The free press is a critical pillar in a functioning democracy, but increasingly sharp political attacks on the press and growing legal threats will have a chilling effect on U.S. news media, longtime NBC anchor Lester Holt said during a Palm Beach Civic Association breakfast at The Breakers.
Holt issued that warning when asked about the arrest by federal authorities of former CNN journalist Don Lemon on civil rights charges, days after Lemon covered an anti-immigration enforcement protest that disrupted a service at a Minnesota church.
Hold said the arrest of an independent reporter for doing his job could have repercussions for the future of reporting in the country.
“It’s a chilling, chilling event, chilling for our industry, and more than our industry, this is something people have to recognize … what this would potentially mean,” Holt said. “We all have to stand up for those rights.”
During the Feb. 2 question-and-answer session moderated by Civic Association Chairman Michael Pucillo, the award-winning NBC reporter also spoke about the new ways people get their news.
While legacy television news still brings in millions of views, most consumers learn of breaking news through social media, Holt said.
That means many TV viewers flip to the evening news not to ascertain the latest stories but to instead get the anchor’s analysis and perspective, Holt said.
“By the time they sit down … they’ve already gotten the headlines of the day. They know what’s going on,” he told the packed ballroom. “People are checking their phones or other sources of news.”
He told Pucillo that it was a lesson he learned after departing in May from his decade-long tenure as anchor to NBC’s Nightly News program. He is today affiliated with “Dateline,” the network’s true crime program.
“I’m not going to lie — it’s given me a little more time back in my life, (more) than I’ve ever had,” said the award-winning journalist. “The fact of the matter (is) for 45 years, I’ve been answering the bell of breaking news.”
It was especially frenetic during the COVID-19 pandemic, when Holt was forced to create what amounted to a one-man evening show from his condo in Manhattan, he told the audience.
I’d be “literally on my hands and knees with a flashlight and my phone on facetime talking to the engineers” about the broadcasting equipment, he said.
But it was also a surreal experience, one in which Holt first coined his sign-off phrase, “Please take care of yourself and each other.” He told Pucillo that the phrase came as a response to the bleak health reports that filled the news cycle.
“I never wanted to pretend that we were somehow separated from our viewers,” Holt said. “That was a serious experience, it was an awful experience. But it was a shared one.”
Though Holt admitted he misses the atmosphere of the evening news, he said “Dateline” presents a refreshingly different process to him for writing a story, one that can involve months of research to develop a one to two-hour investigative story.
The gig also allows Holt to take time to do things other than news, including playing bass for “Rough Cuts,” a band composed primarily of editors from NBC.
He said when working in a high-pressure profession, like journalism, it’s important to have a hobby that is completely different from the job.
“I think it’s important that we all find that outlet that can be your joy, and allows you to step away from what your pursuit is,” he said. “You know, after a three-hour jam, I’m just not thinking about what the president is doing today.”
Diego Diaz Lasa is a journalist at the Palm Beach Daily News, part of the USA TODAY Florida Network. You can reach him at dlasa@pbdailynews.com.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Daily News: NBC’s Lester Holt warns Palm Beach Civic Association of press threats
Reporting by Diego Diaz Lasa, Palm Beach Daily News / Palm Beach Daily News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
