Gwen Ifill
Gwen Ifill
Gwendolyn L. "Gwen" Ifillis an American journalist, television newscaster, and author. She is the moderator and managing editor of Washington Week and co-anchor and co-managing editor, with Judy Woodruff, of PBS NewsHour, both of which air on PBS. She is a political analyst, and moderated the 2004 and 2008 Vice Presidential debates. She is the author of the book The Breakthrough: Politics and Race in the Age of Obama...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionNews Anchor
Date of Birth29 September 1955
CityQueens, NY
CountryUnited States of America
We used to say in the black community that if somebody else caught a cold, we caught pneumonia.
All of our panelists are deeply engaged in the topics at hand, so that leaves me free to convene a little dinner party, sans alcohol, and invite the rest of America to listen in.
I'm not in love. I'm not out of love. I'm just trying to find some version of the truth.
I see a pretty bright line between analysis and opinion. And so, to that end, my goal on Friday nights is to try to assemble the smartest reporters who are available to me that week who have been involved in covering the news.
I'm not quite certain how you can force a candidate to stick by the rules.
One of the unwritten rules in a presidential news conference is that he'll answer questions. If he chooses not to, there's not much you can do about it other than make yourself look like an idiot screaming, which to me is counterproductive.
Change comes from listening, learning, caring and conversation.
Barack Obama didn't get elected president, would never have been elected president, had he decided to run as a black candidate. In order to reach the broadest number of people you have to speak to their interests as broadly as you can.
I spent my career trying to speak to the broadest possible audience whether it's in print or whether it's in television.
I'm not really good at being predictive, so I guess I'm willing to be surprised.
It's funny, everywhere I go some people ask me whether it's going to be a Latino breakthrough, some people ask me whether it's going to be a female breakthrough, and then I'm reminded that five years ago we didn't even know Barack Obama's name.
When you are interviewing someone, you have a chance to follow up, to press, to dig in. In a debate there's 30 seconds for the other guy, too. And the goal is to get them to engage with each other, not to engage you necessarily.
Mormon leaders said in a statement they will reexamine their ties to the Boy Scouts. "The church," they said, "has always welcomed all boys to its Scouting units regardless of sexual orientation. However, the admission of openly gay leaders is inconsistent with the doctrines of the church and what have traditionally been the values of the Boy Scouts of America."
Discrimination at any level sends a harmful message to youth, gay or straight alike, and that discrimination has no place in Scouting.