Former “Meet the Press” moderator Chuck Todd is leaving NBC News after nearly 18 years at the network.

Todd said in a memo to NBC News colleagues that Friday was his last day. He’ll continue doing his podcast and said he’s considering new projects, but offered no details.

He joined NBC News as political director in 2007 and was “Meet the Press” moderator from 2014 to 2023, before giving way to Kristen Welker. The role made him one of the more visible journalists in Washington and, as such, an occasional target of President Donald Trump and his supporters.

Todd was a leader in the on-air protest last year that scuttled the hiring of former Republican Party chair Ronna McDaniel as an NBC News contributor.

In his memo to colleagues, Todd said the news media has much work to do in winning back the trust of consumers, “and I’m convinced the best place to start is from the bottom up” with entrepreneurship.

“National media can’t win trust back without having a robust partner locally and trying to game algorithms is no way to inform and report,” he wrote. “People are craving community and that’s something national media or the major social media companies can’t do as well as local media.”

Reporting is key to winning back public support, he said. “If you do this job seeking popularity, or to simply be an activist,” he said, “you are doing this job incorrectly.”

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David Bauder writes about the intersection of media and entertainment for the AP. Follow him at and https://bsky.app/profile/dbauder.bsky.social