By DAVID BAUDER (AP Media Writer)
NEW YORK (AP) — Chuck Todd mentioned on Sunday that he’ll be leaving “Meet the Press” after a tumultuous near-decade of moderating the NBC political panel present, to get replaced within the coming months by Kristen Welker.
Todd, 51, advised viewers that “I’ve watched too many friends and family let work consume them before it was too late” and that he’d promised his household he wouldn’t do this.
Todd has typically been an internet punching bag for critics, together with Donald Trump, throughout a polarized time, and there have been rumors that his time on the present could be quick when its government producer was reassigned on the finish of final summer time, however NBC gave no indication this was something aside from Todd’s resolution. It’s unclear when Todd’s final present shall be, however he advised viewers that this might be his ultimate summer time.
“I leave feeling concerned about this moment in history but reassured by the standards we’ve set here,” Todd mentioned. “We didn’t tolerate propagandists, and this network and program never will.”
Welker, a former chief White House correspondent, has been at NBC News in Washington since 2011 and has been Todd’s chief fill-in for the previous three years. She drew reward for moderating the ultimate presidential debate between Trump, a Republican, and Joe Biden, a Democrat, in 2020.
Her “sharp questioning of lawmakers is a masterclass in political interviews,” mentioned Rebecca Blumenstein, NBC News president of editorial, in a memo saying Welker’s elevation on Sunday.
Now Welker, 46, shall be thrust into what guarantees to be one other contentious presidential election cycle.
The Sunday morning political interview present has aired since 1947, led by inventor and first host Martha Rountree. Its peak got here within the years that Tim Russert moderated, from 1991 till his loss of life in 2008, with its footing much less sure since then. Tom Brokaw briefly crammed in after Russert’s loss of life, and David Gregory changed him till being pressured out in favor of Todd.
Welker would be the first Black moderator of “Meet the Press” and the primary lady since Rountree left in 1953.
Todd mentioned that he was pleased with increasing the “Meet the Press” model to a every day present, which initially aired on MSNBC however was shifted to streaming, together with podcasts and newsletters, even a movie pageant.
“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,” Blumenstein mentioned.
It didn’t cease critics from leaping on to social media after they didn’t like an interview Todd carried out. Trump even anointed Todd with one in all his signature nicknames, Sleepy Eyes, and referred to as on NBC to fireplace Todd in 2020 for airing an interview clip along with his then-Attorney General William Barr that the present later admitted had been minimize to go away an inaccurate impression.
Todd was roasted on the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner in 2022 by Trevor Noah, who pointed him out within the viewers and mentioned, “How are you doing? I’d ask a follow-up, but I know you don’t know what those are.”
Todd alluded to his critics in saying his exit on Sunday.
“If you do this job seeking popularity, you are doing this job incorrectly,” he mentioned. “I take the attacks from partisans as compliments. And I take the genuine compliments with a grain of salt when they come from partisans.”
The aim of every present, he mentioned, is to “make you mad, make you think, shake your head in disapproval at some point and nod your head in approval at others.”
Source: www.bostonherald.com”