NBC News has opened its new Washington, DC bureau. Located near Capitol Hill, the bureau hosted Meet the Press with Chuck Todd Jan. 24. Covering six floors and 80,000 square feet, with seven studios, the bureau will host nine programs, including Meet the Press, Weekend Today and MSNBC’s The ReidOut with Joy Reid.
“This is an outstanding new home for our Washington-based journalism and broadcasting,” said Cesar Conde, chairman of NBCU News Group. “Bringing together our teams across NBC News, MSNBC, CNBC and Noticias Telemundo best positions us to cover every storyline coming out of DC. I’m looking forward to the day when we can all safely collaborate and work together in person in these new spaces. Until then, we will continue to adapt and innovate, producing stellar reporting and programming with the majority of our workforce operating remotely.”
The bureau is home base for special programming for Today and NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt, NBC News special reports, and MSNBC special coverage for events such as inaugurations and State of the Union addresses. More than 400 employees are based there.
NBC News had been at 4001 Nebraska Avenue in Washington for the past 60 years. WRC Washington will continue to broadcast from there.
Ten-foot floor-to-ceiling windows circle the main first-floor studio of the new facility. The words “Accuracy,” “Courage,” “Freedom” and “Truth,” and quotes from former presidents, scholars and authors, are etched into columns throughout the studio and newsroom spaces.
“For more than seventy years, Meet the Press has been the place where presidents, policy makers, foreign leaders and those in power have come to speak directly to American viewers,” said Chuck Todd. “From every U.S. president since John F. Kennedy to international leaders like Fidel Castro and Benjamin Netanyahu to Sen. John McCain and President-elect Joe Biden’s more than 50 appearances each, these historic moments and interviews have all happened on Meet the Press. This year, we will continue to be the gold standard of Sunday public affairs programming with the same sensibilities and mission, only now from a 21st century studio with the latest technologies and broadcast capabilities.”
