Brokaw to host ‘Press’

NBC announced Sunday that Tom Brokaw, the former anchor of “NBC Nightly News,” will host “Meet the Press” in Tim Russert’s place through the November elections.

Russert died June 13. In addition to the public mourning, his death created an important vacancy within NBC’s news division. For the last week, the leading candidates to replace him appeared to be NBC News Chief White House Correspondent David Gregory, PBS’ Gwen Ifill, MSNBC’s Chris Matthews and NBC Political Director Chuck Todd.

On Thursday, NBC News President Steve Capus spoke to The Times about filling Russert’s shoes: “Tim is truly irreplaceable, and there’s no single person who can step in and do all this. So we have a considerable list of roles that need to be filled. We’re just going to take them one at a time.”

By choosing Brokaw as the interim host, Capus and NBC have brought in a stabilizing force while the network makes a longer-term decision. Brokaw served as the “Nightly News” anchor for 22 years and retired from that position four years ago, but he has remained the special correspondent for NBC News.

When Russert died, it was Brokaw who announced it, and he also led the discussion about Russert’s life and career on the June 15 “Meet the Press.”

-- Kate Aurthur and Matea Gold