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# NBC’s Lester Holt receives The Media Institute’s 2022 Freedom of Speech Award
- URL: https://capitolcommunicator.com/nbcs-lester-holt-receives-the-media-institutes-2022-freedom-of-speech-award/
- Published: 2022-10-20T19:20:45.000Z
- Updated: 2022-10-20T23:58:36.000Z
- Author: Capitol Communicator
- Tags: People, Media, Awards, #wp-upper-left-sponsored, #Import 2026-10-08 18:52

L**ester Holt, the longtime NBC Nightly News anchor, received the 2022 Freedom of Speech Award** from The Media Institute, based in Vienna, VA.

Holt’s colleague at NBC, **Harry Smith** introduced the evening news anchor at The Media Institute’s annual [Free Speech America gala,](https://www.mediainstitute.org/free-speech-america-gala/?ref=capitolcommunicator.com) which was held virtually this year, reports TVNewser.

“Some years back when I worked at CBS, I used to cover a lot of breaking news. Big stories, disasters, earth quakes, hurricanes,” remarked Smith. “More than a couple of times I found myself on the same plane with people from NBC News and with them, inevitably, was Lester. Lester has that thing in him, what **Mike Wallace** once described to me as this. ‘Harry,’ he said. ‘I’m like the dalmatian dog at the fire house. When the alarm goes off I jump on the truck, no matter what.’ That’s Lester.”

Holt discussed anchoring Nightly News in 2022, telling the virtual audience, “Part of our mission each day as a broadcast is to elevate the national dialogue. Of course, centered on facts, but also on stories that take you there and offer perspective,”

More [here](https://www.adweek.com/tvnewser/lester-holt-receives-the-media-institutes-2022-freedom-of-speech-award/516921/?ref=capitolcommunicator.com).