PBS NewsHour chief Correspondent Amna Nawaz and chief Washington correspondent and PBS News Weekend anchor Geoff Bennett have been named co-anchors of the nightly newscast. The announcement was made by Sharon Rockefeller, president, and CEO of WETA and president of NewsHour Productions.
The PBS NewsHour, co-anchored by Nawaz and Bennett, will launch on Monday, Jan. 2, 2023. Nawaz and Bennett succeed Judy Woodruff, who has solo-anchored PBS’s nightly news broadcast since 2016, prior to which she co-anchored it alongside the late Gwen Ifill.
Nawaz is a known-Pakistani American face on the mainstream US journalism scene. She is the daughter of Shuja Nawaz, a well known Pakistani political and strategic analyst. Shuja is a Distinguished Fellow, South Asia Center at the Atlantic Council in Washington DC.
Nawaz, who received Peabody Awards for her reporting at NewsHour on Jan. 6, 2021, and global plastic pollution, has served as NewsHour’s primary substitute anchor since she joined the NewsHour in 2018. She previously was an anchor and correspondent at ABC News, anchoring breaking news coverage and leading the network’s livestream coverage of the 2016 presidential election. Before that, she served as a foreign correspondent and Islamabad Bureau Chief at NBC News. She is also the founder and former managing editor of NBC’s Asian America platform and began her journalism career at ABC News Nightline just weeks before the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
“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,” Nawaz said following the announcement. “Today is a day I never could’ve imagined when I began my journalism career years ago, or while growing up as a first-generation, Muslim, Pakistani-American. I’m grateful, humbled and excited for what’s ahead,” she added.
Bennett has reported from the White House under three presidents and has covered five presidential elections. He joined NewsHour in 2022 from NBC News, where he was a White House correspondent and substitute anchor for MSNBC. In his prior experience, he worked for NPR — beginning as an editor for Weekend Edition and later as a reporter covering Congress and the White House. An Edward R. Murrow Award recipient, Bennett began his journalism career at ABC News’ World News Tonight.
On being named co-anchor of PBS NewsHour, 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. It’s why PBS NewsHour is one of television’s most trusted and respected news programs and why I’m honored and excited to partner with Amna in building on its rich legacy.”
Both Nawaz and Bennett will both remain NBC News and MSNBC political contributors.
PBS NewsHour is the primary daily, breaking and special news producer for PBS. It produces PBS NewsHour, PBS News Weekend and Washington Week; primetime and daytime breaking news and political specials; documentaries; and maintains a robust footprint across digital and social platforms.
PBS NewsHour is a production of NewsHour Productions LLC, a wholly-owned non-profit subsidiary of WETA Washington, DC. WETA and its subsidiary NewsHour Productions LLC serve local and national public media audiences by producing and distributing content of intellectual integrity and cultural merit.
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