'''Gwen Ifill''' (born September 29, 1955 in [[New York City]]) is a journalist and host of [[PBS]]'s Washington Week. She also appears as a political pundit in [[television]] programs such as [[Meet the Press]] and News Hour with Jim Lehrer. Ifill graduated from Simmons College in [[Boston]] in 1977 with a [[Bachelor of Arts]] degree in Communications. Her first major job as a reporter was working for the Boston Herald-American. <ref>http://www.biography.com/search/article.do?id=212144</ref> Her career in journalism focused mostly on politics when writing publications in the [[Washington Post]] and The [[New York Times]]. From 1994-1999 Ifill served as the chief congressional and political correspondent for [[NBC]] [[News]]. <ref>http://www.pbs.org/weta/washingtonweek/gwen/</ref> Ifill was then hired by PBS as a senior correspondent, and is currently the moderator for Washington Week. She also occasionally guest host's for Jim Lehrer in News Hour.
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'''Gwen Ifill''' (born September 29, 1955 in [[New York City]]) is a journalist and host of [[PBS]]'s Washington Week. She also appears as a political pundit in [[television]] programs such as [[Meet the Press]] and News Hour with Jim Lehrer. Ifill graduated from Simmons College in [[Boston]] in 1977 with a [[Bachelor of Arts]] degree in Communications. Her first major job as a reporter was working for the Boston Herald-American.<ref>http://www.biography.com/search/article.do?id=212144</ref> Her career in journalism focused mostly on politics when writing publications in the [[Washington Post]] and The [[New York Times]]. From 1994-1999 Ifill served as the chief congressional and political correspondent for [[NBC]] [[News]].<ref>http://www.pbs.org/weta/washingtonweek/gwen/</ref> Ifill was then hired by PBS as a senior correspondent, and is currently the moderator for Washington Week. She also occasionally guest host's for Jim Lehrer in News Hour.
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Gwen Ifill was selected to be the moderator for the 2008 Vice Presidential debate between [[Sarah Palin]] and [[Joe Biden]]. Questions arose about her objectivity when it was discovered that she was writing a pro-[[Barack Obama|Obama]] book entitled "Breakthrough: Politics and Race in the Age of Obama". The book promised to "shed new light" on Obama and other "emerging young [[African American]] politicians" who were "forging a bold new path to political power." <ref>http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=76645</ref> The [[John McCain|McCain]] campaign said it had not seen Ifill's book until two days before the debate. He said that the situation concerned him but he was sure Ifill would be professional. <ref>http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/10/01/gwen.ifill/?iref=hpmostpop</ref>
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Gwen Ifill was selected to be the moderator for the 2008 Vice Presidential debate between [[Sarah Palin]] and [[Joe Biden]]. Questions arose about her objectivity when it was discovered that she was writing a pro-[[Barack Obama|Obama]] book entitled "Breakthrough: Politics and Race in the Age of Obama". The book promised to "shed new light" on Obama and other "emerging young [[African American]] politicians" who were "forging a bold new path to political power." <ref>http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=76645</ref> The [[John McCain|McCain]] campaign said it had not seen Ifill's book until two days before the debate. He said that the situation concerned him but he was sure Ifill would be professional.<ref>http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/10/01/gwen.ifill/?iref=hpmostpop</ref>