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Ann Curry is named co-anchor
Natalie Morales is named news anchor
After nearly five successful years as co-anchor of NBC News'
"Today," Meredith Vieira announced this morning that she will be leaving the
program in June. Vieira will continue in a new role at NBC News, with an
official announcement in the coming months.
It was also announced that Ann Curry has been named the new co-anchor of
"Today."
Natalie Morales has been named news anchor, also announced this morning on
"Today." The new "Today" anchor team of Matt Lauer, Ann Curry, Al Roker and
Natalie Morales will debut in June.
Additionally, Savannah Guthrie has been named a co-host of the third hour of
"Today." She will co-host the third hour alongside Al Roker and Natalie
Morales, also beginning in June.
"Meredith is a remarkable woman and broadcaster who in five short years has
left an indelible imprint on morning television," said Steve Capus, NBC News
president. "While we will miss waking up with her each morning, we are working
together on developing her next chapter at NBC News. As Meredith turns the
page, we are so very fortunate to welcome Ann as co-anchor. I've known her
since our early days together on 'NBC News at Sunrise' and it's been a joy to
watch her break news, break boundaries and evolve into one of America's top
journalists. She's beloved by our viewers and our news division.
"We are confident the new anchor team will carry the 'Today'
torch, and Matt, Ann, Al and Natalie will each further thrive in their roles.
We are so lucky to have the strongest, deepest bench in the industry, and that
has allowed us to grow from within. We have the luxury to bring such talent
like Savannah up from DC to join the 'Today' team - she'll be great in the 9
a.m. hour and everywhere else we can showcase her legal and political
background. With the strength of 'Today's' many valuable players both on air
and behind the scenes, we will undoubtedly accomplish another smooth transition
and continue to be who America turns to every morning."
"Meredith has been a part of the family since day one, connecting not only to
our viewers, but also to each and every member of 'Today,' " added Jim Bell,
"Today" executive producer. "Her transition into the role of co-anchor
alongside Matt was as seamless as anyone in my position could have ever hoped
for or imagined. With an innate grace and a rare combination of humor and
humanity, she truly breaks the mold.
"We now head into 'Today's' next chapter with a woman who
can quite literally leap tall buildings in a single bound. Often reporting from
different time zones and disaster scenes, Ann Curry is one of the hardest
working women in television, and she couldn't be more valuable as our newest
co-anchor. With Matt, Ann, Al and now Natalie at the news desk, and Savannah in
the third hour, 'Today' will most certainly remain America's favorite morning
program."
Curry has served as "Today's" news anchor for more than 14 years, since March
1997. She has also been the anchor of "Dateline NBC" since May 2005, and she
regularly substitute anchors for "NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams." Curry
has covered the major news stories of the past decade-and-a-half including three
presidential elections, the 9/11 attacks, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and
Hurricane Katrina. She recently spent a week in Japan covering the destruction
from the massive earthquake and tsunami. And just last week, in the wake of
Osama bin Laden's death, she traveled to Pakistan to report live on the
developing situation on the ground in that country.
Curry has distinguished herself in global humanitarian reporting, frequently
traveling to remote areas of the world to cover under-reported stories. She has
traveled to Sudan five times since 2006 to report on the violence and ethnic
cleansing taking place in Darfur and Chad.
Curry has conducted numerous exclusive interviews with world leaders and dignitaries, including three sit-downs with Dalai Lama, Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari's first-ever interview with an American news organization, and an interview with former Pakistan Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto just two months before her assassination in December 2007.
Curry has traveled the world reporting from war-torn areas,
and she was the first network news anchor to report on the refugee crisis
caused by the genocide in Kosovo in 1999. As part of "Today's" unprecedented
"Ends of the Earth" series, Curry spent 10 days in Antarctica and the South
Pole in November 2007, and she climbed Mount Kilimanjaro in November 2008 to
shed light on the global effects of climate change.
Morales has been a member of the "Today" family for more than five years. She
joined "Today" as a national correspondent in February 2006 and was named
co-host of the third hour of "Today" in March 2008. Morales has also served as
a national correspondent for all NBC News platforms, including "NBC Nightly
News with Brian Williams," "Dateline NBC" and MSNBC. Prior to joining "Today,"
Morales was an anchor and correspondent at MSNBC from March 2002 to February
2006.
Morales has made her mark on "Today" with several major breaking news stories
through the years, including the 2009 presidential inauguration, Hurricane
Katrina, the southern California wildfires, and the Minneapolis bridge
collapse. She recently live-translated and reported on the October 2010 Chilean
miner rescue, and her coverage was watched worldwide. In August 2008, Morales
had the exclusive, news-making interview with the infamous "Clark Rockefeller,"
sitting down with him from Suffolk County Jail in Boston.
Morales was also an integral part of the network's coverage
of the 2010 and 2006 Winter Olympics in Vancouver and Torino and the 2004
Summer Games in Athens.
Vieira joined "Today" in September 2006, and was immediately accepted into the
ranks. Since joining the program, Vieira has covered the biggest news stories
of the past five years, including the 2008 presidential election, the tragic
shooting at Virginia Tech, the devastating earthquakes in Haiti and Japan, and
most recently the "Royal Wedding" of Prince William and Kate Middleton. She sat
down with some of the most notable newsmakers, including President Barack
Obama, First Lady Michelle Obama, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and First
Lady Laura Bush.
During her tenure, Vieira conducted numerous exclusive news-making interviews.
She spoke with former CIA agent Valerie Plame Wilson in her first-ever live
television interview after her identity was revealed; she sat down with author
J.K. Rowling in her only television interview about her final "Harry Potter"
volume; she spoke with chimp attack victim Charla Nash in her first interview
after leaving the Cleveland Clinic; and she talked to former governor of
Illinois, Rod Blagojevich, in his first interview after receiving the verdict
that convicted him on one count of lying to the FBI.
Vieira has also told the extraordinary and emotional stories of David Goldman,
the New Jersey man who fought a five-year custody battle to recover his son,
Sean, from his ex-wife's family in Brazil; Carolyn and Sean Savage, the Ohio
couple implanted with the wrong embryo; and John Michael and Ellen Keyes,
parents of Emily Keyes, the only victim in the Bailey, Colo., school shooting.
Vieira's memorable exclusive celebrity interviews include Janet Jackson,
Barbara Streisand, Bette Midler, Susan Boyle and Madonna, to name a few.
Guthrie currently serves as NBC News White House correspondent as well as the
co-host of "The Daily Rundown" on MSNBC. She contributes to all NBC News
properties, including "NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams," "Today" and
MSNBC.
"Today" has been America's top-rated morning news program for more than 15
years (802 weeks straight). It holds the longest current winning streak of any
television show in any daypart.