Meet the Press Rating Hits 20-Year Low

After a bad couple of weeks clunkily extracting Ann Curry as co-host of its morning infotainment show, NBC News found itself dealing with another unpleasant personnel report this week: David Gregory is on his way out as host of the network’s Sunday Beltway show, “Meet the Press.”

This week, the iPad news service The Daily ran a report that Gregory was right behind Curry in the NBC News Tumbril. The report about Gregory is not new — it surfaced a couple of months ago (at that time, Joe Scarborough was said to be his replacement). But stone-cold denials were issued by “Meet the Press” exec producer Betsy Fischer and NBC News President Steve Capus.

Another stone-cold denial was issued this week: “The rumors recklessly reported by The Daily are categorically untrue,” NBC News said in a statement. That, even though this time, The Daily reported that “Meet the Press” anchor Tim Russert was spinning in his grave over the show’s numbers. Russert ruled the Sunday Beltway show ratings until his sudden death in June of 2008. Last month, “Meet the Press’s” weekly rating hit a 20-year low among viewers between the ages of 25 and 54 — the currency of news programming. Read more >>