PBS’s Judy Woodruff may have spent the last 50-plus years in journalism, but her attempt to wrongfully accuse former President Donald Trump of killing the ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas and then lying about it proves she’s more of a Democrat propagandist than anything else.
The 77-year-old former anchor and managing editor of the “PBS NewsHour” declared during her broadcast from the Democratic National Convention on Monday that Trump used a recent phone call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to urge the cancellation of peace talks. Despite having no evidence for this claim, Woodruff also insisted that Trump “believed that [a ceasefire deal] would help the Harris campaign.”
“The reporting is that former President Trump is on the phone with the prime minister of Israel, urging him not to cut a deal right now, because that, it’s believed that would help the Harris campaign,” Woodruff said.
Woodruff’s whopper was quickly and easily refuted by Netanyahu, who called it a “complete lie,” and Trump, who said he actually “encourage[d]” the Israeli prime minister in July to “get this over with.”
In a statement posted to X on Wednesday, however, Woodruff failed to take responsibility for spreading a fabrication that she no doubt believed would boost the Biden-Harris administration’s image with antisemitic Democrat voters. Instead, Woodruff claimed she was “referring to reports I had read, in Axios and Reuters, about former President Trump having spoken to the Israeli Prime Minister.”
“In the live TV moment, I repeated the story because I hadn’t seen later reporting that both sides denied it. This was a mistake and I apologize for it,” Woodruff wrote.
Axios and Reuters are both guilty of spreading fake news that benefits Democrats. In this case, however, neither outlet asserted that Trump tried to discourage Netanyahu from peace negotiations, as Woodruff claimed.
Axios even noted in its initial article that while “one source said Trump’s call was intended to encourage Netanyahu to take the deal” that unnamed man “stressed he didn’t know if this is indeed what the former president told Netanyahu.” Days before Woodruff’s DNC analysis, Axios updated its report to reflect the Israeli leader’s statement claiming a call never happened.
Journalism ethics and accountability demand Woodruff be immediately yanked from the air and potentially removed from her position as PBS’s senior correspondent for selling such a blatant lie as fact. Woodruff’s decision to lie in the “clarification” and “apology” she designed to cover for her initial lie only further solidifies that she is not fit to fairly and accurately report.
Yet, PBS has continued to platform her as a top analyst in a prime spot on the network’s DNC programming this week, and it appears the outlet will keep her in a prominent position on staff until she retires.
The taxpayer-funded outlet’s willingness to enable Woodruff’s dishonest behavior is disturbing but mimics an all-too-familiar pattern found in corporate media. The propaganda press as we know it today will never hold itself accountable. Because of this, the small number of Americans who naively trust the corporate media to report the facts instead of partisan fiction will continue to dwindle.
