The Daily Nightly began on May 31, 2005. As Brian wrote in his first post it aims to provide a narrative of the broadcast day and a window into the editorial process at NBC Nightly News. Brian weighs in every weekday and NBC News correspondents and producers post regularly.
Brian Williams became the seventh anchor and managing editor in the history of NBC Nightly News on December 2, 2004. Read his full biography.
 |
|
 |
|
 |
advertisement
About the broadcast | Biographies
RSS is an easy way to get the news you want as it is updated even if you are not on MSNBC.com. More information about MSNBC.com's RSS feeds.
Podcasting brings you audio and video from each weekday broadcast on your iPod or other portable MP3 player anytime, anywhere. More information about MSNBC.com's podcasts.
Sign-up for our daily e-mail newsletter. It offers a preview of the stories and special reports featured on each weekday broadcast.
I was alone, reading a copy of the Saturday Evening Post last week from January 1962, when I thought to myself, "Richard, you need a life."
Evidently, the management at NBC News agreed. They decided to give me the opportunity to open a Middle East bureau based in Beirut, Lebanon -- a dynamic city with enough high-life and low-life to keep things spicy. I can have a home there. Life in Baghdad has involved a lot of nights reading old magazines in a dingy, poorly lit, empty hotel room. Ah, the romantic life of a foreign correspondent!
I will continue to cover the Baghdad beat, my daily diet for the past three years, but also be able to explore the rest of the region, which brings me back to the Saturday Evening Post article. It was entitled "The Seething Arab World." In words as appropriate today as they were 44 years ago, the magazine reported: "The observer, looking at the Arab world today and trying to predict what may happen there, is in a position of a seismologist peering at a great range of volcanic mountains and trying to guess which smoldering cone will explode first."
I think a seismologist examining the region today might be even more nervous. I suspect the mountains are even more explosive. The new bureau will allow us to look beyond Iraq and to examine how the war has affected the wider region, asking questions like: Why has neighboring Iran been emboldened by the collapse of Saddam Hussein’s regime? What are the Gulf States doing with the their windfall oil revenues? And why does this region consistently supply radical groups with young people willing to kill themselves to kill Americans?
Covering the broader Middle East is a daunting task that reporters have struggled with for decades. Again, I quote the Saturday Evening Post from 44 years ago: "There is a saying in the Middle East that a foreign journalist who comes there and stays for a week goes home to write a book, in which he presents a pat solution to all the Middle East’s problems. If he stays a month, he writes a magazine article, filled with 'ifs' and 'buts' and 'on the other hands.' If he stays a year, he writes nothing at all, for the complexities and paradoxes of this explosive area have left him bewildered and confused."
After 10 years living and reporting in the Middle East, three of them in Iraq, I am equally bewildered and confused, but also excited and immensely grateful. I will endeavor to do my best.
Read more from Richard Engel
EMAIL THIS
TRACKBACKS
Trackbacks are links to weblogs that reference this post. Like comments, trackbacks do not appear until approved by us. The trackback URL for this post is: http://www.typepad.com/services/trackback/6a00d83451b0aa69e200d8348f99fb53ef
In the heart of Africa
Congratulations on your post, I would not let down your guard in Beirut, I worked there for 2 years and it had the best nightlife but there were constant reminders that terrorism is still alive there. Good luck and stay safe.
John, Detroit, Mich (Sent May 25, 2006 10:04:49 AM)
Richard, Congrats on your new promotion! My hopes for you is that the people that sit in their comfortable living rooms here in America realize the sacrifice you have made to bring us news from around the world every day. Thank you, not only for giving up the "American Dream" (working a typical 9 to 5, and living in some nice subdivision), but for also putting your life on the line everyday! You are an amazing reporter. Keep up the good news!
Amanda, Myrtle Beach, SC (Sent May 24, 2006 11:43:59 AM)
I've known Richard since we were teenagers, and I know him to be honest, sincere and genuinely concerned for the human condition - as is the family from which he comes. I am immensely proud of Richard. Since he's been on the network, I've tuned into the TODAY show and the NIGHTLY NEWS to make sure he's doing well, and to see his incredible insightful reporting.
Good luck and continue to make us proud!
Cento Anni!
Chamara, Pasadena, CA (Sent May 23, 2006 5:29:31 PM)
Richard, I feel happy for you. Your comment about being able to have a home was quite poignant. You've got guts and intelligence. Let's hope your appointment is just the beginning for the expansion of coverage of the rest of the world.
Terry House, Los Angeles CA (Sent May 23, 2006 3:09:56 PM)
Richard,
Congratulations on your promotion. We look forward to seeing your reports from all over the middle east.
Erica
(Sent May 23, 2006 2:56:42 PM)
I'm happy to hear about your new posting to Beirut. I hope this means NBC Nightly will air more international news--not only from the Mideast but also from nearby areas such as the former Yugoslavia.
The New Orleans election wasn't the only one I was paying attention to over the weekend. Another one happened in Montenegro on Sunday. The Montenegrins voted for independence from Serbia (though for some reason this won't be a done deal before the EU approves it) The last time Montenegro was independent was during World War I. This would be an interesting story for NBC Nightly to cover.
Olivia Elizabeth Burdon, Peoria, Ill. (Sent May 23, 2006 8:00:34 AM)
Dear Richard,
Glad to hear that you are finally getting out of the war zone! Take care and be safe wherever you are.Wishing you the very best in your new "location"!
Swetha, Chennai, India (Sent May 23, 2006 5:22:47 AM)
Richard, I have never before posted a comment on a blog, but I wanted to offer my heartfelt congratulations on your new assignment. I have followed your reporting from Baghdad with great interest, particularly since the totally unrelated segment you did on your "Italian family" for the Today Show during the Winter Olympics. That segment especially caught my interest because I was fortunate to have spent the most formative year of my education as a student at Loyola University Chicago's Rome Center.
I envy you your assignment in Beirut! I served there as a UN Military Observer in 1982/83, and subsequently became a member of the Defense Attache System in North Africa and Southeast Asia. While serving my UN tour in Damascus and Beirut, I honestly felt that I had achieved a rather high level of regional expertise. Some years later, while serving as an Attache in Algeria, I came to realize that it is very difficult for a western educated Christian to understand the minds and motivations of Middle Eastern and North African Muslims. You are, of course, being modest, but I applaud your statement that you are bewildered and confused. I am more than confident that you will endeavor to do your best. I wish you fair winds and following seas!
Jim Centner, Denver, CO (Sent May 22, 2006 9:55:24 PM)
Richard, you have brought us some good reports. Richard there is so much more to cover, I hope that you can air/write reports on the regions history, as so many of us have such short memories, the history and the players will help paint some picture of what the future holds for the region and thereby the world.
Get yourself properly staffed and equipped, upstairs has heard the writing on the wall. Lets get the stories and maybe just maybe we can listen to oneanother and learn from oneanother and who knows where that will lead. Tell us about Isreals beginings tell us the palestinians struggles, tell us about Sadat and his sucessor Mubarak and Libya's Gadaffa and Hussien. What is up with Syria any way? We have all been behind our own curtain blinded by the blinking neon lights of self pursuit, we must raise the curtain and rasie the house lights and let the show begin.
Blog fan of truth U.S.A. (Sent May 22, 2006 7:37:04 PM)
Dear Richard, (I call you by your first name because you're in my living room so often.)
You have done a fantastic job reporting from Iraq!
I always look forward to your time on NIGHTLY NEWS.
Congratulations on your promotion and your move. I wish you much luck and hope you are able to relax and have some fun in your new location.
Best wishes for the future,
Pat
Pat Yates, Fieldale, Va. (Sent May 22, 2006 7:07:54 PM)
Richard, congrats -- that's great news! As you probably already know, Beirut is an amazing city and the Lebanese are extremely hospitable. I hope you bring us fair and objective reporting on the Middle East, like our friends at the BBC. Best wishes!
Mike, New York City (Sent May 22, 2006 6:50:32 PM)
Shades of Joe Alex Morris Jr
Good Luck !
M Pressey, Newport Beach, CA (Sent May 22, 2006 6:24:57 PM)
Richard-
Congratulations! This is great news.
You know that in your attempts to resolve your bewilderment and file reports, you manage to enlighten us more than any of the other correspondents there. Don't blush--it's true!
Please keep blogging as well as reporting. Blogs often give more insight--no time constraints.
Now there is finally someone in a position to report on my long held belief that Iraq doesn't exist in a vacuum and that its neighbors will exert considrable influence on the outcome of this mess, whether overtly or covertly.
First question: What do you think of Senator Biden and Leslie Gelb's proposal to establish a very loose National Federation in Iraq and almost a de facto partition. I believe it is now theorized there may be oil in the Iraqi Sunni territories, which would make every thing easier.
When will Beirut get up and running? Keep us posted please. And do be safe.
Celine Segda, Jersey City NJ (Sent May 22, 2006 5:55:36 PM)
SEND A COMMENT
PLEASE READ: All comments must be approved before appearing in the thread; time and space constraints prevent all comments from appearing. We will only approve comments that are directly related to this post, use appropriate language and are not attacking the comments of others.