*NBC Nightly News anchor Lester Holt, the first African American to solo anchor a broadcast network evening news program, has reportedly switched his political party affiliation from Republican to “blank.”
A New York State Board of Elections spokesman told Journal-isms that “Holt’s party affiliation was a minor issue in the 2016 presidential campaign, when then-candidate Donald Trump falsely stated that Holt, about to moderate Trump’s first presidential debate with Democrat Hillary Clinton, was a Democrat.”
“Trump’s comments to Fox News’ Bill O’Reilly, which were offered without any evidence to support the claim, are part of a time-honored tradition of alleging moderator bias and expectations-setting before a presidential debate,” — Zeke J. Miller reported on Sept. 1, 2016, for Time.
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In a telephone interview arranged to promote “Hope & Fury: MLK, The Movement and the Media,” a two-hour special to air this weekend on NBC and MSNBC, Journal-isms asked Holt whether the disclosure of his party registration had affected his professional life.
“I don’t discuss my politics. I’m an American” who leaves politics behind when he is on the job. But he asked whether his interviewer had checked his party registration.
“The voter left the party selection area of the form blank which means they are not enrolled in any party,” according to a written explanation from the board of elections.
Holt was also asked about his role as a black journalist — last month, in a story about the 70th anniversary of the “NBC Nightly News” program, Holt was quoted as saying, “There were periods of my career where there was just pressure to define myself as a black journalist and I pushed back at that because I knew I wanted to succeed and not be defined by my color. I think if any of us are going to succeed, it’s going to be on a broad scale.”
Asked to elaborate, Holt seemed to equate being a “black journalist” with covering only black issues.
“I’m a good journalist. I can cover any story,” he said. “That’s the level” on which he wants to succeed, he said.
He also explained that “People don’t want to tune in to television and see a world they don’t recognize.”
Holt is moderating “Hope and Fury,” a production described as “a new documentary film that examines how Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and leaders of the civil rights movement used the power of print and visual media, especially television, to awaken America to the shame and injustice of racial inequality.”
“Hope and Fury: MLK, The Movement and The Media” airs Saturday at 8 p.m. ET on NBC.
Watch:
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