Brokaw, 80, is best known for anchoring the “NBC Nightly News” from 1982 to 2004. He was the network’s senior correspondent for the past several years, enjoying some form of semi-retirement, and writing essays for NBC and MSNBC. programs.
In his most recent essay, published in late December, he called the coronavirus pandemic “America’s greatest test since the Civil War.”
Brokaw was absent from coverage of NBC’s election and inauguration, a fact attributed in part to his age and health.
NBC announced his retirement on Friday in a press release in which he had received “more than half a century of award-winning reporting.”
The network said that “Brokaw will remain active in print journalism, write books and articles, and spend time with his wife, Meredith, three daughters and grandchildren.”
Brokaw is a TV news icon that, in the words of NBC producer Andy Franklin, “presaged more stories – and led us through them than anyone can count.”
On the occasion of a special on Brokaw’s career in 2017, Franklin and other executives described Brokaw’s leadership skills and journalistic backbone.
Robert Windrem spoke of Brokaw’s calm, measured coverage the day Richard Nixon resigned the presidency.
“I was deeply impressed not only by his professionalism, but also 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 for the Los Angeles bureau, “about Ronald Reagan’s first run for president,” the network’s biography said before him. He later became NBC News ‘White House correspondent, co-host’ Today ‘, and eventually became the anchor 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” regularly took the top spot in the ratings with Brokaw at the helm.
Later in his career, Brokaw stepped in to moderate “Meet the Press” when Tim Russert died in 2008. NBC said Brokaw is the only journalist in network history to host “Today,” “Nightly News,” and “Meet the Press.”
A number of women at NBC, including hosts such as Rachel Maddow and Andrea Mitchell, signed an open letter supporting Brokaw calling him “a man of tremendous decency and integrity.”
In 2018, Brokaw’s live segments on NBC and MSNBC were already declining. In recent months, he has been recording his essays instead of appearing live.
His commentary on “Morning Joe” in late 2020 looked ahead to Joe Biden’s presidency and criticized then-President Trump for “nagging as Covid patients struggle to survive.”
“Soon, Donald Trump’s main audience will be his caddies,” he joked.
Then he turned in. “For me it was a great journey. 57 years as a reporter. As a young reporter in Omaha, I broke into local programming with a bulletin. President Kennedy had been murdered. And for the next 57 years, I’ve discussed the seismic events that devastated our world, but none were as catastrophic as this pandemic. This is America’s greatest test since the Civil War. We still have miles to go and we have no guarantee whatsoever how it will all turn out. ‘
In a statement from NBC on Friday afternoon, Brokaw gave his cap to his colleagues: “During one of the most complex and consistent eras in American history, a new generation of NBC News journalists, producers and engineers is providing America with timely, insightful and critically important information. , 24/7. I couldn’t be more proud of them. “