THE ANCHOR AND MANAGING EDITOR OF NBC’S FLAGSHIP NEWS BROADCAST “NBC NIGHTLY NEWS WITH LESTER HOLT”
Lester Holt serves as the anchor and managing editor of NBC’s flagship news broadcast “NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt.” He has also served as principal anchor of “Dateline NBC” since September 2011 and leads NBC News’ special reports, breaking news and primetime political coverage. He also anchors “Nightly News Kids Edition,” a digital newscast aimed to inform and inspire children.
2021 TV INDUCTEE
Holt’s integrity, gravitas and dedication make him one of the preeminent journalists in America today.”
“Millions of Americans turn to him every day to find out what is happening in their communities and deepen their understanding of the world."
NAB PRESIDENT AND CEO GORDON SMITH
Holt joined NBC News in 2000 and served as an anchor of “Newsfront” and “Lester Holt Live,” a daily news show on MSNBC, before becoming co-anchor of “Weekend TODAY” in 2003 and anchored the weekend editions of “NBC Nightly News” beginning in 2007. During his time at NBC News, Holt has moderated presidential debates; reported from breaking news events in the U.S. and abroad including terrorist attacks, natural disasters and civil unrest; anchored numerous specials and investigative series; interviewed national and international newsmakers and covered every Olympics since the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City.
Before joining NBC News, Holt began his television journalism career at local broadcast stations WCBS-TV in New York, KCBS-TV (then KNXT) in Los Angeles and WBBM-TV in Chicago, where he worked for 14 years including as the afternoon and evening news anchor.
Lester Holt NAB Hall of Fame induction, 2022.
Named as the “most-trusted television news personality in America” by a recent The Hollywood Reporter/Morning Consult poll, Holt was honored with the Edward R. Murrow Lifetime Achievement Award in Journalism in March 2021. In 2019, he received the prestigious Walter Cronkite Award for Excellence in Journalism and was honored with Quinnipiac University’s Fred Friendly First Amendment Award in 2017. He has been recognized with multiple Emmy Awards and received a Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award in 2000 for his work on CBS News' broadcast “48 Hours: No Place Like Home.”
Holt was also named one of the world’s “100 Most Influential People” by TIME and was named “Journalist of the Year” by the National Association of Black Journalists in 2016.
Lester Holt NAB Hall of Fame induction speech, 2022.