Campbell Brown and Lester Holt have been named co-anchors of “Today,” Weekend Edition, effective immediately. The announcement was made today by NBC News President Neal Shapiro.
The 'Today' franchise is underscored by the program’s ability to seamlessly report on everything from breaking news to politics to pop culture,” said Shapiro. “Both Campbell and Lester possess that unique ability to make those seamless shifts, and I know will make a great team for the weekend edition.”
The Sunday edition of NBC News’ “Today” premiered on September 20, 1987. Five years later, on August 1, 1992, the Saturday edition made its debut, expanding the broadcast schedule of the “Today” franchise to seven days a week. For more than a decade, “Saturday Today” has been the ratings leader in Saturday morning news, and season-to-date, “Sunday Today” beats the competition in homes and the key demographics of men, women and adults age 25-54.
It was also announced today that Norah O’Donnell has been named NBC News White House correspondent, effective immediately. O’Donnell will join NBC’s David Gregory at the White House. Previously, O’Donnell served as Congressional correspondent since December 2002. Chip Reid will replace O’Donnell as NBC News Congressional correspondent, also effective immediately. Reid was an NBC News correspondent based in Los Angeles who also served as an embedded reporter during the Iraq war.
Prior to joining “Weekend Today,” Brown served as NBC News White House correspondent since February 2001, where she reported for “Nightly News with Tom Brokaw,” “Today,” and MSNBC. Before that, she was part of the NBC News team that covered the presidential campaign of republican candidate George W. Bush. Brown reported throughout the Decision 2000 election cycle, and covered the Republican primaries, the Republican National Convention, the Presidential Debates and Election Day. She also spent over a month reporting from Austin, Texas on the post election day Florida recount story.
Before covering the Bush campaign, Brown had been a Washington, D.C.-based NBC News correspondent. Joining the network in 1998, she was first assigned to cover President Clinton’s impeachment trial. After that, she was assigned to the Pentagon, reporting on the war in Kosovo. During her time in the Washington bureau, Brown also traveled extensively with President Clinton.
Brown started her career in local news as the political reporter covering Kansas politics for KSNT-TV, the NBC affiliate in Topeka, Kan. She then moved to WWBT-TV, the NBC affiliate in Richmond, VA. Brown also reported for WBAL-TV in Baltimore, Md. and WRC-TV in Washington, D.C. before joining the network.
Holt has served as a primary anchor for MSNBC’s coverage of the biggest news events of the last several years, including Operation Iraqi Freedom and the war in Afghanistan. He also served as lead daytime anchor for MSNBC’s coverage of Decision 2000. In addition to “Weekend Today,” he hosts “Lester Holt Live” on MSNBC, covering breaking news and providing news updates and analysis. He also served as anchor of “Countdown: Iraq,” a nightly news telecast concentrating on the latest developments surrounding the war with Iraq, from October 2002 through March 2003.
Prior to joining MSNBC, Holt spent 13 years at WBBM-TV in Chicago, where among other duties he anchored the evening news. He has also contributed to the CBS News broadcast “48 Hours,” earning a 1990 Robert F. Kennedy Journalism award for his work on “48 Hours: No Place Like Home.”
Previously, Holt worked as a reporter at WCBS-TV in New York City from 1981 to 1982. In 1982 he transferred to sister station KCBS-TV in Los Angeles as a reporter and weekend anchor and returned to WCBS-TV a year later as a reporter and weekend anchor.