A Place for Fairness and Civility

INTERVIEW VIEW InterviewINTER A Place for Fairness and Civility An Interview with David Gregory, Moderator, NBC’s Meet the Press When you became Moderator of Meet the we’re still in a very diffi cult place. when you see Press, you said, “above all, I want to make moments of great comity in washington is after Tim proud,” referring to the late Tim something horrible, where you see people come Russert. Did that add a lot of pressure to together. that is a great feeling for republicans, the role? democrats, liberals, and conservatives. people it did. it weighed on my mind heavily, lit- want to see government in action and govern- erally and fi guratively, because that early pe- ment working. i’m in washington, d.c. where riod was about measuring up in the audience’s they still haven’t cleared the snow off my street, mind. tim was at the height of his power and and that is frustrating, because that is the job infl uence, so it was an unnatural position to be of government, and i think a lot americans are in after he had died. what was important for me looking up on a much grander scale and asking, initially was continuity with measuring up, and why aren’t things getting done? that is the pressure i put on myself early on. i like to think that in my small way, i have it was also a tribute to the core of what a role to play in that. one of the directions i’m Meet the Press was and what i still think it is, really committed to for the program is to en- which is an agenda-setting, news-driving pro- sure it’s a place of constructive engagement, gram, a place for accountability, and a place for that there is constructive conversation about the fairness and civility. that is sort of the house things we’ve covered. it’s a place where there that tim built, and there were so many aspects can be a conversation that is not just about the David Gregory of that that had to be maintained because it’s argument but about the solution, because there what the audience expected. is a great hunger for that. EDITORS’ NOTE David Gregory was named but as i moved through that fi rst year, it Do you think the toll of media scrutiny Moderator of meet the press in December of became very important for me to work to move might be keeping the best and brightest out 2008. He also regularly substitute anchors for beyond tim and not worry about what he of politics? today and nightly news with brian williams, would think about certain things. that was a i hope, as a society, that this information rev- and is a regular contributor and analyst for natural transition – that’s what he did, and what olution doesn’t tear people down, because we’re those programs, as well as MSNBC. He joined he would expect of me. going to need leadership generation after genera- NBC News in 1995, covered three presidential Is it frustrating sometimes to get those tion. but i’m confi dent that that is still going to be campaigns in 2000, 2004, and 2008, and served direct answers to your questions? there. we’ve seen some of this polarization within as NBC’s Chief White House Correspondent dur- absolutely, and it’s on me to do a better the media before in different forms, but i’ve got ing the span of George W. Bush’s presidency. job trying to narrow the questions to force some confi dence that we’ll get it right. viewers and con- Previously, he worked as an NBC News corre- real answers, to have the time for follow-ups, sumers in general are so sophisticated – they get spondent based in Los Angeles and Chicago. and to develop a line of questioning. a lot of the differences between opinion journalism and washingtonian magazine named Gregory one politicians have come on who have talking straight journalism, and what’s going on online of Washington’s 50 best and most infl uential points and it’s my job to try to knock them off and in the blogosphere. the same is true of fi nd- journalists. He began his journalism career of those a little bit and get to something real. ing practical solutions to things. we’re innovating as a summer reporter for KGUN-TV in Tucson, sometimes i succeed and sometimes i don’t. a great deal in the country, we’re doing a lot of the Arizona. He also worked for NBC’s fl agship Outside of your role as a Moderator, is right things, but we have to work through these West Coast affi liate, KCRA-TV in Sacramento. it hard to be optimistic when you consider periods that are diffi cult, in terms of our politics. Gregory graduated from American University all the tough issues we are facing? When you joined NBC in 1995, could in Washington, D.C. with a bachelor’s degree Just as a citizen, i worry about the inability you have imagined now some 15 years later in International Studies. to tackle really hard problems and move forward; you would still be there, and what has made i worry about a system that rewards paralysis. it a place you’ve wanted to spend so much PROGRAM BRIEF As the longest running pro- we have to be a country where strong leader- of your career? gram ever on network televison, meet the press ship is rewarded for the right reasons and that it really matters to me that i’ve grown up in (www.mtp.msnbc.com) has attracted atten- the results are rewarded. but we have to take this network literally and in my career, because of tion based on its interviews with world lead- ourselves to task as americans and not always the relationships i formed, and the respect for the ers and U.S. headliners every Sunday morning just cast the blame on our leadership. we need culture and the history of this news division. it’s a on NBC since its premier on November 6, 1947 to look in the mirror and recognize a lot of this place where i’ve been able to pursue my work in on NBC-TV. Since President John F. Kennedy paralysis is a result of our own predilections and the way i wanted to while also being held to high deemed meet the press the “fi fty-fi rst state,” ev- the way we think about and respond to these standards, and where i’ve had incredible mentors ery man who has occupied the Oval Offi ce has issues. Faith in government is way down. a year like tom brokaw and tim russert. having that appeared on the program during his career, as ago, there were so many good feelings about kind of commitment and that relationship with one has every Vice President since 1952. the historic nature of the 2008 election, and yet place and with one company matters to me.• 78 leaders posted with permission. copyright © 2010 leaders magazine, inc. volume 33, number 2.

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