Lester Don Holt Jr. (born March 8, 1959) is an American journalist and news anchor for the weekday edition of NBC Nightly News and Dateline NBC. On June 18, 2015, Holt was made the permanent anchor of NBC Nightly News, making him the first African-American to solo anchor a weekday network nightly newscast.
Holt is also known for his moderation of the first Presidential debate of 2016, and was praised for his role in fact-checking false statements made by both candidates. President Donald Trump later expressed his approval of Holt's moderation during the debate, noting that he "thought it was very fair".
Video Lester Holt
Early life and education
Holt was born in Marin County, California, the son of June (DeRozario) and Lester Don Holt, Sr. His maternal grandparents are of Jamaican descent. His maternal grandfather was of half English and half Indian descent.
He graduated from Cordova High School in Rancho Cordova in 1977 and majored in government at California State University, Sacramento, though he never graduated. In 2012, Holt told American Profile news magazine: "My first on-air job was actually as a disc jockey at a Country and Western station. The only time I could land a full-time gig was if I was willing to report the news." Holt would keep the job with the radio station through his college years.
Maps Lester Holt
Career
Holt spent 19 years with CBS, as a reporter, anchor, and international correspondent.
In 1981, he was hired as a reporter for WCBS-TV in New York City. In 1982, he became a reporter and weekend anchor on KNXT in Los Angeles, and the next year he returned to WCBS-TV as a reporter and weekend anchor. In 1986, Holt moved to WBBM-TV in Chicago, where he spent 14 years anchoring the evening news. Holt not only worked at the anchor desk, but also reported extensively from troubled spots around the world including Iraq, Northern Ireland, Somalia, El Salvador and Haiti.
Holt joined MSNBC in 2000. In 2003, he assumed full-time duties at NBC News, where he became a substitute anchor for NBC Nightly News and Today. Holt became a full-time co-anchor of Weekend Today following the death of previous co-anchor David Bloom. Until late 2005, he also anchored a two-hour daily newscast on MSNBC. On May 9, 2007, Holt was named anchor of the weekend edition of NBC Nightly News, anchoring the show for 8 years before being named permanent anchor of the weekday edition. Additionally, Holt is the current host for NBC's Dateline. He moderated the presidential debates in 2016, and interviewed President Donald Trump in 2017, where his fellow journalists said that he asked tough but appropriate questions.
In addition to his primary responsibilities at NBC News, he hosted a special for The History Channel about the 9/11 conspiracy theories, served as a sportsdesk reporter for NBC Sports coverage of the 2008 Summer Olympics, and is the host of Dateline on ID, an edition of Dateline NBC shown on the Investigation Discovery network. In 2008, he narrated a documentary regarding the actual crystal skulls on the Sci-Fi Channel.
When Brian Williams took medical leave in 2013 for knee replacement surgery, Holt filled in as Weekend anchor. In 2015, Williams was suspended for exaggerating a story about the Iraq War, and Holt permanently replaced him as NBC Nightly News anchor.
Holt moderated the Democratic presidential candidates' debate in January 2016 alongside a panel of NBC political reporters, as well as the first presidential debate on September 26, 2016. Presidential candidate Donald Trump said that this was "a very unfair system" because "Lester is a Democrat". Holt is a registered Republican. After the debate, Trump said that Holt did a good job. Journalists also said that Holt did a good job, for example, in challenging Trump when he said that he originally opposed the war in Iraq. The Washington Post said "Kudos to Holt" for making it clear that stop and frisk was ruled unconstitutional in New York, when Trump said it wasn't.
In May, 2017, Holt interviewed President Trump. They discussed Trump's firing of FBI director James Comey. Trump originally said that he fired Comey because of Comey's disclosure of the investigation of Hillary Clinton's emails. Critics said that Trump fired Comey because of Comey's investigation of the Trump staff's dealings with Russia. However, Trump told Holt, "When I decided [to fire Comey], I said to myself, I said, 'You know, this Russia thing with Trump and Russia is a made up story.'"
Holt's interview with Trump had extensive media coverage. TV news anchor Lawrence O'Donnell said, "The Lester Holt interview remains possibly the most important televised interview ever done," with the possible exception of David Frost's interview with Richard Nixon. O'Donnell said this was evidence of an illegal coverup of Russian dealings. "There he was saying, 'I was thinking about the Russian investigation, which is to say I'm thinking about Michael Flynn, when I'm firing James Comey.'"
Other work
Holt has made cameo appearances in the 1993 film The Fugitive, its 1998 sequel, U.S. Marshals; and Primal Fear (1996); as well as on television shows like the episode "Red, White, or Blue" of the series Due South, "Fate" of Early Edition and "A New Hope" of Warehouse 13. He also appeared on the episode "Cleveland" of the NBC sitcom 30 Rock. He also did a voice-over in the episode "Sandwich Day", announcing that Jack Donaghy would be a new cabinet member in the Bush administration. Holt announced the 2006, 2007 and 2008 Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show for the USA Network and was also featured in Making Music magazine.
Career timeline
- 1981-2000: CBS owned and operated stations
- 1981-1982: WCBS-TV reporter
- 1982-1983: KNXT weekend anchor and reporter
- 1983-1986: WCBS-TV anchor
- 1986-2000: WBBM-TV anchor and reporter
- 2000-present: NBC News
- 2000-2003: NBC News / MSNBC correspondent
- 2003-2015: Weekend Today co-anchor
- 2003-2014: Today fill-in anchor
- 2007-2015: NBC Nightly News Weekend anchor
- 2007-present: NBC News anchor
- 2011-present: Dateline NBC anchor
- August 6, 2013 - September 2, 2013 and February 9, 2015 - June 18, 2015: NBC Nightly News interim anchor
- June 22, 2015 - present: NBC Nightly News anchor
Awards and honors
- 1990: Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award for his work on CBS's 48 Hours: No Place Like Home.
- 2012: Honorary Doctorate from Pepperdine University
- 2015: Honorary Doctorate from California State University, Sacramento
- 2015: Inducted into the California Hall of Fame on October 28, 2015
- 2016: Alan B. DuMont Broadcaster of the Year from Montclair State University
- 2016: NABJ Journalist of the Year Award from the National Association of Black Journalists
Personal life
Holt resides in Manhattan with his wife, Carol Hagen. They have two sons, Stefan and Cameron. Stefan Holt graduated in 2009 from Pepperdine University and was the morning news anchor at NBC-owned WMAQ-TV in Chicago. In 2016, Stefan moved to the same floor as his father's Nightly News when joining WNBC, and eventually succeeded veteran Chuck Scarborough as the station's 11pm anchor. In his spare time, Lester plays the bass guitar, which he talked about in the September/October 2009 issue of Making Music magazine. On September 6, 2017, The Today Show reported that Holt became a grandfather to a boy, through his son Stefan.
Holt attends the Manhattan Church of Christ in New York.
References
External links
- Lester Holt on IMDb
- Lester Holt at Today
- Appearances on C-SPAN
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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