Bill Ritter began his journalism career as a newspaper reporter, for the Los Angeles Times and others, before moving into television. His work in local and national television has taken him to every political convention since 1996. He has also anchored all election coverage for New York’s WABC and moderated candidate debates for New York Governor and Senator and New York City Mayor since 2000.

For the last 11 years, Ritter has co-anchored WABC-TV’s 11 p.m. newscast, in addition to working as a correspondent for ABC News’ 20/20. He added anchor duties for the 6 p.m. newscast in 2001, when legendary anchor Bill Beutel stepped down.

Before joining the local ABC station, Ritter worked at ABC News as co-anchor of the Sunday edition of Good Morning America. As a correspondent for 20/20, he investigated the claims of James Van Praagh, the supposed psychic who says he can talk to the dead; he covered the Columbine High shootings and he investigated the phenomenon of patients waking up during surgery, among other stories.

Past Events

• From Dust to…:

  2011 Festival

  Getting old is an unavoidable truth of life but over the past decade, researchers have made great strides in understanding the cellular, molecular, and genetic tableau of aging—which has brought the next question into sharp focus: Can aging be slowed or even stopped? If so, does life have meaning without death? Even if we could live forever, would we want to?

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• Carbon Conundrum Testing Earth’s Limits

  2009 Festival

  Bill Ritter hosts a powerhouse panel including James Hansen,Thomas Lovejoy, Bill McKibben, Sylvia Earle, David Battisti and Robert Corell to probe the science and policy behind one of the most urgent debates of our times.

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