‘PBS NewsHour’ Names Laura Barron-Lopez White House Correspondent (Exclusive)

PBS’ long-running nightly newscast PBS NewsHour has found its new White House correspondent.

The program, produced by WETA, announced that Laura Barrón-López will cover the Biden administration for the program beginning June 13. She was previously a White House reporter for Politico and also worked for the Washington Examiner, The Hill and HuffPost.

Barrón-López has also been a CNN analyst since 2019 and will continue in that role at the cable news channel.

“We have admired Laura’s work at Politico, CNN, and elsewhere, and are delighted to have her join the NewsHour team now on the critically important White House beat,” says NewsHour senior executive producer Sara Just. “Laura’s passion for in-depth reporting, contextual and nuanced storytelling will be an excellent fit at PBS NewsHour.”

Barrón-López succeeds Yamiche Alcindor, who was previously NewsHour’s White House correspondent but left in March for NBC News to become its Washington correspondent. Alcindor will continue to serve as the moderator of PBS and WETA’s Washington Week.

“NewsHour has a decades-long reputation as a destination for level-headed news and deep analysis,” added Barrón-López in a statement. “Viewers trust it for that, and that trust has never been more important than right now as domestic extremism and threats to democracy increase. I look forward to adding to NewsHour’s legacy of informing its viewers, holding the powerful to account, and lifting up a well-informed democracy.”

NewsHour launched in 1975 as The Robert MacNeil Report, later becoming The MacNeil/Lehrer Report after Jim Lehrer joined the program the following year. Lehrer anchored the program into 2011.

NewsHour is currently anchored by Judy Woodruff, with Geoff Bennett anchoring the weekend edition.