Amna Nawaz the prominent broadcast journalist is also an accomplished figure of American TV, as she serves as co-anchor and co-management editor of News Hour. Alongside Geoff Bennett since 2023, she has been a face and a voice of one of the most respected TV news formats. Before joining News Hour, she used to be Woodruff’s colleague at CNN. Now, after Woodruff, Nawaz has become the new face of this long-running news programme.
The award-winning journalist has worked with different media organisations and done journalistic pieces abroad before she decided she would not want just one channel to be her platform. One of her most famous stories though is when she made history being the first Muslim American to moderate a presidential debate in the United States.
Early Life and Education
Coming from Pakistani immigrant parents and growing up in Virginia, Nawaz is a first-generation American. Her father, a journalist in Pakistan, was responsible for fostering her curiosity and passion for questioning the environment. In the initial stages, Nawaz was considering a career in law, but after joining a fellow of ABC News, she decided to work in the field of journalism.
She graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a bachelor’s degree, and at the same time, she led the university field hockey team. Also, at one point of time, Nawaz obtained her master’s degree from the London School of Economics.
Career Trajectory
Nawaz began her professional journey at ABC News with the Nightline fellowship and rapidly became involved in documenting post-9/11 events. She became a contributor at Dateline NBC for several years after joining it in 2003. She was part of the investigative news department and also made documentaries alongside. From there, Nawaz served as an Islamabad bureau chief and a foreign correspondent. It was her work which brought in conflict zone reporting including Pakistan Afghanistan Syria, and Turkey. She was the first foreign journalist to gain entry of the Al Qaeda and the Taliban stronghold in North Waziristan while also pregnant in her first pregnancy.
Nawaz founded and handled the Asian America platform at NBC in 2014, a segment aimed at showcasing stories on the fast-growing minority population of Americans of Asian descent. She came to ABC News in 2015 where she handled election reporting, hosted the Uncomfortable podcast, and co-produced documentaries like Roberts County: A Year in the Most Pro-Trump Town.
PBS NewsHour appointed Nawaz as one of its correspondents in April 2018 and she later became the chief correspondent in 2021 and the co-anchor in 2023. In 2025, Bennett and Nawaz signed new contracts and with it came their co-managing editor roles. Governance immigration international relations, climate change, gun violence education culture, and sports are the different aspects that Nawaz covers in her reporting for PBS NewsHour. She has talked to world leaders, U.S. dignitaries, and newsmakers and even hosted the primetime series Beyond the Canvas.
Historic Milestones and Representation
In December 2019, Nawaz co-moderated the PBS NewsHour / Politico Democratic Presidential Primary Debate where her presence highlighted Really she became first Asian Muslim American to moderate a presidential debate. From co-anchor to a desk, she infuses her identity as a Muslim Pakistani-American woman into the role to offer journalism with sensitivity and serve the public.
Publicly, Nawaz has expressed views about media, motherhood, and the importance of having different perspectives and voices.
Awards and Recognition
Nawaz’s work has earned widespread acclaim:
- Multiple Peabody Awards for PBS NewsHour team coverage, including global plastic pollution (2019), January 6 insurrection (2021), Uvalde school shooting and gun violence (2023), and reporting from Israel after the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack (2024).
- Emmy Award for the NBC special Inside the Obama White House (2010).
- Society for Features Journalism Award.
- International Reporting Project fellowship (2009).
- Honors from organizations like Gold House (A100 honoree, 2023), Asian Pacific American Institute for Congressional Studies (Vision Award, 2022), and Muslim Public Affairs Council.
- In 2025, Nawaz delivered the commencement address at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies and spoke at events such as the Chautauqua Institution, sharing messages of resilience and hope.
Personal Life and Legacy
Nawaz is residing in Washington, D.C. together with her husband, Paul Werdel, and their two daughters. Nawaz is involved in the Council on Foreign relations activities and at the same time is a mental health enthusiast and a strong supporter of trust in media.
Amna Nawaz’s relentless reporting combined with her pioneering accomplishments have allowed her to redefine, among other things, broadcast journalism and she has managed to be able to offer the viewers, through her programs on various different topics, her unique way of looking into the issues that are often ignored or misunderstood, and mostly at a time when media is getting more and more biased with its reporting. Until the middle of 2025, she had been the main voice in PBS NewsHour, who never shies away from presenting controversial topics from all sides and who still is doing her job as honestly and accurately as possible.
