WASHINGTON, D.C.—The NAB has announced that award-winning journalist Ashleigh Banfield, host of “Banfield” on NewsNation, will interview her former MSNBC co-anchor, Lester Holt, the NBC Nightly News anchor and managing editor.

The interview will occur during Banfield’s “Rising Tide: The Value in Mentoring Others” series at the NAB Show Opening Main Stage session on Sunday, April 24 at 1:15 p.m. in Las Vegas. 

The interview will precede Holt’s previously announced induction into the National Association of Broadcasting (NAB) Hall of Fame, also on the Main Stage at NAB Show.

Banfield recently founded "Rising Tide" a monthly live Zoom event for people looking to succeed in TV journalism and receive guidance from leading figures in the field.

Each month, she features guest VIP mentors in the industry who have agreed to take questions and share tips, secrets and career advice. The mentors include Bob Costas, Gayle King, Harvey Levin, Jake Tapper, Sanja Gupta, Dan Abrams, Lisa Ling, Meghan McCain, Mika Brzezinski, Savannah Guthrie, Wolf Blitzer, Deborah Norville, Donny Deutsch, Dana Bash, Shepard Smith, Elizabeth Vargas, Jesse Palmer, S.E. Cupp, Sam Champion, Thomas Roberts and Steve Wilkos.

“Banfield” airs weeknights at 10 p.m. ET, featuring in-depth coverage of the day’s top news stories and newsmakers.

Before joining NewsNation, Banfield, an Emmy, Telly, Iris, Gracie and National Headliner Award winner, served as a legal analyst and host for Court TV, and was a regular contributor to Investigation Discovery’s ID “Murder Mystery” series.

During her 34-year career, Banfield has served as host of the A+E prime-time series, “Live Rescue,” host of “Primetime Justice with Ashleigh Banfield” on HLN, anchored “Legal View with Ashleigh Banfield” on CNN, and co-anchored the CNN morning news program, “Early Start.”

She has also served as a correspondent and anchor for ABC News, reporting for “Good Morning America,” “20/20,” “ABC World News Tonight,” and “Nightline.” Prior to ABC, Banfield anchored, hosted, and created three programs on TruTV. On MSNBC, she anchored “Ashleigh Banfield: On Location,” as well as “Newsfront: with Ashleigh Banfield and Lester Holt,” and “Homepage” with Mika Brzezinski and Gina Gaston. She also anchored and reported for The Today Show, NBC Nightly News, and Dateline.

The NAB Broadcasting Hall of Fame, into which Holt will be inducted, recognizes radio and television personalities or programs that have earned a place in broadcasting history. The complete list of past inductees is available here.

More information about the 2022 NAB Show, held April 23 – 27, 2022, in Las Vegas, is available here. 

Washington—Award-winning journalist Lester Holt will be inducted into the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) Broadcasting Hall of Fame for his contributions to broadcast television at the 2021 NAB Show held Oct. 9–13 in Las Vegas. Holt will accept the honor during the NAB Show Welcome event on Monday, October 11 at 9 a.m.

“Lester Holt’s integrity, gravitas and dedication make him one of the preeminent journalists in America today,” said NAB President and CEO Gordon Smith. “Millions of Americans turn to him every day to find out what is happening in their communities and deepen their understanding of the world. We are delighted to recognize his contributions to broadcast journalism by inducting him into the Broadcasting Hall of Fame.”

Holt serves as the anchor and managing editor of NBC’s flagship news broadcast “NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt.” He has also served as principal anchor of “Dateline NBC” since September 2011 and leads NBC News’ special reports, breaking news and primetime political coverage. He also anchors “Nightly News Kids Edition,” a digital newscast aimed to inform and inspire children, which he launched at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Holt joined NBC News in 2000 and served as an anchor of “Newsfront” and “Lester Holt Live,” a daily news show on MSNBC, before becoming co-anchor of “Weekend TODAY” in 2003 and anchored the weekend editions of “NBC Nightly News” beginning in 2007. During his time at NBC News, Holt has moderated presidential debates; reported from breaking news events in the U.S. and abroad including terrorist attacks, natural disasters and civil unrest; anchored numerous specials and investigative series; interviewed national and international newsmakers; and covered every Olympics since the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City.

Before joining NBC News, Holt began his television journalism career at local broadcast stations WCBS-TV in New York, KCBS-TV (then KNXT) in Los Angeles and WBBM-TV in Chicago, where he worked for 14 years including as the afternoon and evening news anchor.

Holt was honored with the Edward R. Murrow Lifetime Achievement Award in Journalism in March 2021. In 2019, he received the prestigious Walter Cronkite Award for Excellence in Journalism and was honored with Quinnipiac University’s Fred Friendly First Amendment Award in 2017.He has been recognized with multiple Emmy Awards and received a Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award in 2000 for his work on CBS News' broadcast 48 Hours: No Place Like Home.

Holt was also named one of the world’s “100 Most Influential People” by TIME and was named “Journalist of the Year” by the National Association of Black Journalists in 2016.

Registration for the 2021 NAB Show and the co-located Radio Show and Sales and Management Television Exchange (SMTE) is available here.

NEW YORK—Nine broadcasting luminaries were celebrated at the Giants of Broadcasting & Electronic Arts event in New York Thursday. Held at Gotham Hall, “Nightline” anchor Juju Chang emceed. The Library of American Broadcasting Foundation hosted the event.

Former “CBS Evening News” co-anchor Connie Chung, CBS Television Stations President Peter Dunn, “NBC Nightly News” anchor Lester Holt, PBS President/CEO Paula Kerger, Urban One CEO Alfred C. Liggins III, Patrick Communications founder Larry Patrick, The CW President Mark Pedowitz, Advanced Television Systems Committee President Emeritus Mark Richer and Premiere Networks President Julie Talbott were named Giants.

Chung shared a bit about getting a one-on-one with President Nixon in the midst of his Watergate mess. Doing a full impersonation, she spoke of Nixon asking the young reporter how much money she made. “Just remember one thing,” she said Nixon said. “You have to make more money!”

Chung admitted she was a bit confused by the interchange. “To this day, I don’t know what he said,” said Chung. “And that’s the way it was.”

Juju Chang then resumed hosting duties. “We expect impressions from all of you,” she quipped.

She spoke about Peter Dunn getting lost at the massive CBS Broadcast Center as a kid, visiting his father at work. “I still get lost at the CBS Broadcast Center,” said Dunn.

He admitted he wasn’t used to being labeled a giant. “Being here today makes me feel a few inches taller,” said Dunn.

Next up, Holt admitted he “broke a lot of rules along the way,” and did not enjoy a formal journalism education. “I made some spectacular mistakes and miscues,” he said. “Thank God there was no YouTube.”

He urged those in the room to “spot the raw talent” in their shops, and “make them better.”

Pedowitz, for his part, said he wasn’t a giant of anything, except, perhaps, “a giant pain in the ass” to those he works with. He said he was a little uneasy at the podium, preferring to “let the work speak for itself.”

Pedowitz said his longevity in broadcasting is an asset. “If you survive in this industry long enough,” he said, “someone might notice you.”