CONNECT . MOTIVATE . INSPIRE .
FROM MOREHOUSE TO PBS BY KEITH HARRISTON
T he role call of Black journalists who have anchored a nationally broadcast nightly news program is short, including the likes of Lester Holt, Carole Simpson, Max Robinson and Gwen Ifill. Now comes Geoff Bennett, who, since early 2023, is co-anchor of the PBS NewsHour. Bennett, a 2002 graduate of Morehouse College, has a distinction, even among that tiny list. He is the first graduate of an HBCU to sit in a national nightly news anchor’s chair. Almost three million viewers watch his news broadcast nightly, according to Nielsen ratings, a seat of power where Bennett and his co- anchor Amna Nawaz play key roles in shaping the 60 minutes of news coverage five nights a week. That Bennett has evolved as a journalist to one of the most
influential positions in the industry isn’t a surprise, given his strong foundation first developed while growing up in Voorhees Township, New Jersey, with a school administrator father and an elementary school teacher mother. “There was always an expectation that my brother and I would do well,” Bennett told HBCU Times. “They never put any pressure on us in terms of pursuing career paths or anything like that. It was always that if you’re going to do something, you’re going to do it to the best of your ability.”
the local safety net school,” Bennett said. “I applied all over the place, mainly because I knew what I didn’t want to do, but I didn’t really know what I wanted to do. “The reason I chose Morehouse was because my brother [Gary Bennett] did so well there, and I knew that when I went to Morehouse, I would get a world-class education, but that’s not really why I went,” Bennett said. “I went for the experience. I grew up in a mostly white, it was fairly diverse, but mostly white elementary school, middle school, high school and so for me, going to Morehouse was intentional because I wanted that experience. “I thought for a time that I would pursue medicine. In fact, I was pre-med for a little bit at Morehouse. Then took a couple of science classes with a couple of professors, who should not
be named, and thought, ‘this is not for me.’”
Instead, Bennett focused on English and journalism. In between classes, he worked as a dormitory resident assistant. He lived four years in the historic Graves Hall, the first building constructed on the campus. He edited the student newspaper, the Maroon Tiger. He started a student magazine. He pledged Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc. He helped to start an afterschool mentoring and tutoring program for young boys who lived within a short walking distance from the Morehouse campus. “There were public housing projects down the street— they’re no longer there— and there were a lot of single mothers who didn’t have care for their kids after school, but they knew that we were up the street,” Bennett remembered. “They
Morehouse, Bennett said, strengthened the foundation his parents started.
“I applied to 11 schools. I applied to Harvard. I applied to Princeton, Yale. I applied to Rutgers because that was
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