All the President's Sharpies Brian Williams wound down his momentous year with a White House exclusi
Brian Williams, NBC Nightly News
This week, TV Guide salutes those who had a big year in 2005, and in the news business, nobody was bigger than
Brian Williams. In December 2004, he took over
NBC Nightly News from
Tom Brokaw, marking the first change in a network news anchor chair in more than 20 years. By the end of his first year, the unexpected departures of CBS'
Dan Rather and ABC's
Peter Jennings gave Williams seniority in the post. Not only did he hold on to the ratings lead he inherited from Brokaw, but he also distinguished himself with his reporting in South Asia after the tsunami and during and after Hurricane Katrina. Williams isn't ashamed to call himself a traditionalist when it comes to TV news. But on Dec. 12, he gave viewers a glimpse of how anchors will operate in the future. An extended version of his exclusive interview with
President Bush for
NBC Nightly News was shown as an hourlong special on MSNBC and made available online through MSNBC.com. While following President Bush throughout the day, Williams filed entries on his blog, The Daily Nightly. The Biz talked with the NBC anchor about the interview and about his big year.
TVGuide.com: Your interview with the president was a multiplatform spectacular.
Brian Williams: Yes it was.
TVGuide.com: Is this the model for future treatment of big, exclusive stories?
Williams: It's just spreading out the material. We still have material from our day with the president that we haven't aired. We have this audience that follows you online all day [on MSNBC.com], an audience that follows you on cable, an audience that follows you on air. They tell me it was on cell phones and radio. I was sitting in motorcades tapping away on a Blackberry. I've said a million times, I can't change the fact that Americans have apparently decided to watch Dr. Zhivago on their iPods. I'm going to keep mine for music, but god bless them. If that's a watchable screen, then NBC News had to be on it.
TVGuide.com: Why did President Bush choose to talk to you right now? Why was it your turn?
Williams: It's actually very simple. The reasons are multiple: It's the end of the year. Presidents traditionally do a year-end round of interviews; that's as old as the hills. No. 2, it was my turn in the rotation. No. 3, we've been on them for months. [NBC Washington Bureau chief] Tim Russert was involved as our point person, obviously. I've been in touch with [counselor to the president] Dan Bartlett. It really was coming for a long while.… What was interesting for us, as I said Tuesday night on the air, was the access. We were allowed into a lot of different venues.
TVGuide.com: You are kind of a presidential buff. So there's still a bit of excitement in this for you.
Williams: I love the details. When I was a White House intern in '79, I loved how the White House staff mirrored the boss. Everybody who worked for President Carter wore his or her watches crystal down because he did. The boss always has a quirk that the staff mirrors, whether they do it consciously or not. In the Bush White House, everybody uses a Sharpie because that's Bush's pen of choice. They are all over the place. Sharpie now makes one for them. It bears a replica of the president's signature on the barrel of the pen. That I noticed by just looking at his inbox in the Oval Office.
TVGuide.com: You're working on a book about James Garfield. How's that going?
Williams: We're at the notes-and-outline stage.
TVGuide.com: Does it have a publisher yet?
Williams: No. That's later. It will go out to bid.
TVGuide.com: Let's talk about your big year.
Williams: I didn't have time to think about my big year because it started on the dance floor New Year's Eve with my wife. We took our children on vacation in a warm tropical place. I was dancing with Jane and my cell phone vibrated. It was [NBC News president] Steve Capus who said, "Go ahead and ring in the new year with your wife...." I kissed my wife at midnight, packed my bag and took off for Banda Aceh [to cover the tsunami]. I landed 44 hours later. That's how '05 started. By Jan. 3, I was looking at a hole in the ground that contained thousands of bodies. All the scenes you saw and more. It was a nightmare I never thought I would see equaled.
TVGuide.com: And then there was Katrina, which seemed to be a defining moment for you in a lot of people's eyes.
Williams: Government officials didn't tell me the truth when I was standing next to it. That's all I did, was tell the truth. People appreciate that more now than ever.
TVGuide.com: How does it feel to have emerged as the leading network news anchor in such a short time?
Williams: I'll quote one of my best friends: To say you're dean of the anchors is like saying the Empire State Building is the tallest building in New York. It is true but for all the wrong reasons. I didn't want it to happen this way. I miss Peter Jennings. I miss Dan. Three great journalists left the scene in lightning speed, in a job that goes two decades without turnover. Part of the American dinner-hour tradition. One of the constants in American life. And suddenly all three are gone in an instant. That's a lot of change for viewers to take in. Luckily our company telegraphed this [change] so far in advance. Tom Brokaw was so graceful — he gave me his imprimatur. Without Tom's role and his kindness to me, we would not be having this conversation about our success this year.
