Savannah Guthrie issued 'secret code' to pull her off the air

Savannah Guthrie 'trusts' the network to tell the story respectfully

|
Published April 12, 2026
Savannah has been informed about the secret code

Savannah Guthrie, who has returned to the Today show on April 6, has been issued a 'secret code' if she needed off the air if any development in her mother Nancy kidnapping happens.

According to a report by the Daily Mail, the NBC has a contingency plan in place for Savannah in the event that news breaks live about her mother Nancy’s disappearance while she’s on the air.

Advertisement

The insiders told the outlet, that if a major development in Nancy Guthrie’s abduction case breaks while Savannah is on air, a producer would tell Savannah that she’s “needed off set.”

Savannah has been informed about the secret code.

The close confidant tells the publisher, “We would pull her immediately, mid-segment if we had to.”

“She knows if one of the producers tells her she’s ‘needed off set’ that there’s a development,” the insider said.

The source says Savannah would understand that there was news about her mom Nancy if the producer tells the code, 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 says Savannah “trusts” the network to tell the story respectfully and has accepted that NBC will not hold any developments on her mother’s case out of sensitivity for her.

The Today host 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.”’

Mukhtar Ahmed Junejo
Mukhtar Ahmed Junejo is the Deputy News Editor at The News International (Digital) with over 10 years of experience. He specialises in real-time reporting on the British Royal Family and analyses monarchy transitions, internal dynamics, and global media narratives. He also covers high-profile celebrity news and international human-interest stories.
Share this story:
Advertisement