Lester 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, 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,”

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