In a change that shakes up the Sunday show landscape, Chuck Todd is exiting as the moderator of NBC’s Meet the Press, with Kristen Welker succeeding him beginning in September.
Todd will become chief political analyst for NBC News, working on long-form journalism and producing the Chuck Toddcast and Meet the Press Reports.
Todd announced the news at the end of the program Sunday morning.
“The key to the survival of any of these media entities, including here at Meet the Press, is for leaders to not overstay their welcome. I’d rather leave a little bit too soon than stay a tad too long,” Todd said.
“I’m also ready to take a step back because I know the person whom I’m passing the baton to is somebody who’s been ready for this for a while: Kristen Welker,” Todd added. “I’ve had the privilege of working with her from essentially her first day and let me just say she’s the right person in the right moment. And for what it’s worth, this is exactly how I always hoped this would end, that I’d be passing the baton to her, which I’ll officially do in September. “
Welker, who has been the regular fill-in anchor for Meet the Press and Todd’s election night co-anchor, “is the ideal journalist to build on the Meet the Press legacy,” per a memo from NBC News President of Editorial Rebecca Blumenstein and NBC News Senior Vice President of Politics Carrie Budoff Brown sent to NBC News staffers Sunday morning.
Todd was named moderator of Meet the Press in September 2014 and has expanded the programs to other platforms via a streaming spinoff (a top priority not only for Todd but also Welker) and with the Meet the Press Film Festival. Last year, the program celebrated its 75th anniversary.
Welker has been with NBC News since 2010 and currently serves as chief White House correspondent and the co-anchor of Weekend Today, in addition to her regular fill-in duties on Meet the Press.
David Gelles, who was named executive producer of the program last year, will continue in that role.
Todd also ended his commentary Sunday morning with a look at how he has approached the job, and the current moment facing the country.
“I leave feeling concerned about this moment in history but reassured by the standards we’ve set here,” Todd said. “We didn’t tolerate propagandists and this network and program never will. But it doesn’t mean sticking your head in the sand either; if you ignore reality, you’ll miss the biggest story. Being a real political journalist isn’t about building a brand, it’s about reporting what’s happening and explaining why it’s happening and letting the public absorb the facts. If you do this job seeking popularity, you are doing this job incorrectly.
“I take the attacks from partisans as compliments, and I take the genuine compliments with a grain of salt when they come from partisans,” he added. “The goal of this and every Meet the Press episode is to do all of the following in one informative hour: make you mad, make you think, shake your head in disapproval at some point and nod your head in approval at others. If you do all of that in one hour of this show, we’ve done our job.”
Read the memo from NBC News President of Editorial Rebecca Blumenstein and NBC News Senior Vice President of Politics Carrie Budoff Brown:
After nearly a decade, Chuck Todd has decided to transition to a new role at NBC News in the coming months. As he shared with the Meet the Press audience today, in September he will pass the moderator’s chair to his colleague Kristen Welker.
Under Chuck’s thoughtful and passionate leadership, Meet the Press has sustained its historic role as the indispensable news program on Sunday mornings. Through his penetrating interviews with many of the most important newsmakers, the show has played an essential role in politics and policy, routinely made front-page news, and framed the thinking in Washington and beyond.
In September 2014, he became moderator of Meet the Press – the longest-running television show in history and the gold standard of Sunday public affairs programming. During one of the longest runs as moderator in the show’s storied history, he transformed the brand into a vital modern-day franchise, expanding its footprint to an array of new mediums, and kept Meet the Press at the forefront of political discourse. He has led the flagship program through its 70th and 75th anniversaries and two presidential election cycles.
Chuck has established himself as a trusted authority on all things politics – from consequential presidential and national elections to local and congressional races across the country. In his new position as Chief Political Analyst, he will maintain his role as a leading voice at NBC News for politics, both in the field and for important events. He plans to focus on long-form journalism and continue producing the Chuck Toddcast and Meet the Press Reports.
Kristen, no stranger to Meet the Press viewers, is a regular fill-in on the Sunday broadcast, anchors Meet the Press NOW every Monday and Tuesday, and has been Chuck’s co-anchor on election nights since 2021. She is the ideal journalist to build on the Meet the Press legacy.
Kristen cut her teeth as a broadcast journalist working at ABC and NBC affiliates in Rhode Island, California, and Pennsylvania before settling into the weekend anchor chair at WCAU in Philadelphia. She joined NBC News in 2010 as a correspondent in Burbank, California, and arrived the following year in Washington and later was named Chief White House correspondent. She is a campaign trail veteran and has covered the White House and every corner of Washington, spanning three presidential administrations.
She has masterfully moderated primary and general election presidential debates and her sharp questioning of lawmakers is a masterclass in political interviews. She is a dogged reporter who relishes getting big scoops and is widely admired throughout the bureau and the network for her deeply collaborative nature.
Please join us in congratulating Chuck on an extraordinary run and wishing him the best in his new role, and in welcoming Kristen to the moderator chair of television’s longest-running program.
– Rebecca and Carrie
Source: Hollywood
