"Hope springs eternal, even in politics." -- Gwen Ifill
Gwendolyn L. "Gwen" Ifill (, ; born September 29, 1955) is an American journalist, television newscaster and author. She is the managing editor and moderator for Washington Week (PBS) and a senior correspondent for The NewsHour (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.
"A lot of Democrats are not that upset with Howard Dean. Howard Dean gets out here and he says these inflammatory things, and he doesn't apologize. He doesn't back down a little bit.""Can't disagree with the need for a grasp of history.""Did I say that the President's entire job is image management? Of course not.""Don't count out other amazing programming like Frontline. You will still find more hours of in-depth news programming, investigative journalism and analysis on PBS than on any other outlet.""Folks who are getting their strokes in the South are not as unhappy with Howard Dean. You don't see anybody starting any movement to get him out of office.""History shows that people often do cast their votes for amorphous reasons-the most powerful among them being the need for change. Just ask Bill Clinton.""I'm a preacher's kid, and we were always told, Act right all the time, because someone's always watching.""If it were the Clinton people, they'd be sitting around figuring out how to pull themselves out. Instead the president is continuing to go around the country and peddling Social Security, which the needle is not moving on.""If you start to catalog Hillary Clinton's positions between now and 2008, we're going to have a lot of conversations because there are a lot of places for her to go.""Is it unreasonable to have proof of citizenship when entering another country?""It's been years, decades, since a president has lost a major trade initiative. That would be bad headlines.""Journalists are accused of being lapdogs when they don't ask the hard questions, but then accused of being rude when they do. Good thing we have tough hides.""On immigration, there are a lot of hurdles before anything arrives at the White House.""One of the things that Africa needs, everybody seems to agree, is some measure of debt relief.""People do still cheer for the President. And some of the military audiences are more likely to cheer than others. I have seen him speak lately in front of groups like Freedom House, where the applause was a long time coming.""The common agenda both sides seem to share is: Whatever works.""The President has launched a very agressive campaign of self-defense, with the goal of getting Americans to buy into his vision of America on the world stage.""There seems to be more abiding interest in unearthing old memos abroad than there is here.""Tony Blair - good thing there are not parliamentary elections in this country.""We will wait to see if it is a doozy before we decide how to cover it, and what it all means.""We're not paying attention to the fact that Hillary Clinton is running in 2006. Everyone is looking to her for the future. It's the same with anybody else who's positioning themselves.""Whatever their motivations, lawmakers on both side of the aisle have certainly discovered that immigration is one of those issues that resonate strongly with the public.""When the President was asked about global warming at a public appearance yesterday, he responded by talking about America's addiction to oil. You make the connection.""You would like me to say that the veil will be ripped from the voters' eyes sometime between now and November, thereby restoring the proper version of Democracy to the House and Senate. I won't say that, of course. The simple reason is, I don't know."
Ifill was born in New York City, the fifth child of African Methodist Episcopal minister, (Oliver) Urcille Ifill, Sr., a Panamanian of Barbadian descent who emigrated from Panama, and Eleanor Ifill, who was also from Barbados. Her father's ministry required the family to live in several cities throughout New England and the Eastern Seaboard during her youth. In her childhood Ifill lived in Pennsylvania and Massachusetts church parsonages and in federally subsidized housing in Buffalo and New York City. She graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Communications from Simmons College in Boston, Massachusetts in 1977.
While at Simmons College, Ifill interned for the Boston Herald-American and was hired after graduation by editors deeply embarrassed by an incident during her internship in which a co-worker left a note for her that read "Nigger go home." Later she worked for the Baltimore Evening Sun (1981-1984), The Washington Post (1984-1991), The New York Times (1991-1994), and NBC.
In October 1999, she became moderator of the PBS program Washington Week in Review. She is also senior correspondent for the PBS NewsHour. Ifill has appeared on various news shows, including Meet the Press.
She serves on the board of the Harvard Institute of Politics, the Committee to Protect Journalists, the Museum of Television and Radio and the University of Maryland's Philip Merrill College of Journalism.
With Kaitlyn Adkins, Ifill co-hosted Jamestown LIVE!, a 2007 History Channel special commemorating the 400th anniversary of Jamestown, Virginia.
The Ombudsman for PBS, Michael Getler, has twice written about the letters he's received complaining of bias in Ifill's news coverage. He dismissed complaints that Ifill appeared insufficiently enthusiastic about Sarah Palin's speech at the 2008 Republican National Convention, and concluded that Ifill had played a "solid, in my view, and central role in PBS coverage of both conventions."
Ifill's first book, The Breakthrough: Politics and Race in the Age of Obama, was released January 20, 2009, Inauguration Day. The book deals with several African American politicians, including Barack Obama as well as other up-and-coming black politicians such as Massachusetts governor Deval Patrick and Newark, New Jersey mayor Cory Booker. The publisher, Random House, says of the book: "Drawing on interviews with power brokers like Senator Obama, former Secretary of State Colin Powell, Vernon Jordan, the Reverend Jesse Jackson, and many others, as well as her own razor-sharp observations and analysis of such issues as generational conflict and the 'black enough' conundrum, Ifill shows why this is a pivotal moment in American history."
On October 5, 2004, Ifill moderated the vice-presidential debate between Republican Dick Cheney and Democrat John Edwards. Howard Kurtz described the consensus that Ifill "acquitted herself well" as moderator.
Ifill also moderated the October 2, 2008 vice-presidential debate between Democratic Senator Joe Biden and Republican Governor Sarah Palin at Washington University in St. Louis. The debate's format offered Ifill freedom to cover domestic or international issues.
Prior to the 2008 Vice-Presidential debate, Ifill's objectivity was questioned by conservative talk radio, blogs and cable news programs, as well as some independent media analysts, because of The Breakthrough: Politics and Race in the Age of Obama, which was scheduled to be released on Inauguration Day, 2009, but whose contents had not been disclosed to the debate commission or the campaigns. The book was reported in the Washington Times and appeared in trade catalogs as early as July 2008, well before Ifill was selected by the debate committee.Several analysts viewed Ifill's book as creating a conflict of interest, including Kelly McBride of The Poynter Institute for Media Studies who said, “Obviously the book will be much more valuable to her if Obama is elected.” McCain said in an interview on Fox News Channel, "I think she will do a totally objective job because she is a highly respected professional." Asked about the forthcoming book by Ifill, McCain responded, "Does this help...if she has written a book that's favorable to Senator Obama? Probably not. But I have confidence that Gwen Ifill will do a professional job."
To critics, Ifill responded, "I've got a pretty long track record covering politics and news, so I'm not particularly worried that one-day blog chatter is going to destroy my reputation. The proof is in the pudding. They can watch the debate tomorrow night and make their own decisions about whether or not I've done my job."
After the debate, Ifill received praise for her performance. The Boston Globe reported that she "is receiving high marks for equal treatment of the candidates."
