Geoffrey Robinson Bennett (born April 25, 1980) is an American broadcast journalist and a co-anchor of the ''

PBS NewsHour ''PBS News Hour'', previously stylized as ''PBS NewsHour'', is the news division of PBS and an American daily evening news broadcasting#television, television news program broadcast on over 350 PBS Network affiliate#Member stations, member stat ...

'' alongside

Amna Nawaz Amna Nawaz (Urdu: آمنہ نواز) is an American broadcast journalist and a co-anchor of the ''PBS NewsHour'' alongside Geoff Bennett. Before joining PBS in April 2018, Nawaz was an anchor and correspondent at ABC News and NBC News. She has r ...

. He has worked as an editor, reporter and

news anchor A news presenter – also known as a newsreader, newscaster (short for "news broadcaster"), anchorman or anchorwoman, news anchor or simply an anchor – is a person who presents news during a news program on TV, radio or the Internet. ...

on radio, cable and broadcast television, and online.

Early life

Bennett grew up in

Voorhees, New Jersey Voorhees Township is a township in Camden County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. The township is a suburb in the Delaware Valley / Greater Philadelphia Metropolitan Area. As of the 2020 United States census, the township's population was ...

. His father, Gary Bennett Sr., was a school administrator. His mother, Lynnca, taught kindergarten. He has an older brother, Gary Bennett Jr.

Career

Bennett graduated with honors from

Morehouse College Morehouse College is a Private college, private, Historically black colleges and universities, historically black, Men's colleges in the United States, men's Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Atlanta, Georgia, ...

with a BA in English in 2002. During his senior year, he pursued an internship at

ABC News ABC News most commonly refers to: * ABC News (Australia), a national news service of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation * ABC News (United States), a news-gathering and broadcasting division of the American Broadcasting Company ABC News may a ...

where he was mentored by Carole Simpson, then the weekend anchor of ''

ABC World News Tonight ''ABC World News Tonight'' (titled ''ABC World News Tonight with David Muir'' for its weeknight broadcasts since September 2014) is the flagship daily evening television news program of ABC News, the news division of the American Broadcasting ...

''. The internship led to his first job in journalism, an off-air production assistant at ''World News Tonight'' at ABC News in

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

and then associate producer. In 2007, he joined

NPR National Public Radio (NPR) is an American public broadcasting organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It serves as a national Radio syndication, syndicator to a network of more ...

in Los Angeles as a digital producer and editor for ''

News & Notes ''News & Notes'' was a National Public Radio (NPR) program focusing on issues affecting African Americans and African diaspora communities. The listenership was multiracial and international. The program aired for one hour each weekday and was h ...

'', and was regularly heard on-air. He moved to

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

in 2009 to be an editor at ''

Weekend Edition ''Weekend Edition'' is a set of American radio news magazine programs produced and distributed by National Public Radio ( NPR). It is the weekend counterpart to the NPR radio program ''Morning Edition''. It consists of ''Weekend Edition Saturday ...

''. Starting in 2013, Bennett reported on-camera from Washington, D.C., for

NY1 News NY1 (also officially known as Spectrum News NY1 and spoken as New York One) is an American cable news television channel founded by Time Warner Cable, which itself is owned by Charter Communications through its acquisition in May 2016. The cha ...

and other

Time Warner Cable Time Warner Cable Enterprises LLC was an American cable television company. Before it was acquired by Charter Communications on May 18, 2016, it was ranked the second largest cable company in the United States by revenue behind only Comcast, o ...

news channels. He was also a guest host of ''

Washington Journal The ''Washington Journal'' is an American television series on the C-SPAN television network in the format of a political call-in and interview program. The program features elected officials, government administrators, and journalists as gue ...

'' on

C-SPAN Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network (C-SPAN ) is an American Cable television in the United States, cable and Satellite television in the United States, satellite television network, created in 1979 by the cable television industry as a Non ...

. He returned to NPR in 2017 as an on-air reporter based in Washington, D.C., covering Congress and the White House. In November 2017, he became a

White House correspondent The White House Correspondents' Association (WHCA) is an organization of journalists who cover the White House and the president of the United States. The WHCA was founded on February 25, 1914, by journalists in response to an unfounded rumor ...

for

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

and substitute anchor for

MSNBC MSNBC is an American cable news channel owned by the NBCUniversal News Group division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. Launched on July 15, 1996, and headquartered at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in Manhattan, the channel primarily broadcasts r ...

. In November 2021, while continuing to contribute to NBC and MSNBC, Bennett started work as the chief Washington correspondent for the ''

'' and the anchor of '' PBS News Weekend''. He and

have been co-anchors of the ''PBS NewsHour'' since January 2023, when they replaced

Judy Woodruff Judy Carline Woodruff (born November 20, 1946) is an American broadcast journalist who has worked in local, network, cable, and public television news since 1970. She was the anchor and managing editor of the ''PBS NewsHour'' through the end of 20 ...

. The program's coverage of the Israel-Hamas war received a 2023 Peabody Award.

Personal life

He is married to Carolyn Elizabeth "Beth" Bennett Perry. They have one son, and live in the Washington, D.C. area. In January 2023, Bennett established a scholarship for English and journalism majors at Morehouse College.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bennett, Geoff American television journalists C-SPAN people Journalists from New Jersey MSNBC people NBC News people NPR personalities PBS people Morehouse College alumni People from Voorhees Township, New Jersey 1980 births Living people