Judy Woodruff Prepares to Sign Off as a ‘PBS NewsHour’ Anchor
By KATE KIRKPATRICK
April 12, 2016
“At this critical time in our nation’s history,” Woodruff said, “PBS NewsHour needs a partner who can help the program become even more relevant to communities across America, and who will build upon the tradition of excellence and innovation that made PBS NewsHour a national treasure for nearly 50 years.”
After serving as an anchor and reporter for 60 years, Woodruff plans to leave PBS NewsHour when her contract expires Sept. 30. Her final day as anchor will be June 26.
In a statement, Woodruff praised NewsHour, the PBS television network, its news programming, “the dedicated staff of thousands that work to bring the news to millions each day, our guests and contributors, and those viewers who follow each day’s events right on the PBS NewsHour app.”
PBS NewsHour will have two anchors in 2016, one of them a women as it moves beyond the original seven-year contract that gave anchoring duties to men such as Jim Lehrer, Tom Brokaw and Judy Woodruff. The other anchor, who starts in June, will be a women, said a “senior manager” who asked not to be identified.
The two new anchor are expected to become permanent members of the NewsHour team. But there are concerns that there will not be a woman on the new anchor’s desk.
On April 12, CBS President and COO Leslie Moonves issued a statement saying there was “no plan to make that move.” Moonves said CBS “cannot tolerate discrimination or gender discrimination in that regard in our workplace.” CBS also had plans to expand beyond the NewsHour to other major broadcast channels such as the National Geographic Channel and A&E. But the move might force changes in the NewsHour schedule.
NewsHour news-gathering and production team of about 200 will be retooled with new and experienced faces.
NewsHour, with its 1.5 million weekly viewers, will lose 2.8 million cable viewers, according to a CBS News analysis.
The retooling would also mean moving the news-gathering and reporting teams to
