NBC kept ratings expectations low for Rock Center with Brian Williams — and met them. Well, maybe they surpassed them a little bit.
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While NBC trots out its stars for the Television Critics Association press tour, the network’s execs are trying to decide on the future of weekend Today co-anchor Campbell Brown. When Brown’s contract expires at the end of the month, she will have an offer from CNN waiting for her. The cable news channel is trying to lure Brown with a substantial raise and a nightly program.But NBC News has the right to match CNN’s salary package. Insiders believe Brown has already made up her mind to leave, but NBC News president Steve Capus is making a last-ditch effort to keep her. He has the backing of NBC Universal CEO Jeff Zucker. Brown, who is also a frequent substitute for NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams, has been with the network since 1998. — Reporting by Stephen Battaglio
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NBC News president Steve Capus had no regrets about airing video sent to the network by Cho Seung-Hui, the Virginia Tech student who went on a shooting rampage at the school, killing 32 people and himself.The decision did generate complaints from some viewers, and even caused family members of the victims to cancel a scheduled appearance on NBC’s Today this morning.But Capus stands by his decision, which he explained in an e-mail response to every viewer missive he received. “We believe it provides some answers to the critical question ‘Why did this man carry out these awful murders,’ ” Capus wrote. “The same decision to run this video was reached by virtually every news organization in the world.”Capus noted that 7 ½ hours passed between the time Cho’s package arrived at NBC headquarters in New York on April 18 and the airing of the first video last night on NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams. NBC waited until law enforcement officials...
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NBC News received a package from by Cho Seung-Lui, the Virginia Tech student who shot and killed 32 people at the university Monday morning. Cho mailed the package, which contained a video DVD and a written manifesto, between his two shooting attacks.The videos of Cho were played on NBC Nightly News and MSNBC late Wednesday. Anchor Brian Williams also showed a print-out of the manifesto written by Cho. There were also 29 photos, some showing Cho posing with guns. The DVD disc had about 10 minutes of video files, in which Cho spews several angry rants that included a reference to the Columbine High School shooters. He appears to have filmed the video himself.NBC News president Steve Capus told MSNBC that the package was flagged by the letter carrier when it arrived at NBC headquarters in New York because of the return address, which read Blacksburg, Virginia, where Virginia Tech is located. It had the name Ishmael instead of Cho. NBC security personnel handled the package and turned...
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NBC News received a “rambling communication” and a video from Cho Seung-Lui, the Virginia Tech student who shot and killed 32 people at theuniversity Monday morning.According to MSNBC.com, NBC News president Steve Capus said the package arrived in Wednesday’s morning mail delivery. The network turned the material over to FBI agents in New York. The package was mailed Monday at 9 am, an hour and 45 minutes after Cho’s shooting of two people in the university dormitory — and before the 30 more he killed in a classroom building. Cho took his own life after the killing spree. Capus told MSNBC that the package included a long, “rambling, manifesto-like statement embedded with a series of photographs.” He described the material as “hard-to-follow... disturbing, very disturbing — very angry,profanity-laced,” he said. There was also a disc with videos that had a series of angry rants by Cho delivered directly to a camera. NBC News released a...
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