Savannah Guthrie is in negotiations to become the permanent replacement for Ann Curry as the co-anchor of the "Today" show, the New York Times reports.
Guthrie, who has co-hosted the 9 a.m. hour of "Today" for the last year and is the chief legal correspondent for NBC News, sat in for Curry Friday morning (June 29) alongside Matt Lauer but made no mention of the negotiations. Neither NBC nor Guthrie's agent have commented on whether she has been officially offered the co-host chair on a full-time basis.
The Times reports that Guthrie is the first choice of "Today" executive producer Jim Bell and has been an internal favorite for the position since the decision was made to transition Curry from "Today" co-anchor to anchor-at-large and NBC News national/international correspondent.
Curry announced Thursday in a tearful segment just before the 9 a.m. anchor turnover that she would no longer co-anchor the top-rated morning news program.
"This is not easy to say, but today is going to be my last morning as a regular co-host of 'Today,' " Curry said. "I will still be a part of the 'Today' show family, but I'll have a new title and a new role, and this is not how I expected to ever leave this couch after 15 years. But I am so grateful, especially to all of you who watch."
Much of the talk surrounding Curry's departure has centered not on her qualities as a news reporter â€" she had, after all, manned the "Today" news desk for 14 years before taking over as co-anchor â€" but on her effectiveness in dealing with the less formal duties associated with co-hosting a morning show. She appeared to address those issues later in her goodbye speech, saying, "For all of you who saw me as groundbreaker, I'm sorry I couldn't carry the ball over the finish line. Man, I did try and so to all of you who watched, thank you from the bottom of my heart for letting me touch yours."
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