PBS News Hour

nd we close out this evening with some important news about the "NewsHour" family. As many of you know, I have decided to step away from anchoring the program at the end of the year. Just today, we have announced the two people who will be sitting at this anchor desk starting in January are two familiar faces, both senior correspondents, Amna Nawaz, who has been filling in here a lot, and Geoff Bennett, who also anchors "PBS News Weekend." I am thrilled to be welcoming them tonight and to know that this remarkable program is going to be anchored for years to come by you two extraordinary people.

GEOFF BENNETT

Thank you.

JUDY WOODRUFF

Geoff, welcome.

GEOFF BENNETT

Thank you, Judy. Thank you. Thank you. I am honored. I am grateful. I am humbled. But I'm really excited. I'm so excited to be partnering with Amna Nawaz in writing the next chapter of the "NewsHour"'s history. The "NewsHour," as you well know, is special. It is a news organization that is driven by a mission, to cover the news as a public service. And so my chief goal starting in the new year will be to be a good and worthy custodian, a guardian of that mission, of that charge. So, I have to extend my deep gratitude to Sharon Rockefeller, the president and CEO of WETA, to Sara Just, the tireless executive producer of this program, and to my dear friend Amna Nawaz. I could not ask for a better partner in this pursuit. So, thank you, and thanks, thank you, Judy, for your leadership, for your friendship and for your support.

JUDY WOODRUFF

So glad about this announcement. Amna.

AMNA NAWAZ

Judy, honored is -- it's an understatement, right? I have been so proud to be a part of your team, to be part of this "NewsHour" family. And I'm thinking of all the many, many people who our viewers never get to see, right, but who you know are the heart and soul of what we do here at "NewsHour." I am thrilled. I am beyond excited to be able to do this alongside someone I admire as a journalist and someone I adore as a person, and to have a partner like Geoff in all of this. More than anything, though, I'm so incredibly grateful. I'm grateful for the trust you have placed in us, Sara and Sharon and all our leaders here have placed in us and the trust that the viewers put in us every single night. This is the place they turn to, to hear stories that matter, to get news and information they can trust, to have people in positions of power held to account. All of that will remain the same. So, the faces at the desk may change, but the mission is exactly the same.

JUDY WOODRUFF

Absolutely. I have been telling people today that the two of you have the "NewsHour" DNA spread throughout you... (LAUGHTER)... who you are. And we could not be more excited, everybody on the "NewsHour" team so excited about this. And I'm right at the top. So, we welcome you...

Thank you. AMNA NAWAZ

Thank you.

JUDY WOODRUFF

... starting in January. There they are, Amna and Geoff.