Homeroom with Sal & Lester Holt - Friday, August 14

Hi everyone, Sal here from Khan Academy. Welcome to our homeroom live stream. Very excited about the conversation we're about to have with Lester Holt.

Uh, before we jump into that conversation, I will make a few of my standard announcements.

Uh, one, just a reminder to folks that Khan Academy is a not-for-profit. If you're in a position to do so, please think about making a donation that can be done at khanacademy.org/donate.

I also want to give special thanks to several organizations that stepped up over the last couple of months when they saw that we were already running under the deficit pre-COVID and that the deficit only grew as we saw 300% of the traffic we normally see, as all of the folks are leaning on us for, uh, as we figure out distance learning together.

A special thanks to Bank of America, Google.org, AT&T, Fastly, Novartis, and the Amgen Foundation. Not the family foundation.

I also want to announce, uh, I announced this on a previous live stream that we're taking select versions of this live stream and turning them into a podcast. So, if you want to, you know, watch or maybe you shouldn't be watching; if you want to listen to this, maybe while you're in the car or some other place, we're taking a subset of our conversations, editing them a little bit for podcast, and making them available so you can wherever you, uh, you can get your podcast.

Uh, hopefully you'll see the Homeroom with Sal shortly.

So with that, I'm really excited and honored, uh, to introduce someone that you're probably already familiar with, someone who you've probably already seen in your home, Lester Holt, anchor of the NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt.

Uh, Lester, thanks so much for joining us.

"Happy to join you, Sal. And, uh, yes, people watch me at home, and it's basically from my home to their home these days."

Yeah, I think there's something nice about that, you know?

"Yeah, I know. You know, it's above my pay grade, but you might want to continue this. It's very intimate in a nice way."

Well, you know, it's a lot more responsibility than I'm used to. Normally, I go into a big studio, and I don't think about cameras and sound and lighting and all that stuff. Now I do. And, uh, you know, now my big fear is tripping over a plug, which has been done, and threatening our signal out of here.

But, uh, you know, I always tell people that as an international news organization, we're used to taking the broadcast on the road to far-flung corners of the world in inhospitable places.

So, in many ways, this wasn't a huge challenge for us. But in a sustaining way to do our broadcast like this, uh, has been, uh, it's been interesting. And I certainly miss the, you know, face-to-face collaboration with my colleagues.

"I can imagine. I mean, you're doing it at much higher stakes. Before I even do this live stream, I go through my house yelling, 'Get off a live stream! Get off of Netflix! I'm about to get off a Zoom, everybody!' So, I could have been... I have a dog that occasionally pipes in, and then last week I was watching my grandsons, and the one-year-old, I'm on the phone, he runs into my little makeshift studio, and of all the things he touches, it's the button that could knock me off the air. And I look on the screen, and it says, 'Do you really wish to disconnect?' I'm like, 'No!' So, it's always something. Everyone's going through it on some level."

No, it's really interesting, and so there's a bunch of stuff I'm excited to talk to you about.

And I do want to encourage anyone watching on Facebook or YouTube or social media generally — every now and then, it shows up in other places I didn't expect — put questions, and we have team members who are going to surface the questions for Lester and myself if it's relevant.

And maybe a good place to start, which I think is really exciting because we have a lot of young people watching this and a lot of parents who watch this, is not only are you the anchor of the NBC Nightly News, you're also the anchor of the NBC Nightly News Kids Edition, which is available online if someone were to search that, look it up, which I love.

I've actually watched many, many episodes of it. Tell us why you did this and what this is.

"Well, this was early on in the pandemic, and, you know, things were going south very quickly. We were all being overwhelmed, and I remember doing the newscast every night and thinking, you know, there are families watching this right now, and the numbers and the stories we're telling are grim. And these video diaries and these healthcare workers and you're one of the other producers on the broadcast said, you know, maybe we should do a kids' show geared toward them. And we all looked at each other like, of course, that's exactly what we should be doing.

So, it started out very organic, just a handful of folks kind of scrapping together and trying to learn as we go along about a way to present some of this very heavy stuff with this pandemic, uh, to kids in a digestible way.

I mean, you know, kids aren't stupid. They're watching what's going on around them; they're seeing the confusion and distress among the adults. And we wanted to, you know, do it in bite sizes.

So, we've kept that up, and we've tried to also move along with the news. So, of course, we covered, you know, the protests, the Black Lives Matter movement, and, you know, things happening in space and other things that might be of specific interest to kids. And we like to feature kids too — some of the inspiring things that they're doing, how they've, you know, figured out ways to learn at home and just kind of adapt to our reality."

No, and I'll once again say it's really interesting, and I've actually been very impressed. You take questions from kids, and the questions that they ask are oftentimes better than some of what you see in the, you know, the experts asking on television generally.

You know, I think one of the really interesting things that a lot of folks wonder, you know, and I used to wonder this when I would see a Lester Holt on TV, uh, how did you become Lester Holt? How do you become kind of this trusted, you know, go-to person for a whole country or for the world?

You know, did you think you were going to do this when you were a teenager, when you were younger, or what? You know, there's a question here from New Permit on YouTube: you know, what were your struggles you encountered? A lot of people think it's, you know, I wanted to do it, and then it just happened all of a sudden. I'd love to hear a little bit about your journey.

"Um, things just unfolded for me. I did want to be in broadcasting from a very early age. I had an older brother, eight years older than me, who had a brief stint in radio. And, you know, he took me down to the radio station one day, and I thought, this is very, very cool. And so that's what I really wanted to do was radio and be a DJ.

At the age of 17, during my senior year in high school, I got a job at a country and western radio station in Sacramento, California — midnight to six on Saturdays and Sundays, uh, you know, playing records and, you know, reading the news every hour.

At the same time, I was got an internship, um, it wasn't even a real internship because I was still in high school, but I managed to kind of talk my way into the NBC station in Sacramento, the TV station KCRA, and kind of hung around there and helped out in the public affairs department and just trying to soak up as much as I could.

Uh, started college, did two years into college, and landed a job in San Francisco at an all-news radio station, so I dropped out. Never went back. Um, kids, don't do what I do. Don't do what I do.

But, uh, you know, life kind of worked out; did radio, um, went to New York when I was 22 maybe? Yeah, about 22, and landed a job at the CBS TV station here. Then stayed with CBS, went to Los Angeles, and back to New York and Chicago, uh, all in local news, and then came to MSNBC in 2000.

And it was the beginning of this incredible five-year period of news. I got there, um, it's just kind of back to the future, but during the Biden, I'm sorry, during the Gore Bush presidential race, and of course, the recount in Florida.

And from that, uh, before long we were, you know, staring at 9/11, the invasion of Afghanistan, the invasion of Iraq. That was on that really brief period of time, and I was principal anchor for a lot of that.

And then kind of worked my way across the river to NBC News and, you know, Weekend Today, Weekend Nightly News, Dateline, and, uh, finally five years ago, landed in this job."

And what would you say? I mean, that's actually an incredible journey, the fact that you were doing so much even from such a young age, and you kind of knew this.

I am curious, you know, what — and this is sometimes hard for people to answer because they don't want to seem, you know, they want to be modest about it, but please don't be modest. What do you think, uh, you know, allowed you to kind of stand out and eventually, you know, essentially have the top job in broadcasting?

"At least from my vantage point, you know, I played the long game, uh, and I, you know, I just took it a step at a time and really never believed in you could be this like overnight success without kind of paying your dues.

And a lot of people that I worked with talked about the importance of paying your dues, learning your craft, and just listening.

Um, I was blessed with good mentors. Um, you know, people who gave me sage advice and who admonished me, you know, when I got something wrong, or the script didn't make any sense, or, you know, whatever it was. And I just tried to give everything in each job, and then opportunities would present themselves.

You know, one guy I worked for said, um, you've got to be ready when doors open because doors open at times you don't expect, um, circumstances you don't expect, but you got to be ready to walk through them.

That's kind of what my philosophy has always been. I've always said to people, um, you know, before I got this job, I was anchoring, uh, three jobs at NBC News, and I said sometimes we're so busy climbing the ladder that we fail to like stop and pause on a run and kind of look out and enjoy the view.

And, you know, I was in a place, um, you know, that wasn't necessarily the top of the game, but for me, I was really enjoying what I was doing. And so when the opportunity came to anchor Nightly News, I was prepared to walk through that door.

Um, but at the same time, I was, you know, I was perfectly happy doing what I was doing before. I love covering news, you know, I love, you know, taking my personal curiosity and making that, uh, my profession, and I just, you know, every move has been, I've been tickled by it; it's been, hey, this is great! It's a new opportunity, a new chance.

But I try to think of that, you know, if that's the last job I had, it's a great job."

And what do you think, you know, when you look at other people, young people especially, who are coming through the ranks? Maybe, you know, the 20 to 30 years before, you know, an earlier version of yourself, where do you sometimes look at people like, okay, that young'un's gonna make something out of themselves because of X, Y, and Z, and that person's probably not doing it the right way?

"Yeah, I do see, you know, there's, I mean, whenever I meet someone who says, 'I want to be an anchor,' I'm like, 'Uh, you know what you want to be is you want to be a reporter.'

Another mentor I had that, you know, being a reporter is the highest calling of what we do. And I say that to say this, that when I'm sitting on that set every night, um, you know, yes, it's prestigious; it's the top of the game, you know, it pays more money and a lot of good things about it.

But the most rewarding and interesting and fascinating moments of my career have not been sitting at an anchor desk; they've been out on the field with camera crews and a pen and pad and, you know, fighting deadlines and whatever hurricanes or, you know, toxic leaks whatever the story is, just being there and covering the story.

That's what we do. I am always going to be a reporter first. As I said, being an anchor, it's the big deal; it's a celebrated job, very cool to get my name on the wall and all that stuff.

But it's all about, it's all about the art of reporting."

Do you still get to do some of that reporting? Is that, you know, is that part of your deal that you'll be able to maybe do some travel or do some investigative-type reporting?

"I do. I am one of the hallmarks of this show is we take it on the road a lot for big stories, be it a natural disaster or terrorists or attacks or, you know, big, big stories. It's been difficult for us to do that, uh, during the pandemic, you know, traveling and, you know, and quarantines and things of, you know, make things different.

I did travel, though, um, you know, to Minneapolis, um, you know, during the, um, George Floyd story. We had traveled to Texas for the funeral there, so we've gotten out some, but, you know, we're still making the adjustments.

But yeah, I still like to get out and tell stories, and, you know, I still work for Dateline. I'm sorry, I just hit the camera. Um, you know, I still do, uh, Dateline projects; I'm working on one right now.

Um, so that's what I love to do. And like all of us, we're kind of figuring out, you know, what's possible, how do we adjust, um, you know, how we work, uh, in this pandemic, but we're figuring it out."

And there's an interesting question; it's kind of related to that, um, from Facebook, Ellen H. Ullman. Uh, and you know, I guess the context for this is, you know, the news — when you watch the news, you learn about, you know, if, God forbid, a plane goes down or something bad happens or, you know, death counts from the pandemic, that tends to be oftentimes like the leading news.

Um, but the question from Alan is, can we have some good news shows too? Wouldn't that be amazing? Is there kind of a movement maybe to try to surface, you know, not just the seven really bad things that happen in the world, but maybe, you know, get people in a good mood?

And I say that, actually, my mom, I think, is addicted to the news, and sometimes it gets to her.

"No, listen, I tell people all the time they look at me, really. I say, you know, there are days that I do the newscasts, and I walk out of the studio, wow, that was tough! Like nobody lived in that broadcast.

Um, there, you know, we can't obviously dictate — I mean, some days are just super heavy. But what we can do is try and have an arc of stories in the broadcast. And that's what we aim to do.

So yes, there will be, you know, whatever the top story is, um, there may be, you know, then stories are dealing with the particular issues going on. But we always like to end the broadcast on something uplifting, some story, you know, we have with different franchises; Inspiring America is one of them, and stories where, you know, people are going above and beyond.

They are taking on an issue by themselves; they are reaching out to their fellow man, and we, you know, I've had people stop me and ask about that. I love those stories at the end, and sometimes I see, you know, tears in your eyes, and yeah, that happens. I'm a big crier sometimes.

Um, but I think it's really important that we find ways, as often as we can. Again, we can't always dictate what the news day will bring, but find ways to kind of center people on the good that we all share, that, you know, we hear so much about the divisiveness in this country, and it is real.

Um, but there's also, you know, just a lot of people who aren't asking what your political stripes are, and they just want to help, and they just want to make a difference in this world, and it's part of our job to recognize them."

Yeah, no, it makes a lot of sense. And I mean, related to that, I mean, this is a really interesting question from Facebook, Faye Marie: how do you keep up with what's important yet not get overwhelmed by the volume of news out there?

Um, okay, I'm just gonna tell — is it Faye? Is that the person?

"Faye."

Okay, sometimes I don't watch.

Um, and I say, I couldn't say that, but there I, you know, during the, when we were first going through the beginning of this pandemic, you know, I would have friends, you know, say things like that, 'I can't handle it,' and you start to worry about, you know, people seriously about people's ability to deal with this.

And I would say sometimes you just got to walk away from it; you've got to turn off the TV. And that's the last message I know you would want to hear from me, and I hope you'll watch me and then turn it off later.

Uh, but what I mean by — I don't mean to be flippant, but I think you do have to give yourself a breather and sometimes take it in small doses.

Um, you know, we've been through some really difficult times we've put in the pandemic, um, the protests in the streets, you know, struggling the Black Lives Matter movement. Um, these are all important things that we're struggling with in different ways.

You know, you've got the, the politics firing at us right now. You need to be informed; you can't, you know, you can't totally unplug. But, but take breaks, give yourself a moment, and try and digest these things.

It's helpful to me. Um, believe it or not, there's sometimes, you know, during the day when I'm working, of course I have to be plugged in, but there are some weekends where I say, you know, I'm gonna take the morning off.

Now, I have my phone; if something big happens, you know, I can watch. I get this text alert still; I know what's going on in the news, but I do give myself breathers, and I think it could be healthy."

Yeah, I couldn't agree more, and I think if anything, it can give you more perspective. If you have a breather, you can digest it and think about it more as a historian than someone, you know, just caught up in the moment. So it makes a ton of sense.

Uh, you know, there's another question, I think from people hearing your, I think, pretty impressive narrative, especially in how much motivation and how kind of an agency you exercise when you're young.

This is from YouTube. Wakrina M says, you found your passion pretty early. What advice do you give for kids regarding passionate careers? What should they look for? How do they know?

"I think I had several passions. You know, music is one of my other passions. I'm a bass player, and I used to play in a band. I say used to; we're not able to get together anymore.

Um, but I, you know, I was blessed to, you know, be raised by, you know, two wonderful parents who basically instilled this idea that we can do anything and that, um, you don't have to take no for an answer and that you can live your dreams, and they were very supportive of me.

And so I never, I never really questioned whether I could do anything, and I don't say that from a point of arrogance, but it was a sense of if I apply myself, if this is really what I want to do, um, then I can do it.

And then, you know, I would spend so much time studying. Uh, I wanted to be on the radio, so I would sit — this sounds a little pathetic now — but as a, you know, 15, 16-year-old, I'd sit in my bedroom with, um, well, a record player, um, a tape recorder, a microphone, and a newspaper, and I would play radio.

I would, um, I would talk up a record. You know, I'd give the weather. Sacramento weather is going to be a high of 75 today at a low of 55. We've got more coming up, but first, we got a song from whoever it was, and I would do the whole DJ thing and then go locate.

Let's take a news break right now, and I would give the headlines.

Um, I would — this is terrible — I used to take, uh, you know, unsanitary now, but I would take pencils and put up in my mouth and work on my diction. And then in high school, um, I got a chance to do the morning announcements every day.

I was the guy, uh, that would, you know, it was the Cordova Lancers. So good morning, Lancers. It's 8:30, and here's what's happening: Spanish club is meeting in room E2, you know, after-school today, uh, soccer has been canceled, whatever. I would do that whole thing.

And then I would, because I was in this whole DJ mode, I would try and do it like a real radio newscast.

Um, and so it would always end, you know, and that's what's happening. It's 8:38, and you're up to date, and that was my thing.

So, you know, the warrior total nerd I was? My goodness, what did your friends — did your friends give you — were your friends like, 'Yeah, I know that guy,' or did they give you a hard time because they thought, 'Hey, this guy's, you know, sounding like a real DJ?'"

No, I think people got into it. I mean, at least they told me they got it. I don't know, maybe they were talking behind my back, but, uh, but it's a long question.

But the idea was, man, I — this is not what I wanted to do, and I knew I was gonna have to, you know, figure it out. And so, you know, I got books, and I listened, and, you know, to radio stations I would, um, I remember going down to Los Angeles, a big market with my tape recorder and recording all the big radio stations there and then taking them back and studying them.

Um, that was really, you know, how I kind of lived out this passion."

Wow, no, I think that's a huge takeaway for kids. I mean, anyone, any young person listening is just get deep in whatever you're trying to do, and I guess if it doesn't resonate, you know, find something else.

But yeah, that's, that's — I mean, that's a wonderful.

A lot of people are asking about your bass playing. I mean, do you still play bass? And I mean, do you literally, like, show up at gigs and like, on bass, it's Lester Holt, also anchor of the Nightly News?

"Well, I was listening to a band, and I suddenly — the bass stood out to me, and I said, 'I love that sound.' And I decided I wanted to play bass.

And once again, this, you know, Mr. Obsessive here, um, I saved up some money from delivering, uh, papers, and I went to a pawn shop in downtown Sacramento. I bought this, you know, cheap bass and a couple of books and went on and taught myself the bank and started playing in the junior high jazz band and jazz choir.

And then I did that in high school and, uh, part of college as well. So I play, um, I play electric bass, um, and I play the big upright bass as well.

Uh, I did — I had a friend that used to do gigs here in Manhattan; he'd ask me to come sometimes and join him and, you know, sit in on a set and back them up on bass. And sometimes it was very fun because they would announce the group, you know, during the break, and they'd say, 'In on bass, you know, Lester Holt.' You can see people in the audience go, 'Oh my God, that is him!' You know, not expected to be there.

And then a couple of years ago, we formed a band at NBC. Um, we call ourselves the Rough Cuts because most of the members are video editors from Dateline NBC, but we're all NBC folks, and we would sneak out on, you know, Monday, Tuesday mornings, go to a studio in midtown Manhattan and rehearse.

And we would do, um, you know, gigs here in town from time to time, and, uh, we're all kind of in this depression because we obviously can't meet and play right now.

But, uh, I always say, you know, so so TV news is my passion right now. I always say it's important to have something else in your life, though, because I never want to be — I never want this to define me, that, 'Oh, he is the anchorman.'

It's what I do, but I'm also the musician, and there's other facets of my life.

So I think it's healthy for all of us to discover something else in our lives so we're not pigeonholed in some other role necessarily. Not that I mind being the anchor."

And what type of music do you play?

"Our band plays, uh, mostly pop and rock covers. Um, funny thing is, jazz is kind of my main thing, jazz and pop, so I was never a big rocker.

So when I got together with this group, they started, you know, throwing out these songs, and fortunately, I have a really good ear, and I can pick things up pretty quickly, but a lot of them I've never heard of. We're playing songs I've never heard of, and I come home and tell my wife that, yeah, we're doing this song, you know, and, uh, it's pretty good. She goes, 'Yeah, yeah, as many discovered back in 1979 or whatever!'

Um, so I always think the group has kind of helped me embrace my inner rocker, uh, but it's been a lot, a lot of fun."

No, I could only imagine.

So folks who are regular viewers know that I used to be in a band in high school, but I suspect I was not as talented as you are. I was the lead singer, and singing is a very generous term for what I did, but it — yeah, it's — I not — it was it was heavy metal. Now I'm much more calm; I do more like, you know, folksy acoustic-type stuff.

One question, there's a couple questions on this dimension, and, you know, I'm curious because, you know, it seems like the media generally has evolved over the last several decades.

You know, there's kind of the Walter Cronkite era back in the day. Um, do you see that it has evolved? Do you see that, you know, the media is kind of the fourth estate as, you know, kind of holding government accountable, making sure that our democracy is informed?

You know, with the polarization and sometimes people kind of being able to pick and choose what they get, where do you see the — where we are in that narrative for the role of media?

"Well, I think our role is still the same, obviously, to, you know, especially at the network level, to kind of, you know, be the newscast of record every night to kind of tell you, you know, what's happening in the world and get you focused.

At the same time, I recognize and understand our influence isn't what it was when, you know, I was a boy and watching the evening programs. People have choices now; they have other distractions. You have other ways to get their news.

I recognize by the time they sit down with us, you know, at 6:30 Eastern time that they generally know the big stories of the day. They know there's something going on with, uh, you know, with whether the post office can handle ballots, and they know some horrible new corona numbers came out, uh, as a friend of mine told me. He says, you know, I watch you not to get the news; he says, 'I want you to get your take on the news.'

Um, my take being our take as a broadcast: you know, the stories that we choose to cover, how we cover them, the perspective we, you know, we try to offer, and to help people really understand the importance of these things.

So on that level, um, you know, I think we're still vital. But again, you know, it's not that idea of, you know, the whole world has to kind of stop at this time. That said, um, many a TV writer has tried to write off the future of the network evening programs, but at the end of the day, there's still, you know, 20 million plus people who are watching, uh, every night, and I think we've all seen big increases in interest right now during this particular, you know, trying time in the country.

You know, people are craving facts and information. Um, you know, we did take, um, I mean, let's be honest, we did, you know, take, you know, some cheap shots from, from on high about, you know, our business and the integrity of journalists, journalism in this country.

But I think we have risen above that. Um, I think that people recognize that, uh, you know, they need these broadcasts to really, you know, deliver the facts and to help understand and sort out, you know, really, really noisy environment out there of information that's flying at you from all different directions, some true, some not."

No, absolutely. I do think that the kind of the evening broadcast news is kind of still the go-to if you, you know, what you really can't sense the bias that you can in some other things that you can get, um, either on cable or in the internet generally.

You know, just maybe one last question. Uh, you know, we're obviously in interesting times. You are — it's your job to be the observer and the commentator on that for, for our country, for the world.

You know, how are you thinking about the times we're in? What do you think folks are going to say in 10 years about this time?

"Yeah, I had the conversation just a few days ago. I said, you know, when the history of this pandemic is written, you're going to spend a lot of time talking about, you know, how we managed to find even a way to divide us over, you know, simple things like, you know, wearing a face covering, um, you know, maintaining the ability to maintain some physical distance between people.

I wouldn't have thought those would be the, you know, those would be issues we'd be struggling, especially even with it being tainted politically. I think that has surprised me, but it'll be part of the history of how this is written.

I think, um, I think also we'll talk about, um, misinformation and how dangerous, um, it is, you know, to democracy in general, but certainly on an issue that is so, you know, life and death. And I say that without hyperbole; I mean it is — it's truly a life-and-death matter.

And, and facts matter, and words matter, and balance matters. Um, and, and so I think, you know, that's going to be, you know, part of how these times will be described.

I was maybe a little Pollyanna-ish; I thought when, um, when this pandemic broke out, I thought this would be one that we would see the country really come together. And we have a large part; I don't want to, you know, discount that, but I think I, I didn't see this as being as divisive as it has turned out.

Um, but, you know, it's part of the story; we'll continue to cover it. Um, you know, we, as one of the franchises, we do Facts Over Fear. That's one of our guiding principles of how we cover, uh, the pandemic, and we will march forward."

No, that's super helpful; really good context. Well, well, Lester, thank you so much.

Uh, once again, I'm self-conscious this whole time that I'm so homebrew compared to what you do, uh, but this is a real treat and a real honor to be able to talk to you about, you know, all of these things.

"Well, so I've been impressed by what you do for a very long time, and I appreciate the interest. Always fun to come out and talk about what we do. We're very proud of, you know, our operation and love to show it often."

Folks, great. No, thank you so much, Lester.

"All right, cheers."

Well, thanks everyone for joining again. Hopefully you enjoyed that as much as I did.

Um, I am curious, you know, Lester didn't mention which pop songs he plays. I maybe I'll do some follow-up. I am curious, and there's — it looks like there's some requests for people to hear me sing maybe at some point, uh, although I won't sing the songs I sang in high school, I'll do something much more gentle.

But, um, hopefully you enjoyed today's live stream, and I look forward to seeing you all next week, uh, where we promised to have a whole bunch of, uh, more interesting guests just like what we saw this week.

Thanks everyone. Have a good weekend!