Amna Nawaz And Geoff Bennett To Succeed Judy Woodruff As ‘PBS NewsHour’ Anchors

PBS NewsHour made the official announcement on Wednesday that Amna Nawaz and Geoff Bennett would succeed Judy Woodruff as co-anchors of the newscast.

Nawaz has been chief correspondent for NewsHour and Bennett as been chief Washington correspondent and PBS News Weekend anchor.

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They will start in their new roles on January 2. Woodruff announced earlier this year that she planned to step down as anchor of the broadcast, having served as solo anchor since 2016 and, before that, co-anchor with Gwen Ifill since 2013. Woodruff’s last newscast will be on Dec. 30, and she will then embark on a reporting project for PBS, Judy Woodruff Presents: America at a Crossroads.

The appointment of Nawaz and Bennett to succeed Woodruff confirms reports from earlier this year of a transition for the broadcast, which launched in 1975 with anchor Robert MacNeil. The newscast is now produced by WETA-TV in Washington, D.C.

Bennett and Nawaz will remain as NBC News and MSNBC contributors.

Bennett joined NewsHour earlier this year from NBC News, where he was White House correspondent and substitute anchor for MSNBC. He previously worked for NPR, first as an editor for Weekend Edition and later as a reporter covering Congress and the White House.

In a statement, Bennett said, “I’m proud to work with such a stellar group of journalists in pursuit of a shared mission — providing reliable reporting, solid storytelling and sharp analysis of the most important issues of the day.”

Nawaz has served as NewsHour‘s primary substitute anchor since she joined the newscast in 2018. She previously was an anchor and correspondent at ABC News, where she anchored breaking news coverage and livestream coverage of the 2016 presidential election. She previously served as foreign correspondent and Islamabad bureau chief for NBC News, and is founder and former managing editor of the network’s Asian America platform.

She said in a statement, “It’s never been more important for people to have access to news and information they trust, and the entire NewsHour team strives relentlessly towards that goal every day. I am honored to be part of this mission, to work with colleagues I admire and adore, and to take on this new role alongside Geoff as we help write the next chapter in NewsHour’s story.”

The newscast’s senior executive producer, Sara Just, said, “This is an exciting new chapter in
the nearly 50-year history of this esteemed news brand. But while Amna and Geoff are a new
generation of journalists, they share the same unwavering commitment to fair, careful and deep
reporting for which this program has always been known.”

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