announcer: this is "washington week with gwen ifill, a tribute to a life well lived." michele: i'm michele norris. gwen ifill would normally be greeting you on friday. it was her favorite day of the week because "washington week" was her sand box. it was the place she invited reporters like those here tonight to empty their notebooks and give viewers smart analysis of the important stories of the week. gwen was tough, and she was funny. i know, because she was one of my closest friends for three decades. she enjoyed tremendous success, but her faith, her family, her friends were always a priority. and tonight we celebrate gwen's life and her legacy.

gwen ifill was a preacher's daughter who at an early age knew her calling was to become a journalist. after college she worked as a print reporter for "the baltimore evening sun" and "the washington post" and the "new york times." in the 1990's she became a tv correspondent for nbc news and later the pbs newshour. she covered seven presidential campaigns. she moderated two vice presidential debates and a democratic candidates debate. last june gwen hosted a pbs town hall with president obama. he reflected on her passing and extraordinary career earlier this week. president obama: she was an extraordinary journalist. i always appreciated gwen's reporting even when i was at the receiving end of one of her tough and thorough interviews. michele: gwen was a trailblazer who broke racial and gender barriers. in 1999 she was named moderator and managing editor of "washington week" making history as the first african-american woman to host a national

politics program on tv. later, she made history again as half of the first all female anchor team on a nightly network newscast. she was a best selling author. gwen's talents earned her numerous awards, including a peabody, the john chancellor award by the columbia graduate school of journalism, and many, many other honors. gwen made her mark on journalism with her unwavering commitment to her pursuit of the truth and fairness. she loved asking the tough questions and figuring out how exactly to ask that question. she valued thoughtful, civic discourse. we'll have a little civic discourse this evening to talk about all of the things that we've remembered, all the things that made her so wonderful, and all the reasons why we will miss her so very much. rick, i want to begin with you. of all of us, you have known her the longest. you worked together at "the baltimore sun" and i want you to tell us a little bit -- "the baltimore evening sun." let me get that right.

>> gwen was loyal to the end to "the baltimore evening sun" and in those days there were three scrappy newspapers in baltimore. the evening sun, the morning sun. we'd glare across the newsroom at the morning sun people and the news american and gwen and i were the two city hall reporters. city hall was the big story then in baltimore. we would just fight to the end and she would say, never, and in fact i called the obituary reporter at "the washington post" at 11:00 monday night and said, for gwen, change it to "evening sun." she was always loyal. just like she was loyal to "washington week" and everywhere else she worked. >> she moved from the evening sun to "the washington post" in the mid 1980's and i was on the national staff at the time. she was on the metro staff. you remember those days. those two staffs didn't interact very regularly. somebody had the bright idea to bring all the political reporters together for a brown bag lunch one day. i honestly didn't know gwen well. i knew her byline but i'd never

really met her. there must have been 15 or 18 of us around a table down in the bowels of the old "the washington post" building. people were just sharing thoughts and ideas. gwen started to speak. it's what everybody has since seen of gwen, because they see her on tv, but it was that -- it was the clarity with which she spoke. it was the authority with which she spoke. and it was also the personality that just, you know, not because there was no disagreement but the personality just popped out. >> gwen was someone who had authority and assurance, but we should note that that is, some of that was in her d.n.a. some of that was innate. but, martha, also because she did a lot of preparation. she took her job very, very seriously. that's important for young people who are watching this and perhaps want to use her life and career as a beacon. it's not all baked in. a lot of it was because she really worked hard, called people, would go the extra mile in every case. >> gwen never walked into any of her jobs. she earned it.

she would do so much preparation. i would marvel at the desk on friday nights and think, i thought i was prepared. she knows everything about everything we're all talking about. i might have known what i was talking about but gwen knew fing. she never sat down at that desk. she never sat down at the anchor desk without knowing what she was talking about. to say we're all sitting here and surrounded by these pictures of gwen's smile and i just -- we just all have to talk about that. i mean, that is -- when i was walking in to weta tonight, i think we all had the same feeling. we're walking in the door and there was something joyful about walking in the door on a friday night, because you'd see that magnificent smile. in fact, i can't -- when i sat down, i couldn't look at it because i didn't want to get too emotional. now i want to embrace it. i want us to all just look at that smile and embrace it because it is what everybody thinks about. and that's really what set gwen apart, too. she not only worked hard, she

was the most genuine person in the world. >> many of us have been on the campaign trail with gwen. you loved to have her on the campaign trail. loved to be on, have her cover the same candidate and be on that bus because life was so much better when she was there. >> exactly. decades of being road warriors together. but the first campaign where i met gwen ifill was the 1988 jesse jackson campaign. rick was on that one, too. and even then, you know, a 30-year-old gwen had the same self-ashaurns, the same presence that -- the same self-assurance, the same presence you recognize today. she was an old soul in a 30-year-old body. she could always find something to laugh about in any situation, not to laugh at, but to laugh about. >> and sometimes it was sardonic. often it was. sometimes it was at your expense. and that was all right. >> people may not appreciate

sort of how, you know, how weird some of our lives are out on the campaign trail. there's an absurdty along with the seriousness of the story we're covering. and gwen appreciated both sides of that. so she could laugh in these incredible situations where you're, you know, eating chicken five times a day on the campaign or stressed out over, you know, a particular moment on a program or something like that. she always found something funny as well as the seriousness. >> i think that helped her as she made transitions, also. she was often thrown into the deep end of the pool. she went to television. she didn't go through local television but straight to network news and straight to a prestige beat. >> a friend of ours said this week gwen was good at being happy. she certainly was. she came to nbc in 1994, but she had to be dragged into it. she was talked into it by tim russert, who was then the washington bureau chief for nbc news, the moderator of "meet the press" and he kept bugging her

all the time. he would have her on as a guest and of course she shined. he loved the alternative point of view that she had. he finally said to her, what are you afraid of? and later, she would say that everybody should have a mentor like tim russert. she said, you need someone who will talk you into something that you're scared to do but that is the right thing. and, of course, she needn't have been scared. she flourished at nbc news. because she was a great reporter to start with and that's really what it's all about. now, i've said before that she made the quick adjustment to television. she says that's not true. but she did reveal some of her secrets. she said that she shamelessly flirted with the crews. and as we all know k, these people behind the cameras, our careers are in their hands. they can make us look great or not. although i think it would be a challenge for any photographer to make gwen look anything but great. but everybody loved working with gwen. she also tells a story, and i

assume it's apock riffle. she said one of her first assignments was to go cover something and she came with her notebook and came back and started to write it. they said where are the pictures? she said oh, yeah. forgot to bring a camera. she caught on pretty fast. >> she was also someone who brought her genuine self to television. there are some who work in television or even broadcasting in general who flip a switch when they get behind the microphone and turn on that personality. what you see here every friday night was the person that you saw off camera. >> i'm sure we all have a story like this. you're on an airplane, in an airport, at a bus station, in line at the movies, and someone will always say, what's gwen ifill really like? >> yes. >> and the answer was, she is just like what you see on television. that's gwen. gwen is the same everywhere. >> i think that's one of the things that i really appreciated about her. she was so comforting and comfortable. comfortable on the air. comfortable in what she was

doing. strong and confident. and she wanted the people who came here on friday nights or on the newshour to feel exactly the same way. be yourself. be comfortable. that is not an easy thing to do, i think, in journalism when you're at the level that gwen had achieved. right? to portray who you are, to know your stuff, not be a show boat. i really appreciated that part of her. as you say, she was so genuine. >> once after a presidential debate i was walking through a casino and decided to stop at the crap table and see how it was done. the pit boss was being incredibly nice to me and actually giving me little nudges on how to do it, and as i looked up, like why are you being so nice to me he looked at me and he said, gwen ifill, "washington week." i said, gwen, you have a following among pit bosses in las vegas. >> who will help you cheat apparently. >> we all know gwen liked that people loved her. she appreciated that. every time any of us would go out to dinner with her she'd say

oh, no they're listening to our conversation. you better be careful. she loved it, though. and you know she loved it. >> she made time for it. she didn't give anyone the heisman like i don't have time for you. you know, she actually welcomed that and appreciated it and knew it was special. so maybe we can pull back the curtain and talk a little bit about how she put the show together every week. there was martha and i ran afoul of one of her rules in the green room. >> we did. >> you knew when you walked in the green room even if there was a big story still breaking, someone was at the podium in the briefing room at the white house, you were not allowed to talk about it because -- >> because there is no talking about the show in the green room. she was very superstitious about that. i think part of it, too, was i always think of the green room here as, it was fun to be in the green room here. it was a gd place to catch up. yes, we gossiped sometimes in there. gwen would talk about her life off camera. it was, you could see her warmth

and one of the things, i remember the first time i did the show. i remember what i wore. i remember how nervous i was. i remember getting an invitation to go on the show and thinking like i'm just a kid. you know? what am i doing at gwen ifill's table? i remember coming here and i think she could probably tell that i was really nervous. and she was so calming and so cool. and i did the show and it went well. obviously they had me back on. and i remember leaving and a friend of mine called me and said, what is gwen ifill really like? people always wanted to know when you knew gwen what was she really like? i remember just saying she's awesome. she was so great. she really did, you know, she had very -- i didn't have the same level of friendship with gwen as you all had. you all knew her much longer but she really i think made such an effort to reach out to younger journalists, make sure they got a seat at her table. she cared about people covering beats and reporting and she cared a lot about younger women. i mean, it wasn't in her actions

not just her words but she made it almost unacceptable to have these kind of conversations and not have a female voice at the table. >> generous, generous with her time. >> yes. great word. >> she was generous with her knowledge. she was generous with her joy. >> gwen was my mentor. i mean, i looked at gwen for everything. when she started doing "washington week" as the host, that year i started at the network. and i'd been on television for a long time before in local news and was at npr, too. but peter jennings was my anchor. that man could be absolutely terrifying. and when he asked you a question, and, you know, he wanted you to be better and he was a great journalist, amazing journalist, but he could be terrifying. so when you -- when he asked you a question, you never quite knew what peter would ask, you'd look in the lens and see peter and i always used to think when i started at abc, and gwen knew this, i would see gwen. i would look in that lens and

whatever news i was giving, i thought i was giving it to gwen because that calmed me down. because i knew, number one, she was listening. she wanted me to be the best i could possibly be. >> one of the hallmarks of gwen was that she rooted for everybody. you know, there are some people in life, in every calling, and certainly in what we do that think to themselves it's not enough that i succeed. you also have to fail. and gwen celebrated everybody's accomplishments. she was -- she was that kind of generosity of spirit. she was very happy when one of her family members on the show succeeded. >> even when she was competing with them. >> oh, yes. >> she's been my best friend for 30 years. we were often in a competitive posture. we were, allegedly because we were at competing networks or competing, you know, in the same beat. and she could compete with the best of them. but then, you know, when you file your piece, she was your

greatest booster. >> i want to go back to the point that you made, which is, you know, gwen was clearly a barrier breaker. she broke a lot of barriers. it was not easy. she, you know, fought. she got there. she got where she got because of the enormous diligence, preparation, determination. when she got to "washington week" it was a bastion of white men. it had always been a show of older, white men. and gwen spent her entire time repopulating the table at "washington week." younger reporters, more women, people of color, and it was not done in a kind of flamboyant way. it was just quietly, if you look at the progression of "washington week" during her time as moderator, you see a huge change that represents the change in the reporting corps in washington but isn't necessarily always shown on the programs. >> she's done that everywhere she's worked. she is the embod emmitt of the model lifting while you climb.

we talked so much about gwen's professional success but her personal life was also a rich tapestry of friends. she talked about when she was honored as a history maker. we had a chance to talk about the importance of the friendship. let's take a listen. >> how did the relationship that you have with your siblings, that sense of family, how did that shape you as a journalist and as a person you've become? gwen: well, because my father was a ame minister we moved every couple years. we'd be transferred. in the end your best friends growing up were your family, the people you knew all the time. and that was extended -- that expanded to our extended family, as well. so that made you realize the value of family first and foremost. but it also allowed you to pick very carefully who your friends are and who they're not. so i'm not confused about friendships but i'm also very conscious about the number of people who are my friends because of my job and those who are my friends no matter what.

>> i got you. gwen: and that informs my thinking and my morality and it informs how i gauge, not judge but gauge people i cover. >> i'm sorry, but that got to me a little bit. friendship was very important to gwen. she nourished her friendships. we talked about how she wasn't competitive with her friends. and she had this quality that i really appreciate of admitting what she did not know. >> on the personal side gwen was such a collector of people. and every new year's day she would give this party. and this is where all of her friends would gather to eat their black-eyed peas for good luck. >> and the collard greens so you'd have money. >> money, too. yes. and every year this party would get bigger and bigger and bigger. and everybody would be in gwen's house jammed in there where you

could barely move. >> we had to come in shifts. >> yes. >> it went on all day. >> into the night actually. >> right. >> but at this wonderful new year's day gathering which she always says was her excuse not to go out on new year's eve, you could see every facet of gwen's life. it was such a wonderful, diverse, happy crowd. and i cannot even imagine new year's day. >> i think there is also something about that day, if you think about the world in which gwen moved, this could have been a party in which you had politicians and cabinet officials and all sorts of powerful people, big shots. that wasn't the party. it was her friends. it was just, you know, a lot of reporters. >> her hair dresser, the folks from church. >> her family. >> all in the house and outside. >> the extended family. but it wasn't a place to show how powerful, how powerful would

come and greet her. >> i loved her ability to listen. it's really hard when you're on television to listen to what's going on around that table, but i always got the sense and i'm sure we all did, whenever you're talking, she was listening. she was learning. she was absorbing. as i said, she always came to that table prepared. but i think she always took something away for next time. she -- i love the conversations about diversity and what she did to change that table. that's a gift to all the viewers. that is a gift that she gave everyone. >> another gift, i think, that she brought is the calmness on "washington week" because, lord knows, you can turn the dial on your television or your radio these days and hear a lot of people yell at you about what you ought to think. and i -- in the comments that i've seen this week about gwen, that's what they say. many people say they will miss as much as anything is the -- is the dignity and the calmness and

the respect. she had great respect for politics and politicians and people who cover politics. she had a reporter's skepticism, but ultimately a respect. and i think people were going to miss that a great deal. >> respect and trust. we should mention the road shows. because, you know, when she went out on the road it was a chance for her to really commune with her audience. and you saw in a very personal way how much people really loved her work, respected her work, and felt that she was theirs. >> this is the year in which the media really have taken it on the chin, right, in this election cycle. you could never say about "washington week" or gwen that she was not trying to take her show to where the voters, the electorate lived, where they cared about their communities, what was worrying them. and she was such, as martha was saying, such a good listener and also, maybe, you know, from moving around as a younger person she was so flexible and adaptive. wherever she went she could talk to anyone, any walk of life, and have fun doing it.

>> i'm not sure i've ever personally met a journalist who so deeply connected with her audience. and you talked about meeting people that knew gwen or viewers that just felt like she was part of their family. she used to say people would send her jewelry they made and art that they did. dan, if you remember we did the road show in cleveland right before the republican national convention this year and there were a lot of technical glitches and a live audience and gwen was just rolling with it. she clearly was not feeling great. and how many of the people in the audience and the women in the audience were trying to get fans for her and tissues. you could just feel the viewers, were like oh, we have to take care of gwen. that connection she had with people that watched the show always seemed so pure and kind and i feel like that's why so many people that watched the show also just feel like they've lost a friend, because gwen just projected friendship and fellowship, particularly at the table. >> i was in austin the day after she died at a conference, and

any number of people came up to me who were viewers. they had never met gwen. but they knew that i was a person on the show. first they came up and offered condolences. but they were also talking about their own sense of loss. i mean, she, you know, she was on a tv screen but she came through that tv screen to people and created this bond that you talked about that you could see on the road shows but you can see it everywhere. and all of us have stories about someone stopping us on the street or at a hotel or at a starbucks and saying, i love "washington week." i love gwen. please say hello to gwen. they had a personal connection with her. unlike anything i've ever seen in terms of somebody who's in the media. >> many of the viewers were all the more surprised by her passing because they did not know that she was sick. most of you do. and you knew that she was making her way here on fridays, anchoring newshour, doing road shows. doing a town hall with president obama while she was also

struggling. while she was also in pain in some cases. and it says so much about her work ethic. it says so much about her commitment to the viewers. you know, she wanted to be here because she knew this election was important. she wanted to be here for all of you. and there is a lesson in that, also. >> one thing that always struck me is whenever we would go out and talk about the latest gossip or problems at work or in life or on the campaign, she'd always end it saying, you know, life is good. she really appreciated what she had. she never lost sight of it. she always would say, life is good. >> the president and c.e.o. of pbs summed up gwen's storied career best. she said, gwen was one of america's leading lights in journalism and a fundamental reason public media is considered a trusted window on the world by audiences across the nation. gwen's commitment to journalism

and especially her devotion to mentoring young reporters will continue for many years to come. the gwen ifill fund for journalism excellence has been established and you can find more information on the washington week website. we do hope you go there to find more information. we have only scratched the surface of stories about our friend gwen ifill. we could go on all night. we could probably go on into the weekend. but we'll share more on the "washington week extra" and you can find that and more remembrances about gwen's remarkable career on the washington week website and at pbs.org/washington week. we now raise a glass to toast our friend, our mentor, our colleague, our shero, amazing life, amazing career, amazing woman. gwen ifill. >> hear, hear.

>> cheers. ♪

hello and welcome to kqed newsroom. i'm thuy vu. coming up on our program, we'll look at a bay area startup with an app that gets excess food from businesses into the hands of those who need it. also remembering pioneering television anchor and reporter gwen ifill, who passed away this week. but first as president-elect donald trump continues forming his cabinet, there is much division over his choices and the direction of the country. here in the bay area, there have been reports of racially motivated incidents in public and at schools. protests have erupted, and some are preparing to join in a women's march in washington, d.c. one day after the inauguration. tonight we'll talk about how to move forward with three people from different backgrounds, generations, and political