff in libraries (WorldCat catalog)