NBC’s Lester Holt Receives DuMont Honor
NBC Nightly News and Dateline anchor Lester Holt not only reported the news in 2016 – he made it. In September, he moderated the most-watched presidential debate in U.S. history. In December, he visited Montclair State, where the School of Communication and Media honored him with the 2016 Allen DuMont Broadcaster of the Year Award.
Holt’s first stop on campus was the set of Carpe Diem, the School’s weekly student-produced public affairs program, where show host Marc Rosenweig, a Television and Digital Media professor, interviewed him for an episode that aired in January. Holt later fielded questions from Rosenweig – on everything from the debate to fake news – at a Colloquium Series event, where he received his award. He also stopped by WMSC-FM, where student News Director Sammie Williams interviewed him.
“I would say journalism is still a higher calling,” Holt told Williams. “A free and independent press is a cornerstone of democracy. It sounds a little corny but it’s important that there’s someone who can, in an independent way, hold people in power and institutions accountable – to shine light in dark places.”