NBC News chairman Andy Lack addressed the recent hiring of former Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly during an interview at the IESE Business School in New York yesterday. Kelly is set to host an hour in the morning, and will have her own news magazine show in prime time starting later in 2017.
According to Politico, Lack said that he “didn’t spend a lot of time” looking at her work on Fox News, instead focusing on what she wanted to do at the Peacock Network.
“She is a great journalist, I didn’t invest in her because of her ‘star power,’” Lack said. “Megyn Kelly is a serious journalist, her work on Fox commanded attention because of who she was interviewing, how she was interviewing them, and the information she was getting every night on that broadcast. She wanted to do a broadcast with broader audiences that only we on a broadcast platform could provide.”
Advertisement“We found that I thought it was a good fit for her at NBC,” Lack added. “I didn’t focus on what the Fox sensibility is versus what the NBC News sensibility is. I did want to know that I thought she would fit into the NBC culture.”
A number of NBC Newsers including Savannah Guthrie and Chuck Todd have expressed support for Kelly, and are excited for her to join the NBC News family.
Welcome @megynkelly! No disrespect to others, but hope you are already realizing, there’s no place like NBC. Can’t wait to work together
— Chuck Todd (@chucktodd) January 3, 2017
Big welcome to @megynkelly – awesome get for @NBCNews!! May I not be nine months pregnant in the next picture we take side-by-side! pic.twitter.com/Sg63G6Y2wE
— Savannah Guthrie (@SavannahGuthrie) January 3, 2017