Lester Holt starts permanent NBC Nightly News job, thanks Brian Williams

It is not entirely common to see a changing of the guard when it comes to being a national news anchor. If you play your cards right and avoid negative press, this is a job that you can have for decades. Just as Tom Brokaw or Dan Rather a little about that.

Unfortunately for Brian Williams, his tenure at the position ended late last week when it was confirmed that after embellishing statements about his time in Iraq, he would be moving over to MSNBC rather than staying on the NBC Nightly News. Lester Holt had been filling in for him throughout his indefinite suspension, but he was permanently given the position at the same time that Brian’s status was made clear. This is obviously a tremendous honor for Holt, and on tonight’s show he could not have been classier about the whole thing. There was no gloating or celebrating that he landed this position.

This sin part what he said at the end of the broadcast, and he was careful to mention Williams by name:

“Your loyalty and viewership during a difficult time has been appreciated by all of us on this program, and I want to express my sincere thanks to my friend and colleague Brian Williams for his kind words of support. We hope to see all of you each and every night.”

It will probably be months still before we can gauge whether or not Holt is going to be the right man for this job, but he definitely has the skills needed to pull this off. He’s respectable, smart, and cares about the facts.

We will have some further news as it happens, but did you enjoy Lester’s first night as anchor? Share below, and head over here if you want to get some other TV news on all we cover via our CarterMatt Newsletter. (Photo: NBC.)