Last week, I was honored to help celebrate the 70th Anniversary of the iconic show Meet the Press when we hosted a celebration of the longest running show on television at the Newseum. The history of Meet the Press traces back to 1947, when Martha Rountree first convened a "televised news conference," which has since become the standard panel format we find across television news today. Meet the Press was, and continues to be, the pioneer in public affairs programming. 

With NBC News Chairman Andy Lack, we celebrated the show’s accomplishments over the past seven decades, from bringing voices like Jackie Robinson, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and Robert Kennedy to the roundtable to breaking through technological barriers—Meet the Press conducted the first live interview via satellite in 1965. 

Together with Chuck Todd and the fantastic NBC News team, we also took time to look forward. Comcast is honored to serve as the latest corporate steward of NBC News and Meet the Press and we are proud of the fine work that our NBC News journalists do every day. This is an incredibly exciting time for the program and Comcast is excited to support constant innovation in the news space to reach the American public where they are. 

This week, Meet the Press, in partnership with the American Film Institute, will present its first film festival featuring 16 short political documentaries that shine a light on untold American stories. The film festival will take place in Washington, D.C. at Landmark Atlantic Plumbing Cinema. 

Diversity of perspective is the goal of the film festival, with films such as Heroin(e), which gives viewers a firsthand look at the epicenter of America’s opioid epidemic and 219, a portrait of the inner-workings of the death penalty in America; among over a dozen others. Selections from the film festival, including Edith + Eddie, focusing on America’s oldest interracial newlyweds, and Gavin Grimm Vs., following the 2016 case and challenges facing transgender teen Gavin Grimm, will also be available on Xfinity OnDemand now through November 27th, just in time to watch with family that might not agree with you politically over Thanksgiving. If you’re looking for more ways to celebrate 70 years of Meet the Press, you can access historic interviews and iconic moments at the Meet the Press 70th Anniversary X1 destination. 

The achievements over the past 70 years wouldn’t have been possible without the dedicated journalists of NBC News. Transcending generations, NBC News has set the standard for broadcast news in American society, and we look forward to the next 70-plus years to come.