"Meet the Press" Moderator Chuck Todd Speaks at 2022 Foreign Press Awards

Before those in attendance knew it, it was time to honor the ceremony’s three keynote speakers, the first of which was introduced by AFPC-USA Chairwoman Nancy Prager-Kamel, who celebrated the first in-person awards ceremony since the COVID-19 pandemic. “After the challenging years of COVID, it’s such a pleasure to stand before you and greet you in person,” she said. “That being said, the state of our journalist and correspondent community, as evidenced this evening, continues to be powerful and healthy.”

The three honored recipients, she said, “define directly or indirectly” the tenets of impeccable journalism and represent why AFPC-USA—whose membership comprises a multitude of journalistic talent from all walks of life—continues to serve the United States as “engaged citizens” of contemporary society. 

“The 2022 Foreign Press Awards are our annual opportunity to congratulate personalities whose public presence, career, and life have contributed to our cause of informing and educating the public about the essential role foreign journalists and journalists in general play here in the US and around the globe,” Prager-Kamel said. “This year our three Foreign Press Awardees personify the unwavering commitment to keep striving for excellence in communication and elevate sustainable journalism as a successful business model.”

Chuck Todd addressing the AFPC-USA Annual Foreign Press Awards Ceremony

The first of the three keynote speakers and award recipients was journalist Chuck Todd, who is the current moderator of NBC’s Meet the Press and provides on-air political analysis in his capacity as the Political Director for NBC News. Todd was unable to attend the ceremony in person but shared his remarks via a pre-recorded video. 

“I’m truly honored to share this moment with other honorees,” said Todd, who expressed his pride as the current moderator of the longest-running television program in the United States. He stressed the importance of “putting international events into context” for viewers of Meet the Press, referring to it as “a core piece of our work” that ultimately benefits the foreign correspondent community. “At a time of immense media skepticism, I am constantly reminded… we don't exist to tell people what they want to hear. We exist, all of us in this room, to tell them what they need to hear,” he said.

Todd also spoke about the question of hosting controversial public figures on the program—and others like it—noting: “Sometimes these objectionable individuals… hold [the] power to make an immense difference in our lives and in the lives of our audience,” adding that such power “needs to be” scrutinized because “sometimes sunlight is the best disinfectant.” “Only by shedding sunlight on apparent wrongdoing, or injustice, or a lack of accountability in our institutions… can we make the stakes real and apparent to the people who need to know,” he said. 

“I hope that someone disagrees with something they heard every week or I’m not doing my job,” Todd said. Journalists are in “pursuit of spurring thought [and] encouraging political engagement and discourse,” he added, and that’s “as important as ever on Meet the Press and for journalists the world over covering issues and challenges far beyond the borders of their home countries.”