CNN's Woodruff And WSJ's Hunt To Discuss Media Coverage Of American Politics, April 30

Chestertown, MD, April 15, 2003 — Washington College's Harwood Lecture Series in American Journalism presents “NEW MEDIA: HOW CHANGES IN NEWSPAPER AND TELEVISION AFFECT COVERAGE OF AMERICAN POLITICS,” a discussion with Judy Woodruff, host of CNN's Inside Politics, and her husband Al Hunt, Wall Street Journal columnist and co-host of CNN's Capital Gang, Wednesday, April 30, 2003, at 7:30 p.m. in the College's Tawes Theatre, Gibson Performing Arts Center. The discussion will be moderated by John Harwood, National Political Editor of the Wall Street Journal. The event is free and the public is invited to attend.
Judy Woodruff and Al Hunt are one of Washington, DC's best-known media couples, together following the daily political pulse of the nation. Woodruff, a 30-year veteran of broadcast journalism, joined CNN in 1993 and hosts the network's daily political roundtable Inside Politics with Judy Woodruff. In addition, Woodruff co-anchors CNN's special coverage of political conventions and summits. She has covered politics and campaigns for most of her career. Before joining CNN, Woodruff was the chief Washington correspondent for The MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour, and from 1984-1990 she anchored public television's award-winning documentary series Frontline. Prior to joining the NewsHour, Woodruff was chief Washington correspondent for NBC's Today. She also served as NBC News' White House correspondent from 1977-1982, covering both the Carter and Reagan administrations. Woodruff came to NBC News as a general assignment reporter in Atlanta in 1975. From 1970-1974, she was a correspondent for WAGA-TV, a CBS affiliate in Atlanta, where she reported on the state Legislature for five years and anchored the noon and evening news. Her book, This is Judy Woodruff at the White House, published in 1982, documents her early experiences as a political journalist.
In 1997, Woodruff won the News and Documentary Emmy Award for outstanding instant coverage of a single breaking news story for CNN's coverage of the Centennial Olympic Park bombing. In 1996, Woodruff and CNN colleague Bernard Shaw won the Cable ACE Award for Best Anchor Team for their work on Inside Politics. In 1995, Woodruff won the Cable ACE for Best Newscaster. In 1995, the Freedom Forum awarded Woodruff and her journalist husband, Al Hunt, the Allen H. Neuharth Award for Excellence in Journalism. In 1994, Woodruff became the first recipient of the National Women's Hall of Fame President's 21st Century Award. That same year, she and her husband were named “Washingtonians of the Year” by Washingtonian magazine for their fundraising work to fight spina bifida.
Al Hunt is the executive Washington editor of The Wall Street Journal and, has been a panelist on CNN's Capital Gang since 1988. Previously, Hunt was a member of the long-running Novak, Hunt & Shields, the weekly CNN program featuring in-depth interviews with top newsmakers. In 1993, he became the Journal's executive Washington editor, writing the weekly editorial page column, Politics & People, and directing the paper's political polls. He is president of the board of directors of the Dow Jones Newspaper Fund and a director of Ottaway Newspapers, Inc., a Dow Jones subsidiary. Hunt has also served as a periodic panelist on NBC's Meet the Press and Washington Week in Review on PBS, as well as a political analyst on the CBS Morning News. He is co-author of the American Enterprise Institute's The American Elections of 1980, The American Elections of 1982, The American Elections of 1984, and the Brookings Institute's Elections American Style. Hunt was the recipient of the William Allen White Foundations national citation in 1999. Presented annually, the citation is one of the highest honors in journalism. Before graduating from college, Hunt worked for the Philadelphia Bulletin and the Winston-Salem (NC) Journal. In 1965, he became a reporter for The Wall Street Journal in New York, before transferring to its Boston Bureau in 1967, then to the DC bureau in 1969.
The Harwood Lecture Series in American Journalism is sponsored by the Richard Harwood Endowment Fund, established to honor the distinguished career of the late Washington Post columnist and ombudsman Richard Harwood, who served as both a trustee of and a lecturer in journalism at Washington College.