KRISTEN WELKER

For a news organization, NBC is leaning aggressively into education.

CBS' hiring of former Trump administration official Mick Mulvaney and MSNBC's discussions about bringing on White House press secretary Jen Psaki after she's left the Biden administration have troubled some journalists at the networks.

NBC News' Kristen Welker is revealing her struggles with infertility.

President Joe Biden listens to a question during a news conference in the East Room of the White House, Thursday, March 25, 2021, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)NEW YORK – Joe Biden's first presidential news conference was notable for what was missing after predecessor Donald Trump: no contentious exchanges with reporters, no Fox News and no questions about COVID-19. Before taking a question, Biden announced he was setting a new goal of having 200 million vaccine doses for the coronavirus administered during his first 100 days in office. Trump on Thursday accused the White House reporters of throwing “softballs” to Biden. AdThat quickly became an issue at Fox, where the chyron “Biden Snubs Fox News during First News Conf” was put onscreen.

NEW YORK – Phil Griffin is stepping down as the longtime president of MSNBC, to be replaced early next year by rising NBC News executive Rashida Jones. Griffin, 64, has worked at NBC News for 35 years and has been president of MSNBC since 2008. Jones, who has been with NBC News for the past seven years, is currently chief of breaking news and major events at the network. She just led the network's coverage of the 2020 presidential election and the team preparing Kristen Welker as moderator of the third presidential debate. Cesar Conde, the new chairman of the NBC Universal News Group, has made diversity one of his top priorities.

Trebek made no secret of the fight with pancreatic cancer that claimed his life on Nov. 8. Here are a selection of the defining moments of 2020 from the perspective of The Associated Press' media and television writers. ALEX TREBEKThe “Jeopardy!” host made no secret of the fight with pancreatic cancer that ultimately claimed his life on Nov. 8. Millions of viewers will see the story resolved on their own time, creating countless individual moments rather than a communal one. The actors were conciliatory toward each other about what occurred during a marital separation, but Will Smith couldn’t resist revising his wife’s description.

FILE - Moderator Chris Wallace of Fox News speaks as President Donald Trump and Democratic presidential candidate former Vice President Joe Biden participate in the first presidential debate in Cleveland on Sept. 29, 2020. Leaders of the Commission on Presidential Debates and moderators of all three debates gathered for a remote debrief Monday night. (Olivier Douliery/Pool via AP, File)NEW YORK – Nearly two months later, Chris Wallace can't bring himself to watch a rerun of the disastrous first presidential debate between President Donald Trump and Democrat Joe Biden. George Washington University brought leaders of the Commission on Presidential Debates and moderators of all three encounters together for a remote debrief Monday night. It was a boisterous, uncomfortable fall for the debate commission, which dropped the second of three planned presidential sessions when Trump refused to agree to a remote debate following his COVID diagnosis.

Democratic presidential candidate former Vice President Joe Biden speaks during the final presidential debate at Belmont University, Thursday, Oct. 22, 2020, in Nashville, Tenn., with President Donald Trump. (Jim Bourg/Pool via AP)

“I don’t look at this in terms of the way he does — blue states and red states,” Biden said. And closer to home, the former vice president laced into the Trump administration's policy of separating children from their parents trying to illegally cross the southern border. “He thinks he’s running against somebody else," the former vice president said. Biden declared the discussion about family entanglements “malarkey” and accused Trump of not wanting to talk about the substantive issues. Turning to the camera and the millions of people watching at home, Biden said, “It’s not about his family and my family.

Moderator Kristen Welker of NBC News listens as President Donald Trump and Democratic presidential candidate former Vice President Joe Biden participate in the final presidential debate at Belmont University, Thursday, Oct. 22, 2020, in Nashville, Tenn. (Jim Bourg/Pool via AP)

“I'm jealous,” said Fox News Channel's Chris Wallace, moderator of the first debate. When the candidates were allowed to more directly engage, Welker was generally successful in striking the balance between giving them room and cutting off the discussion when it was becoming unproductive. “But you're the president,” Welker replied. But she received praise for her performance from across the political spectrum, including conservative personalities Ben Shapiro and Brit Hume. “Kristen Welker is putting on a master class on how to moderate a presidential debate,” tweeted Philip Rucker, a Washington Post reporter.

President Donald Trump, accompanied by first lady Melania Trump, waves as he walks from Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House, early Friday, Oct. 23, 2020, in Washington. Trump is returning from a debate in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)WASHINGTON – The Latest on the presidential campaign (all times local):1:30 a.m.President Donald Trump is taking his own advice and plans to vote in person in the presidential election on Saturday in Florida. Read more:— High stakes for Trump, Biden heading into final debate— Viewers’ Guide: After chaotic 1st debate, Trump, Biden try again— Trump posts unedited ’60 Minutes’ interview before it airs___HERE’S WHAT ELSE IS HAPPENING:10:55 p.m. ___10:05 p.m.President Donald Trump is offering rare praise to a member of the media: the moderator of the final presidential debate. Most of the attendees appeared to be wearing masks, though some proudly declared they would not while holding flags supporting President Donald Trump.

Production crew member stand on stage ahead of the final presidential debate between Republican candidate President Donald Trump and Democratic candidate former Vice President Joe Biden, Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2020, in Nashville, Tenn. The debate will take place Thursday, Oct. 22 at the Curb Event Center at Belmont University. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

Production crew member stand on stage ahead of the final presidential debate between Republican candidate President Donald Trump and Democratic candidate former Vice President Joe Biden, Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2020, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)After meeting last month in perhaps the most chaotic debate in modern history, President Donald Trump and his Democratic rival, Joe Biden, will take the stage Thursday to give it another go. Biden and Trump instead participated in dueling town halls on competing television networks. CORONAVIRUSSince the last debate, Trump was diagnosed with and hospitalized for COVID-19. Welker will be the first Black woman to serve as the moderator of a presidential debate since Carole Simpson in 1992.

“I don’t look at this in terms of the way he does — blue states and red states,” Biden said. Turning to foreign policy, Biden accused Trump of dealing with a “thug” while holding summits with the leader of North Korea, Kim Jong Un. And closer to home, the former vice president laced into the Trump administration's policy of separating children from their parents trying to illegally cross the southern border. “He thinks he’s running against somebody else," the former vice president said. Biden declared the discussion about family entanglements “malarkey” and accused Trump of not wanting to talk about the substantive issues.

Mock debaters perform onstage as preparations take place for the second Presidential debate at Belmont University, Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2020, in Nashville, Tenn. President Donald Trump and Democratic presidential candidate, former Vice President Joe Biden are scheduled to debate Thursday, Oct. 22. Biden, who has stepped off the campaign trail in favor of debate prep, expects Trump to get intensely personal. The Biden campaign has rejected Trump’s assertion of wrongdoing and noted that Biden’s schedule did not show a meeting with the Burisma official. Trump campaign communications director Tim Murtaugh said, "Trump is still the political outsider, while Biden is the ultimate insider. ““The mute is very unfair,” he said Wednesday as he left the White House for a campaign rally.

On Thursday, Oct. 22, 2020, Welker is scheduled to moderate the second and last Presidential debate between President Donald Trump and Democratic presidential candidate former Vice President Joe Biden. The NBC News White House correspondent is scheduled to moderate Thursday's second and last session between Trump and Democrat Joe Biden. While Welker was one of four questioners at a Democratic presidential debate last fall, this is by far the 44-year-old journalist's biggest stage. She's the first Black woman to moderate a presidential debate since Carole Simpson in 1992. Andrea Mitchell, the NBC News correspondent who moderated last fall's Democratic debate with Welker, Rachel Maddow and Ashley Parker, doubted her colleague would be intimidated.

President Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally at Erie International Airport Tom Ridge Field in Erie, Pa, Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2020. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)If you need help with the Public File, call 407-291-6000.

Democrat Joe Biden took the opposite approach, holing up for debate prep in the leadup to Thursday's faceoff in Nashville. You will have a depression the likes of which you have never seen,” the president said in Erie. Before leaving the White House, Trump taped part of an interview with CBS’ “60 Minutes” that apparently ended acrimoniously. This raises the stakes for his campaign’s more aggressive outreach to new rural and small-town voters across the industrial north. But her chief of staff, Stephanie Grisham, said Tuesday that Mrs. Trump has a lingering cough and would not accompany the president.

President Donald Trump arrives to speak to a campaign rally at Middle Georgia Regional Airport, Friday, Oct. 16, 2020, in Macon, Ga. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)If you need help with the Public File, call 407-291-6000.

That’s well short of the $383 million his Democratic opponent, Joe Biden, and the Democratic National Committee reported raising last month. ___HERE’S WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE PRESIDENTIAL RACE:President Donald Trump is holding rallies in Ocala, Florida, and Macon, Georgia, on Friday night. ___5 p.m.President Donald Trump is predicting a “red wave” of Republican voting in Florida. Most polls show a close race in the important battleground state that both the Republican incumbent and Democrat Joe Biden are courting heavily. ___2:35 p.m.President Donald Trump says he’s moving “heaven and earth” to protect older people from the coronavirus.

(Olivier Douliery/Pool vi AP)NEW YORK – The presidential debate commission says it will soon adopt changes to its format to avoid a repeat of the disjointed first meeting between President Donald Trump and Democrat Joe Biden. The next presidential debate is a town hall format scheduled for Oct. 15 in Miami. That was the most-watched presidential debate ever. He called on the debate commission to act. Wallace is the only presidential debate moderator this cycle with prior experience, after receiving praise for handling the final Clinton-Trump debate in 2016.

Democratic presidential candidate former Vice President Joe Biden, speaks in Wilmington, Del., Wednesday, Sept. 2, 2020, about school reopenings. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)If you need help with the Public File, call 407-291-6000.

WASHINGTON Representatives from Fox News, C-SPAN and NBC will moderate the upcoming debates between President Donald Trump and Democratic challenger Joe Biden. According to the nonpartisan Commission on Presidential Debates, the moderators will be:Chris Wallace of Fox News for the debate Sept. 29 in Cleveland. Steve Scully of C-SPAN for the town meeting debate Oct. 15 in Miami. NBCs Kristen Welker for the debate Oct. 22 in Nashville, Tennessee. Trump's team has tried to pressure the commission to move up the debates, citing increased use of early and absentee voting because of the coronavirus.

(Scott Olson/Pool via AP)NEW YORK After a night in which television struggled to keep up with the Democrats' virtual convention, networks were rewarded with the most traditional of political events a powerful speech. This will not be like any convention we have seen before, ever, CNNs Anderson Cooper said at the opening of his networks coverage. Segments spent on broadcast networks previewing speeches by Obama and Sanders seemed like time-wasters when there were other things to show. Wallace's colleague, Dana Perino, stumbled into an unfortunate word choice in an effort to convey enthusiasm for Obama's address. Four years ago, when Hillary Clinton was nominated, 25 million people tuned in to the first night.