Last modified: Monday, October 7, 2002
Political talk show host to present IU School of Journalism's annual Howard Lecture
EDITORS: Gwen Ifill will be available for a limited number of telephone interviews prior to her visit to IU Bloomington. To arrange for an interview, contact Megan Fusco at Washington Speakers Bureau, 703-684-0555 or meganf@washingtonspeakers.com.
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Gwen Ifill, moderator and managing editor of the political talk show Washington Week in Review, will present the Indiana University School of Journalism's annual Roy W. Howard Public Lecture on Oct. 14 at 8 p.m. at IU Bloomington. Her lecture, which is free and open to the public, will be in Whittenberger Auditorium in the Indiana Memorial Union.
Ifill, also a senior correspondent for NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, is the first African American woman to host a major network political talk show. Her visit is part of the Journalism School's annual Roy W. Howard National Reporting Competition, sponsored by the Scripps Howard Foundation to honor Howard's life and work as one of America's most colorful, skillful and forceful journalists.
Ifill spent several years as a Washington Week panelist before taking over the moderator's chair in October 1999. Before coming to PBS, she spent five years at NBC News as chief congressional and political correspondent.
While at NBC, she covered the premier political stories affecting the nation, including national political campaigns and conventions, legislation before Congress and the impeachment of President Bill Clinton. Her reports appeared on NBC Nightly News with Tom Brokaw, Today, Meet the Press and MSNBC, the all-news cable network.
A veteran journalist, Ifill joined NBC News from The New York Times, where she covered the White House and politics. She also covered national and local affairs for The Washington Post, Baltimore Sun, and Boston Herald American. A native of New York City and a graduate of Simmons College in Boston, Ifill serves on the board of the Harvard University Institute of Politics and the University of Maryland's Philip Merrill College of Journalism.
