David Gregory Leaves NBC News, Chuck Todd to Meet the Press


Meet the Press - Season 65

Courtesy, William B. Plowman | NBC

After CNN’s Brian Stelter reported this morning that the news of David Gregory leaving Meet the Press was imminent, David Gregory has tweeted his departure from the longest running show on television.

It was later announced, via a staff memo that was leaked, that Chuck Todd will assume the mantle of Meet the Press and be the 12th host of the Sunday morning talk show. He begins his role September 7. Todd currently serves three roles at NBC, he is the Political Director, Chief White House Correspondent, and host of the Daily Rundown on MSNBC. According to the memo from NBC News President Deborah Turness, Todd will handover his MSNBC show and the role of Chief White House Correspondent, however he will continue to be Political Director. Who will take over his show remains to be seen as it was one of the few nonpartisan political shows on a network that prides itself on the place for progressives. As for his role at the White House, Chris Jansing is expected to be promoted to the role, she currently serves as a White House Correspondent.

The metaphorical clock on Gregory’s head grew in speed this week as Politico’s Mike Allen, in his daily Playbook newsletter, reported that Chuck Todd was going to be announced as the next host of Meet the Press in the “coming weeks.” Then this morning, CNN’s Stelter said that Gregory would be gone much sooner, by Friday. Then later that day, David Gregory, himself, broke the news on Twitter. His tweets confirmed that he would leave NBC News, as many had speculated.

There have been reports for many months that NBC planned on ditching Gregory. Earlier this year, controversy began as news broke that NBC News was conducing what was initially called a “psychological consultant” to evaluate Gregory and his friends and family. NBC said at the time that they were conducting research on how to make better use of Gregory’s talents on-air. Then in June, the Page Six column in the New York Post said that the news organization planned on getting rid of the host after the midterm elections. The network response was, “We heard the same false rumors and suggest you take them with a grain of salt, as we did.” Many in media circles interpreted the response as having a weaker support for Gregory than usual and alleged it was proof that Gregory’s time was limited.

NBC News President Deborah Turness, who assumed the leadership role last August, has had to deal with several failing NBC News properties. The Today Show has been in second place since the ouster of Ann Curry and Turness has said that is one of her top priorities. However, she has also turned her attention to Meet the Press. Under Gregory’s watch, the show has fallen from first place to third place. The show is now regularly beaten by ABC’s This Week with George Stephanopoulos and CBS’s Face the Nation with Bob Schieffer. CNN’s Stelter has reported that Turness cancelled a trip to London in order to be present for the Meet the Press announcement.

This week, Andrea Mitchell will host Meet the Press, Gregory will not get a chance to say an on-air farewell.

On NBC Universal’s personalities list, David Gregory no longer appears. David Gregory’s Twitter account no longer describes him working at Meet the Press and his profile picture with the NBC peacock has been changed to him outdoors. However, Gregory’s face still adorns the Meet the Press Twitter account. Quickly, however, Gregory’s association with NBC News is disappearing.


About Tyler

Tyler is the chief media reporter for TKNN, with the news organization since its founding in November of 2010. He has previously served as chief political reporter and chief political anchor for TKNN.

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