Overview
- Battiste announced on Instagram that she is joining NBC News as anchor of Early Today and as a contributor to TODAY, and she began with NBC on August 3 with an on-air debut set for the week of August 10.
- She is leaving CBS News after nearly a decade at the network, where she reported for CBS Mornings, CBS Evening News, 48 Hours and CBS Sunday Morning.
- Battiste began her career at NBC as a page and production assistant and is an Emmy- and Peabody-winning journalist who has covered the Catholic Church sexual-abuse reporting, the COVID-19 crisis, and several mass shootings.
- Her hiring fills the Early Today slot vacated by Frances Rivera’s June retirement and gives NBC a seasoned reporter for its early hours and for cross-promotion on TODAY.
- The move follows a period of leadership-driven restructuring and personnel changes at CBS News under Bari Weiss, a backdrop that highlights broader talent shifts in network morning programming.