By
Robert Higgs, cleveland.com
WASHINGTON – Judy Woodruff, a veteran news broadcaster and senior correspondent for the PBS NewsHour, apologized Wednesday for remarks she made suggesting former President Donald Trump wanted to stall cease-fire talks in Gaza.
Woodruff on Monday during PBS’ coverage of the Democratic National Convention shared a story that Trump, the Republican nominee for president, had urged Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu to delay peace talks until after the U.S. election over concerns they could potentially benefit Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign, The Associated Press said.
In a post Wednesday on X, Woodruff clarified her accounting was not based on original reporting, but on reports she had seen from other media outlets.
“I want to clarify my remarks on the PBS News special on Monday night about the ongoing cease-fire talks in the Middle East,” Woodruff posted. “As I said, this was not based on my original reporting; I was referring to reports I had read, in Axios and Reuters, about former President Trump having spoken to the Israeli Prime Minister. In the live TV moment, I repeated the story because I hadn’t seen later reporting that both sides denied it. This was a mistake, and I apologize for it.”
Woodruff, 77, has been in broadcasting since she graduated from Duke University in 1968. Over her long career in journalism she has worked for NBC News, CNN and PBS, where she was the host of “NewsHour” for nearly a decade before stepping back into a reporting project.
https://www.cleveland.com/nation/2024/08/veteran-news-broadcaster-apologizes-for-comments-about-donald-trump.html