Lester Holt Stepping Down As ‘NBC Nightly News’ Anchor

deadline.com:

Lester Holt announced today that he is stepping down as anchor of NBC Nightly News. He’s been in the post for the past decade.

Holt will continue in his role until early summer, and then will take a full-time role at the newsmagazine Dateline. No successor has been named. “After 10 years, 17 if you include my years on the weekends, the time has come for me to step away from my role as anchor of Nightly News,” Holt wrote in a memo to staffers. “It has truly been the honor of a lifetime to work with each of you every day, keeping journalism as our true north and our viewers at the center of everything we do.” Holt’s exit from Nightly News has long been rumored, but it comes amid tumult in the broadcast and cable news business, as linear television looks for ways to rein in costs.

There also has been a move away from star anchors. Holt’s counterpart at CBS, Norah O’Donnell, recently exited as anchor of CBS Evening News, with the broadcast getting a revamp to put an emphasis on stories from individual correspondents, along with John Dickerson and Maurice DiBois as dual anchors.

Other high profile personalities also have left, including Chuck Todd from NBC News, Chris Wallace from CNN and Hoda Kotb from Today.