PBS Feud: Staffers Were Pissed Over Biden Interview

Judy Woodruff, YamicheAlcindor

Tensions were reportedly high within PBS as stars Judy Woodruff and Yamiche Alcindor were competing to land an interview with President Biden, according to Politico.

Last year, PBS anchor and then-White House correspondent Yamiche Alcindor was slated to conduct an on-camera interview exclusively with the president sometime around July 4, a date the White House was targeting for its celebration of 100 million Covid-19 vaccinations.

But the scheduled sit-down caught some at the news organization off guard. Three PBS insiders and people with knowledge of the incident said fellow PBS anchor Judy Woodruff and some other staff at PBS’ nightly NewsHour program were miffed and frustrated when they learned that Alcindor had secured an interview for the network’s Friday program, Washington Week.

Woodruff, the news organization’s longtime anchor and host of its flagship program, had a longstanding request for an interview with Biden from the time he became president, but which was not granted during his first year at the White House. She had been in the dark that Alcindor, a rising star and newly-appointed moderator at the organization, was asking too and that the White House had been working with her on it.

Those PBS insiders said the interview caused tensions between the two shows: Some NewsHour staff felt that, while there was no explicit policy dictating Woodruff should get the first interview with Biden, it was understood that PBS shows shouldn’t be competing with one another for a sit-down. PBS declined to comment specifically on the incident.

The tensions came at a delicate moment for PBS and NewsHour. The normally drama-free Washington mainstay has seen several departures recently including Alcindor, who recently joined NBC News as Washington Correspondent (though she remains the host of Washington Week). Woodruff, an iconic journalist and the organization’s longtime face, is also one of the oldest nightly news anchors on national television, sparking some speculation about how much longer she plans to stay and who her eventual successor might be.

Fox News reports Alcindor's role at PBS has since been rolled back as she joined NBC News as its Washington correspondent after previously serving as an MSNBC contributor. Alcindor is still the moderator for "Washington Week." 

Throughout the Biden presidency, Alcindor has become known to be one of the White House's biggest cheerleaders in the media.