Meet Gwen Ifill, a long time PBS journalist, moderator and managing editor who will be moderating the Vice Presidential debate on Thursday evening. Read her biography and see photos and a video of her below.
Gwen Ifill
Gwen Ifill is a moderator and managing editor for PBS‘ ‘Washington Week’ and is a senior correspondent or “The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer.” She is also a supporter of the Presidential hopeful of Barack Obama. In fact, she has written gushing articles of his for magazines from the perspective of a campaign insider. She has also written a book entitled: The Breakthrough: Politics and Race in the Age of Obama, scheduled to hit the bookstores on January 20, 2009, inauguration day. To say she has a personal and financial interest in the outcome of the presidential race is an understatement.
In spite of all that, she’s been selected to be the moderator of the Vice Presidential debate between Joe Biden and Governor Sarah Palin on Thursday night. She’s been given a great deal of leeway in the format of the debate, the questions she can ask and how she conducts the overall atmosphere of evening. The debate will be held at Washington University in St. Louis on October 2nd.
Her peers say that her personal feelings towards Obama will not influence her fairness and conduct in the execution of the vice presidential debate.
Gwen Ifill Biography
Gwen Ifill was born on September 29, 1955 in New York City. She is 53-years-old. Her parents are Urcille Ifill, Sr. and Eleanor Ifill. Her father was an African Methodist Episcopal minister. Both of her parents emigrated from the Caribbean. Her father from Panama and her mother from Barbados. Gwen was their fifth child. The family moved frequently throughout New England because of her father’s work.
Ifill graduated from Simmons College in Boston, Massachusetts with a Bachelor’s degree in Communications in 1977. She has received 15 honorary degrees. She serves on several boards including Harvard University’s Institute of Politics. She has also received a number of awards for excellence in journalism.
Ifill’s first job out of school was as a reporter for the Boston Herald-American. She then went to the Baltimore Evening Sun, where she started her focus on politics and her on air career, hosting a news show. She has worked at the Washington Post and The New York Times. In 1994, she became a congressional correspondent for the NBC News and started appearing as a guest on shows like Meet the Press and Washington Week.
In 1999, Gwen started working for PBS. She has been with the News Hour with Jim Lehrer and the Washington Weekly since that time.
Ifill moderated the first vice presidential debate between Dick Cheney and John Edwards.
Gwen Ifill - Photos
Gwen Ifill - Video
Ifill Covers GOP Palin Speech
Gwen Ifill - Video
Ifill on Meet the Press slamming Imus
for comments towards her that
Imus denies ever happened.
September 30th, 2008 at 11:25 pm
Gwen Ifill book on Obama will be released on Inauguration Day
It is unfair for Gwen Ifill to moderate the VP debate, since she has a great deal to gain from an Obama victory. Her book, titled “The Breakthrough: Politics and Race in the Age of Obama,? is due to be released on January 20th, 2009, on Presidential Inauguration Day. She will have a blockbuster in all the bookstores if Obama wins.
From Amazon.com editorial review: “In THE BREAKTHROUGH, veteran journalist Gwen Ifill surveys the American political landscape, shedding new light on the impact of Barack Obama’s stunning presidential campaign and introducing the emerging young African American politicians forging a bold new path to political power. ?
It is time for Gwen Ifill to recuse herself from the debate. She has a dog in this fight. There must be an impartial moderator, one who has nothing to lose or to gain. Ifill is rooting for Obama, and banking on an Obama victory.
September 30th, 2008 at 11:27 pm
Sophie…very well said.
October 1st, 2008 at 6:31 am
I think just for the sale of her book, going to look better for her, Gwen Ifill should remove herself from doing the debate. Maybe she is getting $ from the Obama camp, Acorn is! I don’t trust Obama, nor should the American people.
October 1st, 2008 at 7:20 am
Gwen Ifill’s book isn’t “pro-Obama”. As described in Jossip:
‘Ifill’s book, The Breakthrough, is a thought exercise on the “black political structure” of the civil rights movement, and outlines how that struggle led to today, where we’re moving toward racial equality. Of course, it would be author’s malpractice not to mention Barack Obama in that scenario, because he is the most visible result of that process: a black man able to run for president on a major party ticket.’
Remember that in 2004 Ifill was accused of favoring the Republican? Remember the concern about her friendship with Condi Rice?
She’s a straight-ahead hard-news journalist. Don’t worry.
[cross-posted in STLtoday]
October 1st, 2008 at 8:32 am
Give me a break. The moderator asks both candidates the same questions. The questions have to be relevant to the candidates’ ability to do the job. I don’t think Ifill will ask any questions on Delaware or Scranton budgetary issues for example. Any other bias in treatment of either candidate, such as aggressive followup with one candidate and softballs to the other, would be readily apparent, It would certainly inflict significant damage on Ifill personally (see eg Dan Rather) both as to her journalistic reputation and on her book sales, and also on the Obama candidacy even though it presumably was not responsible for such behavior.
Personally, I believe McCain has been looking for a way to cancel the VP debate. As Obama forced him to show up last Friday instead of pushing the first presidential debate back to Oct 2, this might be his Plan B.
I believe what lies at the root of this issue is an unwillingness to accept the consequences of picking a candidate based on an appealing narrative, one whom no less than GEORGE WILL has declared to be unfit for the job.
Not to say I told you so, but I reiterate what I said right after the Palin pick–that going with her, instead of Romney or Pawlenty, was a major if not fatal strategic error. This pander pick energizes part of the base, but it also alienates (and truly scares) some repubs and many independents.
October 1st, 2008 at 11:18 am
OBAMA MEDIA BIAS … NOW, OBAMA DEBATE BIAS !!!
The nation already is skeptical about the fairness and objectivity of the mainstream media regarding election coverage … so, why in the world is Gwen Ifill the debate moderator, when she is writing a book about Obama … especially since her book sales would increase if Obama/Biden win? The moderator in a debate … especially one of this importance and magnitude … should be seen as completely fair, objective and above reproach. This is a terrible choice, and could easily have been remedied by choosing from hundreds of other more objective potential moderators. I can imagine the outcry if Michelle Malkin, or Ann Coulter was chosen as the moderator for the first Vice Presidential debate between Sarah Palin and Joe Biden. FURTHER MORE … Everyone knows that Roland Martin is in the tank for Obama … and regarding his call for Palin to either ‘put up, or shut up’ … for millions of Americans, we still feel that Obama never adequately explained why he chose to spend TWENTY YEARS, yes TWENTY YEARS, in Jeremiah Wright’s anti-American, racist, black liberation church, which gave a life time achievement award to Louis Farrakhan, and Obama only quit the church due to public outrage and personal ambition.
October 4th, 2008 at 4:03 pm
she was way to easy on both candidates and let palin get away with asking her own questions rather than answer the one she was asked. weak!
October 1st, 2009 at 9:40 pm
Меня заинтересовал этот материал, не могли бы Вы поподробнее и с дополнениями раскрыть эту тему?
October 4th, 2009 at 10:24 pm
Изучая данный материал, наткнулся на интересную особенность. Далеко не все оценивают статью. Почему?