Gwen Ifill and Judy Woodruff have been named co-anchors of "PBS Newshour," making them the first two female co-anchors of a broadcast network newscast.
The pair will co-anchor Monday through Thursday. On Friday, Woodruff will anchor solo and Ifill will host "Washington Week."
PBS president Paula Kerger said at a Television Critics Association panel Tuesday that she was surprised it's taken so long for two women to co-anchor a broadcast.
"I was thinking about this announcment — I almost paused in drawing attention to the fact that it's two women," she said. "We chose two people we thought would be the strongest anchors… and they just happened to be two women."
PBS also announced that Hari Sreenivasan will serve as senior correspondent for the PBS Newshour with Gwen Ifill and Judy Woodruff, reporting several times a week from WNET's Tisch Studios in New York, as well as anchoring PBS Newshour Weekend beginning Sept. 7.
In addition, "PBS Newshour" named Jeffrey Brown chief correspondent for arts, culture, and society, Ray Suarez was named chief national correspondent, and Margaret Warner was named chief foreign correspondent.
Also Tuesday, PBS announced a second season of its Sunday night drama "The Bletchley Circle." the four part-series will air in the spring of 2014.
