Chuck Todd Leaving NBC News After Nearly 20 Years
Longtime NBC News host Chuck Todd announced Friday that he's leaving the network, indicating he plans to shift away from national media.
Todd shared the news in a memo to staff and on his podcast, 'The Chuck ToddCast,' saying that Friday would be his last day at NBC News after nearly two decades as a fixture of the network's political coverage.
'I am leaving a bit earlier, frankly, than we had all originally planned, but there's a reason for it. I'm pretty excited by a few new projects that are on the cusp of going from pie in the sky to near reality,' said Todd, who slammed his employer on-air last year for hiring former Republican National Committee Chair Ronna McDaniel. The network axed McDaniel a week later.
Todd said he will retain his news podcast, but it will be going on a 'little hiatus' while he looks for a new network to host the show.
On Friday's episode, he hinted his next career move will involve a shift away from national media.
'The reason I am ready to move is I think the media has a lot of work to do to win back the trust, and I think, frankly, national media isn't the place that's going to be able to do it,' he said. 'And this is no indictment of national media as the problem ― I'm a believer that national media is never always that trusted by people. The farther away something is, the more skeptical we are of it.'
He continued: 'I do leave feeling a bit concerned about the moment of history that we're living in, but I'm pretty confident that we all sort of understand the challenge ahead of us, including my colleagues at NBC.'
Todd didn't address his spat with the network over McDaniel in either his memo to staff or his podcast. His opposition to her hiring, he said, was rooted in her 'credibility issues' because of misinformation she spread while leading the RNC.
Todd joined NBC News in 2007 as the network's political director, and later served as White House correspondent and the host of 'Meet the Press.' On that show in 2017, he famously called out Kellyanne Conway, then a senior counselor to President Donald Trump, when she used the phrase 'alternative facts' to defend Trump's lies.
Semafor reported earlier this month that Todd was planning to leave NBC News and had been 'quietly' meeting with Washington media figures to discuss his exit.
NBC News Star Tells Other Media Outlets He's Leaving Network: Report
Chuck Todd Elaborates On Why NBC Shouldn't Have Hired Ronna McDaniel
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