Chuck Todd, the former host of “Meet the Press,” is departing NBC News, as he informed his colleagues in a memo on Friday.
The decision comes as Todd seeks new opportunities outside the NBCUniversal family, Variety reported.In recent weeks, Todd has reportedly been in discussions with other news organizations and potential employers. His contract with NBC News, which was set to expire after the 2024 election, had been expected to come to an end around that time.
“There’s never a perfect time to leave a place that’s been a professional home for so long, but I’m pretty excited about a few new projects that are on the cusp of going from ‘pie in the sky’ to ‘near reality,’ Todd told NBC News staffers in a memo Friday, per Variety. “So I’m grateful for the chance to get a jump start on my next chapter during this important moment.”
He said his “Chuck Toddcast” podcast would be “coming with me,” while also urging colleagues to “stay tuned for an announcement about its new home soon.”
Todd plans “to continue to share my reporting and unique perspective of covering politics with data and history as important baselines in understanding where we were, where we are and where we’re going,” he said in the memo.
NBCUniversal management has also responded to the host’s impending departure.
“We’re grateful for Chuck’s many contributions to our political coverage during his nearly two-decade career at NBC News and for his deep commitment to Meet the Press and its enduring legacy,” NBC News said in a statement. “We wish him all the best in his next endeavors.”
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In recent months, many employees at traditional TV networks have been exploring opportunities with digital and tech-focused outlets, reflecting the tougher economics of national newsgathering today. Earlier this week, CNN anchor Jim Acosta revealed he was leaving the Warner Bros. Discovery-backed network to start his own Substack.
Former CNN host Don Lemon and former Fox News star Megyn Kelly are also among the prominent TV anchors who have transitioned to digital media, though Kelly’s show has been far more popular.
Told told staffers he expected to continue to try to build new media businesses.
“The media has a lot of work to do to win back the trust of viewers/listeners/readers and I’m convinced the best place to start is from the bottom up. At my core, I’m an entrepreneur — I spent my first 15 years professionally working for the company that started the political newsletter craze that dominates today. And this is a ripe moment,” he said.
“The only way to fix this information eco system is to stop whining about the various ways the social media companies are manipulating things and instead roll up our collective sleeves and start with local,” Todd continued. “National media can’t win trust back without having a robust partner locally and trying to game algorithms is no way to inform and report.
“People are craving community and that’s something national media or the major social media companies can’t do as well as local media,” said Todd, who, like most others in the ‘legacy’ media, has long since fallen out of favor with a majority of Americans over left-wing bias.
“For the third consecutive year, more U.S. adults have no trust at all in the media (36%) than trust it a great deal or fair amount. Another 33% of Americans express ‘not very much” confidence,’ Gallup reported in October.
Trust in the media hit a high of 72 percent in 1976, according to the polling firm, with just 22 percent of Americans expressing little or “not very much” confidence in the major news outlets of the day.
Trust has nosedived since, falling nearly every year to its current level.
