Amid the search for Nancy Guthrie, NBC reportedly has a plan in place for her daughter, Savannah Guthrie, in the event that news breaks live about her mother while she is on air. This includes a three-word phrase.
An insider at ‘Today’ told the Daily Mail that if a a major development in the case comes up while Savannah is on air, a producer would tell the host that she’s “needed off set”. This is a code word Savannah is reportedly well aware of.
“We would pull her immediately, mid-segment if we had to,” the insider told the outlet. “She knows if one of the producers tells her she’s ‘needed off set’ that there’s a development.”
The insider added, “She would understand that there was news about her mom and we’d take her into an office and tell her, at the same time that another anchor would report it as a breaking story.”
The insider also stressed that the news show would “never in a million years” have Savannah report on any news of her mother’s disappearance unless she specifically wanted to.
“Savannah understands that she has a public who is very invested in Nancy’s story, and understands that we wouldn’t necessarily wait for her to find out before reporting it,” the source said.
How Savannah Guthrie’s return to the ‘Today’ show could affect Nancy Guthrie’s kidnappers
A former FBI agent recently revealed why Savannah returning to the ‘Today’ show could be something Nancy’s kidnapper may not like. The “walls are closing in” on the abductor after Savannah’s return to the show as her “national platform” will help keep all eyes on the case, Jason Pack told Page Six.
Read More | What makes Nancy Guthrie’s disappearance unusual? Explaining how the case differs from other missing person cases
“Every day that passes the pressure builds. Keeping a secret like this is exhausting. … and that gets harder with every morning that Savannah Guthrie sits behind that anchor desk,” he said.
“Most criminals in cases like this count on the media moving on,” Pack added. “They count on the family fading from public view. They count on people forgetting. This case is different. Savannah has a national platform and she shows up on it every single day. Every time a viewer sees her face, they think about her mother.”
Read More | Savannah Guthrie delivers emotional Easter message amid search for mom Nancy, ‘Cruel injury of not knowing…’ | Video
Pack said that the more attention the case gets, the more “pressure on the people responsible goes up.”
“Add a reward of more than one million dollars and the full weight of FBI resources and you have a situation where the walls are not just closing, but they are closing from every direction at once,” he said.
