The Chuck Todd era on NBC is coming to an end. The former moderator of Meet the Press announced his decision to exit the network after nearly 18 years in a memo shared with staff.
“I started as political director in 2007, a month before my son was born and he’ll be graduating high school in a few months,” Chuck, 52, recalled about his journey in his statement shared on Friday, January 31. “So I guess this means I’ve been here a while.”
“There’s never a perfect time to leave a place that’s been a professional home for so long,” the journalist continued, admitting that he is “pretty excited” about “a few new projects” ahead.
Chuck took over as host of Meet the Press in 2014 but stepped down in 2023 to focus on long-form projects while remaining chief political analyst. He was later replaced by NBC News cochief White House correspondent Kristen Welker, and insiders said his contract was set to expire at some point after the election, according to Variety.
As for what he has in the works, Todd told his team at NBC News, “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.”
Chuck said he will be further developing his podcast, “The Chuck Toddcast.”
“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,” he wrote.
“The only way to fix this information ecosystem is to stop whining about the various ways the social media companies are manipulating things and instead roll up our collective sleeves and start with local,” Chuck went on. “National media can’t win trust back without having a robust partner locally and trying to game algorithms is no way to inform and report. People are craving community and that’s something national media or the major social media companies can’t do as well as local media.”
Chuck’s announcement made headlines days after fellow news anchor Jim Acosta revealed his own departure from CNN after 18 years, telling viewers he decided to “move on” during a January 28 morning broadcast.
Earlier this month, CNN announced they would be laying off around six percent of its workforce to revamp its schedule and digital strategy.
CEO Mark Thompson said the changes are part of “an ongoing response by this great news organization to profound and irreversible shifts in the way audiences in America and around the world consume news” in a memo shared with staff.
“Our objective is a simple one: to shift CNN’s gravity towards the platforms and products where the audience themselves are shifting and, by doing that, to secure CNN’s future as one of the world’s greatest news organizations. America and the world need high quality, fair-minded, trustworthy sources of news more than ever. This difficult and sometimes painful process of change is the only way to make sure we can still provide it.”
