An accomplished political reporter with experience in both print and broadcast news, Gwen Ifill holds two of the most highly respected posts in her field. She is moderator and managing editor of Washington Week, the longest-running public affairs program on public television, and senior correspondent for The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer.
For Washington Week, Ifill oversees a public television tradition launched in 1967 - a report on the key news events of the previous week. As managing editor she selects which stories to examine, chooses each week's panel of leading Washington D.C.-based news correspondents, and moderates the lively Q&A format on-air. Washington Week is distinguished by being the first political news show to air each week, beating out all network shows in its genre. Ifill is also frequently asked to moderate debates in national elections, most recently the Vice Presidential debate during the 2004 election.
On The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, PBS's nightly newscast, Ifill is a familiar presence as both a correspondent and a moderator. She helps provide its trademark in-depth coverage of current events with a unique mix of informed debates, comprehensive interviews, and expansive feature stories. Ifill spent several years as a Washington Week panelists before assuming the moderator's chair in 1999, which was also the year she joint the NewsHour.
Prior to joining PBS, Gwen Ifill served at NBC News for five years as chief congressional and political correspondent. While at NBC she covered the premier political stories affecting the national for NBC Nightly News with Tom Brokaw, Today, Meet the Press and MSNBC.
Ifill worked for many years as a print journalist before she became a fixture on broadcast news. She was a reporter at such well-known newspapers as The New York Times, where she covered the White House and politics, The Washington Post, where her focus was national and local affairs, The Baltimore Evening Sun, and The Boston Herald American.
Gwen Ifill grew up in New York City. She is a graduate of Simmons College in Boston, Massachusetts and has also received eight honorary degrees. She serves on the board of the Harvard Institute of Politics and the University of Maryland's Philip Merrill College of Journalism. Gwen Ifill resides in Washington D.C.
