Peter Alexander, one of the most hard-working television news correspondents in the field, announced to viewers Saturday morning on the weekend broadcast of “Today” that he is leaving his longtime home at NBC News.
For years, Alexander has taken on the logistical challenges of co-anchoring Saturday’s “Today” and serving as NBC News’ White House correspondent. These assignments often result in him working for sources in Washington during the week and then traveling to New York City for “Today” assignments. All in all, he has been working weekends “Today” for 15 years on the White House beat since 2018.
“Peter is a widely trusted figure across NBC News and a friend to many on the Washington bureau, Today, and the broader NBC News team,” NBC News Washington bureau chief Chloe Arensberg and Today executive producer Matt Carluccio said in a memo to staff Saturday. “We are grateful for all his contributions and wish him the best.” In an emotional segment on Saturday, Alexander said he wished he could be more present for his two young children after missing more than 200 Friday nights to prepare for weekend roles.
Alexander declined to say where he will work next, but MS NOW has an 11 a.m. weekday anchor slot available. The Versant-backed network, once a sister company of NBC News, recently overhauled its daytime schedule but declined to name the 11 a.m. host, saying more details would be released at a later date.
Alexander gained attention for asking reasonable questions of President Trump and somehow causing backlash. For example, during the 2020 coronavirus pandemic, Alexander asked Trump, then in his first term in the Oval Office, “What would you say to the scared Americans who are watching you right now?” Trump lashed out. “I think you’re a terrible reporter!” he retorted.
The journalist told Variety in 2022 that he had to work at a fairly fast pace between different administrations. When President Trump first took the White House, he said he felt like he was being whipped by a “24-hour, 24-minute news cycle.” Under President Biden, White House correspondents still had a lot to digest. One of Biden’s early efforts involved a 45-minute background call to reporters. “I could have given him 25 pages,” Alexander recalls.
Alexander joined NBC News in 2004 and covered a variety of stories around the world and in the United States. He was assigned to cover the Republican presidential election in 2012 and was appointed White House correspondent the same year. After serving as national correspondent from 2014 to 2016, Alexander returned to the White House in 2017 and was named co-chief White House correspondent alongside Kristen Welker. He remained the station’s only White House correspondent when he was named co-anchor of “Today” on Saturdays, and when Welker was promoted to host of “Meet the Press.”
Alexander has expressed a desire for new challenges in recent months, according to two people familiar with the matter, but with Welker doing well on “Meet the Press,” Savannah Guthrie and Craig Melvin on “Today” and Tom Lamas on “NBC Nightly News,” there weren’t many big positions available for him to consider.
Other TV news officials are making similar moves. Llamas, who at the time was the weekend anchor for ABC’s “World News Tonight,” left ABC News in January 2021, largely because David Muir was firmly in command of weekday anchor duties on the evening news show. Rama moved to NBC News and eventually replaced Lester Holt on “Nightly.”
Although MS NOW recently gave new two-hour daytime shifts to Stephanie Rhule and Alicia Menendez, the network has a long history of offering one-hour programs related to events in Washington, D.C., with Andrea Mitchell hosting such programs for nearly two decades when the network was called MSNBC.
NBC News expects to rely on a variety of staff members to fill Alexander’s role on an interim basis.
