Stephen Whitney "Whit" Johnson[1] (born June 25, 1982) is an American journalist and co-anchor of the weekend editions of Good Morning America, the anchor of the Saturday edition of ABC World News Tonight, and he is also fill-in and substitute anchor of Good Morning America, and ABC World News Tonight.
Early life
Johnson was born and raised in San Francisco.[2] He graduated from San Francisco State University with a B.A. degree in Television and Radio Broadcasting.[3] Johnson credits his stepfather, TV and radio host Dean Edell, with having introduced him to the world of broadcasting.[4]
Career
Johnson began his on-air career in 2005 with NBC affiliate KNDO/KNDU-TV in Yakima/Tri-Cities, Washington, as a reporter and evening weekend anchor. He next worked for Salt Lake City, Utah, NBC affiliate KSL-TV as a reporter and as an anchor on evening weekdays.[4]
Johnson joined CBS News as a Washington, D.C.-based network correspondent and fill-in anchor in 2009. While there, much of his coverage focused on the White House, on Capitol Hill and foreign policy issues.[5][6] He reported on the death of Osama bin Laden and interviewed then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton over the course of her tour of the Middle East in 2011.[3][4]
ABC News announced Johnson had joined as a correspondent in March 2018.[8] In September of that same year, Johnson took over as a co-anchor of the weekend editions of Good Morning America.[9]
Johnson served as a lead correspondent for ABC News throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. During the 2020 election cycle he covered election week from Arizona as well as the Democratic primaries.[3] On February 1, 2021, ABC announced that Johnson would become Saturday anchor of ABC World News Tonight, replacing the departing Tom Llamas, but that he would also continue to co-anchor Good Morning America on the weekends.[10]
Personal life
Johnson lives in the New York area with his wife (married on August 11, 2007), Andrea Fujii, an ABC News reporter, and their two daughters.[11]
In 2018, Johnson unwittingly found two of his father's brothers through a 23andMe DNA test.[12]