People can finally stop speculating about Meet the Press. NBC News President Deborah Turness announced that David Gregory who has been hosting for almost six years will leave the network and Chuck Todd will replace him as moderator beginning on Sept. 7. Andrea Mitchell will serve as moderator of Meet the Press this weekend
I leave NBC as I came humbled and grateful. I love journalism and serving as moderator of MTP was the highest honor there is Gregory Tweeted.
I leave NBC as I came humbled and grateful. I love journalism and serving as moderator of MTP was the highest honor there is . (1 of 2)
David Gregory ( davidgregory) August 14 2014(2 of 2) I have great respect for my colleagues at NBC News and wish them all well. To the viewers I say thank you.
David Gregory ( davidgregory) August 14 2014
Gregory took over in December 2008 after Tim Russert s death in June of that year and has presided over a significant drop in ratings.
For weeks there have been rumors that NBC would dump Gregory and earlier this week Mike Allen at Politico reported that Todd would be the likely successor. CNN s Brian Stelter first reported on Thursday that Todd would take over at MTP.
In an email to NBC News staff Turness said Todd will continue in his role as NBC News political director and will hand over his roles as chief White House correspondent and anchor of MSNBC s The Daily Rundown.
Todd came to D.C. from Miami as an undergraduate at George Washington University and landed a job in 1992 at National Journal s Hotline. He worked for the morning tip sheet until 2007. For six of those years he was the editor in chief.
He was a force of nature from day one says Craig Crawford who was the Hotline editor when Todd started. He was so deep into politics that he was as enthusiastic about city council elections as presidential campaigns. He had to compromise just to keep the Hotline from being 300 pages every day.
This is why Todd is known around town as a political junkie and as someone who loves the game. He certainly caught the eye of David Bradley the millionaire owner of the Atlantic (the parent company of the Hotline). Bradley a self abashed Chuck fan emailed in this story to prove it If you use this please note that this is not my everyday schedule he writes. My wife and I were headed off for a small dinner honoring the King of Jordan. I dropped in on Chuck to ask him to talk me through the smartest thinking on the presidential election of 2004. I took a few notes repeated them at dinner and proved to be more brilliant than in fact I am.
Wonks are in these days. When it comes to politics Todd is the geek in chief.
There is no one with a bigger passion for politics than Chuck Turness said in her email. His unique ability to deliver that passion with razor sharp analysis and infectious enthusiasm makes him the perfect next generation moderator of this beloved broadcast.
But as his former boss Crawford says knowing the material that s only half the equation for why Todd will be a good fit at MTP. The other half is having an engaging personality Crawford says. He loves people and is chattier than Gregory. He ll be able to break down barriers and get people off of their talking points.
With Russert Meet the Press was the Sunday morning talk show s ratings leader for over a decade. Now the leader is CBS s Face the Nation (a weekly average of 3.35 million during the first three months of 2014 5 percent more than This Week and 8 percent more than Meet the Press. This past weekend Meet the Press attracted 2.1 million viewers as opposed to about 2.9 million for CBS s Face the Nation and approximately 2.6 million for This Week.
For NBC the hope is to return to at least a semblance of Russert s glory days. Fans of Todd say that s what they ll be getting from the new host.
They share the same boyish enthusiasm for politics and Washington and the process for it all says Amy Walter who replaced Todd when he left the Hotline (she says that Russert hand picked Todd to go over to NBC). He s critical without being cynical. He doesn t give politicians a pass but isn t disdainful of them.
It s the go to compliment for Todd. He s from politics the way Russert was (both worked for politicians before becoming journalists). At the same time it s a twist of the knife for Gregory who during his time at MTP has earned a reputation for not being that interested in politics and policy. NBC officials were even throwing around the term The David Gregory Problem and when Politico reported on his imminent departure Dylan Byers didn t beat around the bush He was widely disliked within the organization and his ambition and vanity rubbed important colleagues at NBC the wrong way.
So it seems that each time somebody compares Todd to the popular Russert each time somebody says that Todd is truly passionate about politics or that he lives for the game the implication is that Gregory does not. Not everyone thinks that s fair.
I don t know why we have to compliment Todd at Gregory s expense political strategist Hillary Rosen said in an interview. David s great too.
For weeks the rumor mills were spinning at top speed. Competitors on Fox News even started feeling bad for Gregory NBC is throwing David Gregory under the bus and it s drip drip drip Greta Van Susteren wrote. It is so slow so painful and wicked.
As of Thursday afternoon it no longer felt so slow. By Sunday Meet the Press will have a new host.
RELATED As Meet the Press struggles in the ratings plenty of questions for host David Gregory
April 20 2014 Host David Gregory foreground speaks with panelists from left Radhika Jones deputy managing editor of Time Chuck Todd political director for NBC News David Brooks columnist for the New York Times and David Shribman executive editor of the Pittsburgh Post Gazette during NBC s Meet the Press in Washington. Amanda Voisard/For the Washington Post Buy PhotoView Photo Gallery The venerable news show is no longer the Sunday ratings king and that means tough questions for host David Gregory.
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