NBC News anchor Chuck Todd announced he is leaving the network.
In a memo sent to staffers and obtained by USA Today, the former “Meet The Press” moderator said, “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.’ So I’m grateful for the chance to get a jump start on my next chapter during this important moment.”
“The ‘ChuckToddcast’ is also coming with me (thank you NBC). Stay tuned for an announcement about its new home soon,” he wrote. “Needless to say, I do plan 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.”
Todd added that the media needs to regain the trust of the American people. “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 wrote, noting that media “can’t win trust back without having a robust partner locally and trying to game algorithms is no way to inform and report.”
Responding to Todd’s departure, NBC News representatives said they are “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.”
“We wish him all the best in his next endeavors,” NBC News said.
