NBC Nightly News anchor Lester Holt spoke at the 37th Annual NAMIC Conference in New York as part of Diversity Week.
The session, moderated by Holt’s NBC News colleague Morgan Radford, discussed newsroom diversity, accessibility for aspiring journalists, and elevated reporter status.
“It’s so vitally important to have people in the newsroom who have different experiences in life,” Holt said during the conference. “Certainly within the organization, as well as the industry as a whole, I think there is a recognition that people want to turn on the TV and see people that kind of look like them or maybe have had experiences kind of like them.
“I think from a storytelling purpose, which is what we do every night – we’re storytellers – it’s so vitally important to have people in the newsroom who have different experiences in life.”
Furthermore, Lester Holt noted why he feels being a reporter is a “high calling.” While he now resides behind the desk, anchoring the news, Holt revealed the joy of being out on the field and covering an ongoing situation.
“To me, the joy in this job is being out and covering stories,” Holt continued. “Sitting at that wonderful plexiglass desk every night with all the monitors and stuff, it’s prestigious. It’s an important job.
“But I always look back, I think, the most thrilling, interesting, fascinating moments of my career have not been in the studio. They’ve been outside the studio. Being a reporter is the highest calling, not being the anchor, but being a reporter. And so I take that to heart every day, and that’s kind of the principle I think most of us stand on.”
Eduardo Razo is the Assistant Content Editor for BNM, which includes writing daily news stories on the news media industry. He can be found on Twitter @eddierazo_ or you can reach him by email at eddie1991razo@gmail.com.
