Meet the Press

Meet the Press is one of television’s defining public-affairs formats: a major guest, sustained questioning and a panel discussion focused on the issues shaping public life. The American NBC program began on radio in 1945 and moved to television on November 6, 1947. It is recognized as the longest-running television program in the United States that remains on the air. In Israel, פגוש את העיתונות is also the name of a long-running current-affairs and interview program produced by the country’s News Company since 1996.

A Jewish-founded forum for public debate

The American program grew from the work of journalist Martha Rountree, the daughter of Jewish immigrants, and publisher and journalist Lawrence E. Spivak. In 1945, the radio broadcast was introduced as American Mercury Presents: Meet the Press, connected to The American Mercury magazine. When television rights were acquired two years later, the title was shortened to Meet the Press.

The original format resembled a televised press conference: one guest faced a panel of questioners for thirty minutes. The first guest was James A. Farley, former United States Postmaster General and former chairman of the Democratic National Committee. From its earliest years, the program brought political leaders, public officials and international figures into direct conversation with journalists and viewers. Notable broadcasts included Whittaker Chambers’s 1948 appearance, an interview with Fidel Castro in 1959, and an interview with Martin Luther King Jr. about the civil-rights movement.

The program’s importance lies in the way it made public accountability visible. Its guests had to explain policies and decisions before a broad audience rather than only in private meetings or written statements. Over the decades, the program interviewed presidents, foreign leaders, government officials, economists, cultural figures and representatives of competing currents in American society. Every U.S. president since John F. Kennedy has appeared on the program, though not necessarily while in office. Israeli leaders who appeared included David Ben-Gurion, Golda Meir, Yitzhak Rabin and Benjamin Netanyahu.

From Martha Rountree to the Russert era

Rountree was the program’s first moderator and remained the only woman to hold that role until 2023. She was followed by Ned Brooks, Lawrence Spivak, Bill Monroe, Roger Mudd, Marvin Kalb, Chris Wallace, Garrick Utley and others. In 1991, Tim Russert became moderator, serving for seventeen years—the longest tenure in the program’s history.

Under Russert, Meet the Press expanded from thirty minutes to an hour and changed from a panel-centered press conference into a more focused program of extended interviews, follow-up questions and expert discussion. Russert used documents, archival material and persistent questioning to test the claims of public figures. The result was a program that did more than report the week’s headlines: it examined how decisions were made and who was responsible for them. By 2006, Meet the Press was the highest-rated of the major Sunday morning political talk shows.

Russert died suddenly on June 13, 2008. A special broadcast commemorated his life, leaving his chair empty as a tribute. Tom Brokaw and Brian Williams briefly moderated the program, followed by David Gregory, Chuck Todd and Kristen Welker. Welker began as moderator of the flagship program in September 2023, becoming the first woman to hold the position since Rountree.

Expansion into digital journalism

The program has repeatedly adapted to new technologies and viewing habits. In 2015, NBC launched a weekday offshoot first called MTP Daily and later renamed Meet the Press Now on NBC News Now. The program is also distributed through audio and video podcasts, online video and radio simulcasts, extending its reach beyond the traditional Sunday broadcast.

Its technical history is similarly significant. Several editions were produced in experimental high-definition television during the 1990s, and the program completed its transition to high-definition broadcasting in 2010. In 2021, production moved to NBC’s new Washington bureau on Capitol Hill. The sets and platforms have changed, but the central structure has endured: a consequential guest, rigorous questions, public explanation and a recorded account of the political moment.

The Israeli program

Israel’s פגוש את העיתונות began in 1996 as a News Company current-affairs and interview program. Like its American counterpart, it centers on a major interview with a prominent figure from politics, economics, media, culture or another public field. The program also includes panel discussions known as the “round table,” bringing together News Company commentators and outside guests with relevant expertise.

The Israeli program has been hosted by Osheret Kotler, Guy Zohar, Shelly Yachimovich, Dana Weiss and Rina Matzliah. Kotler was the first host; Zohar succeeded her in 1998; Yachimovich hosted until 2005, when she left the News Company and entered political life; and Weiss then took over. In 2013, Weiss moved to the weekend news broadcast and Matzliah became host. Dafna Liel has served as a substitute host, and Dan Dubin has edited the program since August 2016.

The breakup of Israel’s Channel 2 in 2017 created a transitional period. The Saturday program was broadcast on Channel 13, while a Friday program called Hashavua, hosted by Matzliah, aired on Channel 12. In January 2019, following changes in ownership associated with the Reshet–Eser merger, פגוש את העיתונות moved to exclusive broadcasting on Keshet 12.

The Israeli edition combines a principal interview with panels addressing political, economic, social and cultural issues. Before elections, it has also hosted interview marathons with party leaders, giving viewers a shared framework in which to compare candidates and platforms.

A lasting culture of public questioning

The significance of Meet the Press is not simply its longevity. It established a television model in which interviewing is a form of public inquiry rather than merely a vehicle for publicity. Its broadcasts preserve the voices of leaders and witnesses, place competing interpretations beside one another and turn journalistic questioning into part of democratic life.

For Jewish and Israeli audiences, the American program has also been a window into the relationship between Israel and the United States, foreign policy, antisemitism, Holocaust memory and the place of Jewish communities in public affairs. The appearances of Israeli leaders alongside presidents, prime ministers and statesmen from around the world helped bring Israeli and Jewish perspectives into the international conversation. The Israeli program, in turn, became a regular meeting place for the country’s decision-makers, commentators and cultural voices.

Why this legacy belongs in Moreshet

Meet the Press merits inclusion in Moreshet because it is more than a television title: it is an institution in the history of journalism and public memory. Founded in part through the initiative of Martha Rountree and Lawrence E. Spivak, and adapted in Israel into a locally influential program, it helped establish a durable culture of direct questioning, explanation and accountability.

Its interviews with Israeli and Jewish leaders, its engagement with issues affecting Jewish communities and Israel, and its long record of preserving political and social history make it relevant to Jewish and Israeli heritage. Moreshet.com presents the program as part of that inheritance: a living record of public conversation, journalistic practice and the voices that shaped the modern world.