The Center for the Study of Democracy and the Margaret Brent Lecture Committee are proud to present CNN senior correspondent Judy Woodruff as the 2003 Margaret Brent Lecture. Her talk is titled, No Press is Truly Free Unless Women Have an Equal Voice. Ms. Woodruff has requested that the honorarium for the lecture be donated in her name to the International Women's Media Foundation (IWMF).

Ms. Woodruff, a 30-year veteran of broadcast journalism who joined CNN in 1993, is CNN’s prime anchor and senior correspondent.   She anchors Inside Politics with Judy Woodruff, the nation’s first program devoted exclusively to politics.

Following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., Ms. Woodruff provided award-winning continuous coverage from Washington, D.C., updating CNN viewers with the latest information and communicating with correspondents in the field.        

In addition to her daily reporting duties, Ms. Woodruff co-anchors CNN’s special coverage of such events as political conventions and summits.  For CNN’s Election 2000 coverage, she moderated the Phoenix Republican presidential debate that CNN aired in November 1999, the CNN and WMUR-TV/Imes Communications Republican presidential town hall meeting at Dartmouth College in October 1999, the CNN/WMUR-TV Republican presidential debate in January 2000 and the CNN/Los Angeles Times Republican presidential debate in March 2000.

In September 1995, she traveled to Beijing to cover the U.N. World Conference on Women.  She moderated CNN’s first two “Global Forums,” international town meetings with former President Bill Clinton in 1994 and former President Jimmy Carter in 1995.  She also anchored CNN’s coverage of former President Richard Nixon’s funeral.

She has covered politics and campaigns for most of her career.  Woodruff moderated the 1988 vice presidential debate and has reported on every national political convention and presidential campaign since 1976.  Before joining CNN, Woodruff was the chief Washington correspondent for The MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour.  From 1984-1990, she anchored public television’s award-winning weekly documentary series Frontline with Judy Woodruff. 

Before joining the NewsHour, Ms. Woodruff was chief Washington, D.C., correspondent for NBC's Today.  She also served as NBC News’ White House correspondent from 1977-1982, covering both the Carter and Reagan administrations.  Ms. Woodruff joined NBC News as a general assignment reporter based in Atlanta in 1975.  From 1970-1974, she was a correspondent for WAGA-TV, the 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 by Addison-Wesley, documents her experiences as a journalist.

CNN received the 2002 Edward R. Murrow award in the Continuing Coverage category for its Sept. 11, 2001, coverage of the terrorist attacks, anchored by Ms. Woodruff and Aaron Brown.  In 1997, Ms. 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 Bernard Shaw won the CableACE Award for Best Anchor Team for their work on Inside Politics.  In 1995, Woodruff won the CableACE 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, Ms. 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.  And in 1986, for Ms. Woodruff’s series on national defense issues, the NewsHour was awarded the first Joan Shorenstein Barone Prize by the Washington Radio and Television Correspondents’ Association. 

Judy Woodruff is a founding co-chair of the International Women’s Media Foundation, an organization dedicated to promoting and encouraging women in communication industries worldwide.  She serves on the boards of trustee of the Freedom Forum, the Carnegie Corporation of New York and the Urban Institute.

Ms. Woodruff earned a bachelor’s degree from Duke University, where she is a trustee emerita.