Tom Brokaw to present Meet the Press

[NBC anchor Brian Williams, stepping in to host the Meet the Press program planned by Tim Russert before he died suddenly of a heart attack nine days ago, concluded the program by revealing the identity of the person who would shepherd the program through the 2008 presidential campaign cycle: Tom Brokaw.

Selecting Williams’ Nightly News predecessor as Russert’s Sunday-morning interim successor is a brilliant move. To honor the legacies of both Russert and the 61-year-old Meet the Press, especially in such an important political year, his successor had to, as a GE ad saluted Russert during the hour, “a trusted voice.” TV has fewer of those all the time, but veteran newsman Brokaw is one of them.

The other reason it’s such a smart move is that Russert, for the most part, devoted his entire week to preparing for Meet the Press, and the next person as moderator should have that same sort of intense focus. Brokaw can, and undoubtedly will.

more ....

www.broadcastingcable.com

One thing I must re-inforce is that the Brokaw move, whilst a great move by NBC, is only temporary. This is purely to give NBC the time to find a permanent replacement.

I would look think that as a permanent successor, the most likely candidates are Brit Hume, Andrea Mitchell, Gwen Ifill or Gordon Peterson. Not likely to be Chris Matthews, Keith Olbermann or Joe Scarborough.

Brit Hume is on the list?
hehehe... remembered Chris Matthews being lectured by Tom Brokaw!

http://youtube.com/watch?v=iLWTUT2VdrM
http://youtube.com/watch?v=NDGkOgtz-f8

I don't know that Brit Hume would be on NBC's list, but he is perhaps the only person currently in US television who could run the Washington Bureau and host Meet The Press, if NBC wanted to go down that route.

If I were Steve Capus, President of NBC News, I would be looking towards hiring WETA's Gwen Ifill from The NewsHour and Washington Week. She worked under Russert for 5 years at NBC, before switching to PBS/WETA.

nah... Brit Hume is still controversial.
i believe that GE may seperate the DC bureau chief and MTP host.

maybe the most likely could be David Gregory as DC Bureau chief...