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Brokaw, 80, is best known for anchoring the “NBC Nightly News” from 1982 to 2004. He has been the network’s senior correspondent in recent years, enjoying some form of semi-retirement while also contributing essays to the network. NBC and MSNBC programs.
In his most recent essay, published in late December, he called the coronavirus pandemic “America’s biggest test since the Civil War.”
Brokaw was absent from coverage of the election and the inauguration of NBC, a fact partially attributed to his age and health.
NBC announced his retirement in a press release on Friday that credited him with “more than half a century of award-winning reporting.”
The network said that “Brokaw will continue to be active in print journalism, writing books and articles, and spending time with his wife, Meredith, three daughters and grandchildren.”
Brokaw is a TV news icon who, in the words of NBC producer Andy Franklin, “has presided over – and guided us through – more stories than anyone can count.”
On a 2017 special about Brokaw’s career, Franklin and other staff described Brokaw’s leadership qualities and journalistic backbone.
Robert Windrem spoke of Brokaw’s calm and measured coverage on the day Richard Nixon stepped down as president.
“I was deeply impressed not only by his professionalism, but by something else: his patriotism,” said Windrem. “He understood his role in the nation, his responsibility as an American.”
Brokaw joined NBC in 1966, as a reporter in the Los Angeles bureau, “covering Ronald Reagan’s first run for president,” according to the network’s biography for him. “He became the NBC News White House correspondent, co-hosted ‘Today’ and eventually became the presenter and editor of ‘NBC Nightly News with Tom Brokaw’.”
At first he shared the “Nightly News” with Roger Mudd; a year later, he became the solo anchor, competing with Peter Jennings on ABC and Dan Rather on CBS. The “NBC Nightly News” consistently ranks number one in the charts with Brokaw at the helm.
Later in his career, Brokaw stepped in to moderate “Meet the Press” when Tim Russert passed away in 2008. NBC said Brokaw is the only reporter in network history to host “Today”, “Nightly News” and “Meet the Press”.
A number of women at NBC, including hosts like Rachel Maddow and Andrea Mitchell, signed an open letter supporting Brokaw and calling him “a man of great decency and integrity.”
In 2018, Brokaw’s live segments on NBC and MSNBC are already declining. In recent months he has been recording his essays rather than appearing live.
His late-2020 commentary on “Morning Joe” turned to Joe Biden’s presidency and criticized then-President Trump for “whining while Covid patients struggle to survive.”
“Before too long, Donald Trump’s main audiences will be his cadets,” he joked.
Then he turned in on himself: “For me it was an incredible journey. 57 years as a journalist. As a young reporter in Omaha, I broke into local programming with a newsletter. President Kennedy had been assassinated. And for the next 57 years., I covered the seismic events that rocked our world, but none were as catastrophic as this pandemic. It is the biggest test of the world. America since the Civil War. We still have miles to go, and no assurance as to how this will turn out. “
In a statement provided by NBC on Friday afternoon, Brokaw tipped his hat on his colleagues: “During one of the most complex and important eras in American history, a new generation of journalists, NBC News producers and technicians provide America with timely, insightful news and critically important news 24/7. I couldn’t be more proud of them. “
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