Chuck Todd Announces Surprise NBC News Exit Days After Jim Acosta’s Departure from CNN amid Trump-Era Shakeup

There are changes coming to NBC News.

On Friday, Jan. 31, Chuck Todd announced his decision to leave the network after nearly two decades in a memo shared with NBC News staff. The news comes a year and a half after he exited Meet the Press following a nine-year run.

In the memo, Todd began by reflecting on how his life has changed since he joined the network. “I started as political director in 2007, a month before my son was born and he’ll be graduating high school in a few months,” he wrote. “So I guess this means I’ve been here a while.”

“There’s never a perfect time to leave a place that’s been a professional home for so long,” Todd, 52, acknowledged, but added that he’s “pretty excited” about “a few new projects” that are in the works.

“I do plan to continue to share my reporting and unique perspective of covering politics with data and history as important baselines in understanding where we were, where we are and where we’re going,” he said, noting that he will still be working on his podcast, The Chuck Toddcast.

He called his tenure at NBC News, which he noted spanned “two decades and five presidents,” the “honor of a lifetime” as he reflected on the state of media today given the current political climate.

“The media has a lot of work to do to win back the trust of viewers/listeners/readers and I’m convinced the best place to start is from the bottom up,” he wrote, adding that this “is a ripe moment.” 

“The only way to fix this information eco-system is to stop whining about the various ways the social media companies are manipulating things and instead roll up our collective sleeves and start with local,” he continued. “National media can’t win trust back without having a robust partner locally and trying to game algorithms is no way to inform and report. People are craving community and that’s something national media or the major social media companies can’t do as well as local media. ”

In a statement obtained by PEOPLE, NBC News said, “We’re grateful for Chuck’s many contributions to our political coverage during his nearly two-decade career at NBC News and for his deep commitment to Meet the Press and its enduring legacy. We wish him all the best in his next endeavors.”

Todd’s departure from NBC News comes just days after fellow tenured news anchor Jim Acosta announced his sudden exit from CNN after 18 years.

“You may have seen some reports about me and the show, and after giving all of this some careful consideration and [after] weighing alternative time slots CNN offered me, I’ve decided to move on,” Acosta, 53, said during his morning broadcast on Tuesday, Jan. 28.

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His exit reportedly resulted from a clash between Acosta and network heads over a decision to move his show to a midnight time slot, which would have lowered his opportunity for viewership, sources told The New York Times.

According to the outlet, Acosta was opposed to the idea of the move, and wondered whether the network’s reorganization of its lineup was part of a move to sideline journalists that had been critical of President Donald Trump in the past. The network planned to move CNN anchors Wolf Blitzer and Pamela Brown into Acosta’s slot.