In 1967, Hunter joined the investigative news team at WRC-TV, Washington, D.C., and anchored the local evening news. In 1968, Hunter-Gault joined "The New York Times" as a metropolitan reporter specializing in coverage of the urban black community. She joined "The MacNeil/Lehrer Report" in 1978 as a correspondent, becoming "The NewsHour"'s national correspondent in 1983. She left "The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer" in June 1997. She worked in Johannesburg, South Africa, as National Public Radio's chief correspondent in Africa (1997–99). Hunter-Gault left her post as CNN's Johannesburg bureau chief and correspondent in 2005, which she had held since 1999, although she still regularly appeared on the station and others, as an Africa specialist.