by guest contributor Julie Chase
Photo credit: Neshan H. Naltchayan
ABC correspondent Martha Raddatz shared years of admiration for Ifill professionally and as “girlfriends all the way.” She admitted to being a “61-year-old grandmother, just like Gwen’s target audience.”
Martha Raddatz, Gwen Ifill and John Dickerson
Gwen Ifill, moderator and managing editor of Washington Week of which she is managing editor and co-anchors with Judy Woodruff of the daily PBS NewsHour, was honored at the 20th Annual Roast of the American News Women’s Club, held at The National Press Club.
Gwen Ifill and Ray Suarez
Eleanor Clift, longtime Newsweek correspondent and now with the Daily Beast, set the tone – replaced emcee Candy Cowley who was felled by the flu – and did so with aplomb! First to the podium was Dorothy Gilliam, retired Washington Post columnist, who compared her and Gwen’s start in print journalism, noting “Ifill is one of the most successful newswomen in American history.”
Eleanor Clift, Martha Raddatz, Gwen Ifill and Ray Suarez
That riff played forward later when Ray Suarez, formerly at PBS NewsHour and now at Al Jazeera America, said that a book of the NewsHour’s history would be the first book ever published only in a large-print edition. Hence, when Gwen had her opportunity to close the proceedings, she intoned “Oh yes, we have an older audience, but we have an audience.”
Gwen Ifill and John Harwood
It’s that sense of self which brought commentary from John Harwood of the New York Times a frequent Washington Week panelist — through a note read by Raddatz who referred to Ifill as “the Queen Latifah of political journalism.”
John Dickerson, another Washington Week guest, commented how Gwen tends to play the straight guy during shows when he knows she laughing inside. He described how the show’s fans often tell him how wonderful Ifill was and give him a crocheted hat to pass along to her.
John Dickerson
According to Julie Chase (guest contributor) and Chair of the 20th Roast, ANWC each year at its annual benefit bestows the Award for Excellence in Journalism upon a journalist who has been a leader in the profession. Past honorees include Helen Thomas (1993), Catherine Filene Schouse (1994), Sarah McClendon (1995), Sam Donaldson (1996), Walter Cronkite (1997), Andrea Mitchell (1998), Larry King (1999), Jim Lehrer (2000), Al Neuharth (2001), Judy Woodruff (2002), Cokie Roberts (2003), Bob Schieffer (2004), Sally Quinn and Ben Bradlee (2005), Brian Lamb (2006), Katie Couric (2009), Eleanor Clift (2010), Diane Rehm (2011), Candy Crowley (2012), and Barbara Walters (2013).
Claire Sanders Swift, Julie Chase, Martha Raddatz and Natalie DiBlasio
The event also supports the next generation of women in the news with annual scholarships awarded to outstanding journalism students. Scholarships have gone to scholars at American, Gallaudet, Howard, and George Washington universities, as well as the University of Maryland.
Gwen Ifill and Karen James Cody
125 people were in attendance according to co-chair Karen James Cody.
