BREAKING: ‘Today’ Announces NEW HOST As Familiar Face QUITS RIVAL NETWORK To Join Morning Show
NBC’s Today is adding a familiar television journalist to its team, with Nikki Battiste confirming that she is leaving CBS News to begin a new chapter at NBC.
Battiste will become the anchor of Early Today and will also contribute to Today. Although she is joining a different network, the move is more than a simple change of employer for the longtime journalist. As she explained while announcing the news, NBC is where her career first began.
Today has been part of NBC’s morning schedule since 1952 and has featured many presenters during its long run. Its current weekday lineup includes Savannah Guthrie, Craig Melvin, Al Roker, Carson Daly, Jenna Bush Hager, Dylan Dreyer and Sheinelle Jones.
The weekend team includes Laura Jarrett, Joe Fryer, Angie Lassman and Willie Geist.
Battiste will not directly replace one of those presenters. Instead, she will anchor NBC’s early-morning news programme, Early Today, while also appearing as a contributor across Today and NBC News.
Her arrival follows nearly a decade at CBS News, where she worked on several of the network’s morning and primetime programmes. During that period, Battiste became a recognisable face to viewers through her reporting and appearances across CBS platforms.
Battiste announced the move herself through a social media post, telling followers that she was excited to join NBC News.
“I’m thrilled to share that I will be joining NBC News as anchor of Early Today,” she wrote. “I will also contribute to Today.”
The accompanying photograph showed Battiste already embracing her new workplace. She wore an NBC baseball cap while holding a mug featuring the Today logo.
Battiste said she felt honoured and grateful for the opportunity to work with the teams at Early Today, Today and NBC News.
For her, however, the announcement carried an additional personal meaning. Long before she became a correspondent at CBS News, Battiste started her journalism career at NBC.
She first worked as an NBC Page before becoming a production assistant at Today. Returning to the network therefore feels like a homecoming rather than an entirely unfamiliar move.
“This is special for me… a true homecoming,” Battiste explained. “I began my journalism career as an NBC Page and then a production assistant at Today. NBC has always been near and dear to me.”
She described the opportunity as a dream come true and thanked the NBC teams that had welcomed her back.
The move brings Battiste’s career full circle. She is returning to the programme where she once worked behind the scenes, but this time she will appear in front of the camera as part of NBC’s news coverage.
Battiste also thanked her family for continuing to support her as she prepared for the transition.
She told viewers that they could expect to see her on NBC, NBC News and NBC News Now beginning during the week of August 10.
Although Battiste is leaving CBS News, her announcement received warm responses from some of the people she worked with at the network.
CBS News journalist Vladimir Duthiers congratulated her in the comments, describing the announcement as “the best news ever.”
Fans were equally enthusiastic about her return to television. One person said they were excited to see Battiste back on their screen, while another wrote that NBC was lucky to have her.
Several commenters focused on the personal significance of the move, calling it a major homecoming and celebrating the fact that she was returning to the organisation where her journalism career began.
The positive reaction reflected the audience Battiste built during her years at CBS News. While moving between competing networks can sometimes create an awkward departure, the public messages shared by her former colleagues and viewers were overwhelmingly supportive.
Her new position will place her at the centre of NBC’s early-morning news coverage. Early Today covers major national and international stories for viewers beginning their day, while her contributor role on Today will give her opportunities to report for one of America’s longest-running morning programmes.
Battiste’s move also gives NBC an experienced journalist who already understands both morning television and the demands of breaking-news reporting.
For Battiste, the opportunity represents something even more personal. She is returning to a place that helped launch her career, years after working behind the scenes as a young production assistant.
Now, she will return as an anchor and contributor.
Battiste is expected to make her debut during the week of August 10, when viewers will begin seeing her across Early Today, Today, NBC News and NBC News Now.
After nearly a decade at CBS, her next chapter brings her back to the network where everything started.
