Meet the Press host David Gregory has been the focus of turmoil since the Sunday morning NBC program suffered its lowest ratings since 1992 during the past year and was the subject of a meeting with network news president Deborah Turness in March. After that gathering, NBC “doubled down” on Gregory as host of the series, along with giving him additional duties on the network's news website.
However, an article written by Paul Farhi in Sunday's edition of the Washington Post stated that during the first three months of 2012, the NBC program finished a distant third, far behind CBS's Face the Nation and This Week With George Stephanopoulos on ABC. Just four days later, Turness sent a memo to the show's staff declaring that coverage of Gregory's troubles has been “vindictive, personal and above all -- untrue.”
Alex Wallace
By Randy Hall | April 24, 2014 | 8:13 PM EDT
By Randy Hall | March 21, 2014 | 5:55 PM EDT
Ever since longtime host Tim Russert died in 2008, his shadow has loomed over Meet the Press. His successor, liberal David Gregory, has seen the Sunday morning program hit historic ratings lows that led to a meeting on March 13 regarding the futures of both Gregory and “the longest-running television program in the world.”
According to an article on Thursday, NBC News senior vice president Alex Wallace declared:
"We're doubling down on David Gregory right now" since he will continue to host the TV series but with new responsibilities as the weekly program becomes an online “7-days-a-week source for politics and beltway buzz.”