NBC commissioned a 'psychological consultant' to evaluate host David Gregory

From the Washington Post comes this nugget amidst the "Meet the Press" ratings debacle and host David Gregory:

Thus, “MTP’s” meltdown has sounded alarm bells inside NBC News and attracted the attention of its new president, Deborah Turness, who arrived from Britain’s ITV News in August. Gregory’s job does not appear to be in any immediate jeopardy, but there are plenty of signs of concern.

Last year, the network undertook an unusual assessment of the 43-year-old journalist, commissioning a psychological consultant to interview his friends and even his wife. The idea, according to a network spokeswoman, Meghan Pianta, was “to get perspective and insight from people who know him best.” But the research project struck some at NBC as odd, given that Gregory has been employed there for nearly 20 years.

UPDATE:

Politico's Dylan Byers has some crucial updates, mainly that NBC has tried to backtrack on the "psychological consultant" part:

UPDATE (11:17 a.m.): In an email, Pianta challenged Farhi's reporting, saying that the network brought in a "brand consultant" not a psychological one as Farhi reported:

Last year Meet the Press brought in a brand consultant — not, as reported, a psychological one — to better understand how its anchor connects. This is certainly not unusual for any television program, especially one that’s driven so heavily by one person.

UPDATE (11:25 a.m.): Farhi said he checked with NBC twice on Sunday about the term "psychological" and that they had no objections at the time.

"I checked it twice with them yesterday. No objections then," he wrote in an email.