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.
Today, with tears in his eyes, a minister described to me seeing an Amish mother embalming her 13-year-old daughter Marian, who was shot in the forehead at the school. She was carefully and lovingly dressing her girl in white, even putting the cotton in her nose.
All around the family watched, crying softly, even the little children, who listened as their grandfather told them not to hate the gunman who did this.
"Forgive," he was instructing them. "Forgive, as God forgives us..."
Discuss (38 comments) 
Email this | 
Link to thisTwo major domestic stories continue to dominate our agenda. While a wall of privacy came down over Amish country today, as wakes were held in solemn private homes, the drumbeat of scandal continued to resonate from Washington, with questions continuing to swirl about the longevity of the Speaker of the House. Will Dennis Hastert be able to survive this? We will cover all of it tonight -- including the impact the latter story will have on the election, a little more than a month away.
A heads-up on a special piece tonight, as part of our "Homefront" series: Janet Shamlian has a superb and emotional report on a group of volunteers who have vowed that no American in uniform should pass through their city without feeling loved. We have an amazing testimonial on a fatal mid-air incident that was in the news this past weekend.
Discuss (21 comments) Email this | Link to thisLegal experts and former federal prosecutors say it may be difficult to bring federal criminal charges against former Congressman Mark Foley, based on what's publicly known about the e-mails and instant messages he sent.
"To be illegal, the conduct needs to get beyond IM sex chat," says one former prosecutor who worked on child exploitation cases. "Sex talk with a minor is not prosecutable."
So far, say current law enforcement officials, it's not clear any federal laws were violated. While it may surprise some people, it turns out that talking trash to a minor is not automatically illegal.
Discuss (14 comments) Email this | Link to thisIn a special report on MSNBC.com, NBC Pentagon Correspondent Jim Miklaszewski reviews the five years since U.S. and international forces drove the Taliban out of power in Afghanistan. Today, as the strength of the Taliban and al-Qaida grows again, total victory appears "as distant and remote as the long-embattled nation itself," Jim writes.
As the war on terror struggles on, the question remains: Did the U.S. and its allies do enough?
Read Jim's full report
Discuss (12 comments) Email this | Link to this
As the Amish prepare to bury their dead in Pennsylvania, sensitive coverage is on Brian's mind.
Click here for a brief discussion in today's vlog, followed by a preview of a couple stories we're working on for tonight's broadcast.
Discuss (4 comments) Email this | Link to thisThe news from today in Lancaster Co., Pa., has to do with how carefully-planned the attack was. And all any of us can think about is how sad it makes us... how our hearts go out to the good people who sent their children to that school.
Tonight we'll talk about what to tell the kids. We'll investigate how it is a member of society can lead a "normal" life one day and become a violent killer the next. We'll have complete coverage of the story -- along with the spreading page scandal on the Hill and the pressure on the Speaker of the House that intensified today. We will take note of the fact that the Dow closed at a new record high today (with some help from our friends at CNBC, for whom this is a big day at the office). Also tonight, David Gregory reports as part of our "Homefront" series on the increasing number of women who are fighting and dying in this nation's wars.
Discuss (35 comments) Email this | Link to this
School safety is likely to be the lead story again tonight, as Americans consider one question in the wake of yesterday's tragic school shootings in Pennsylvania: Could it happen anywhere?
Click here for more from Brian in today's vlog.
We've also put together some resources for parents who might need help talking to their kids about the tragedy. Click here for those.
Discuss (11 comments) Email this | Link to thisOne picture stood out as we watched the coverage of the tragedy in Lancaster County, Pa., today. It showed the surviving children from the schoolhouse, some of the boys wearing their broad-brimmed hats, the girls in simple dresses, sitting obediently on the lawn. The parent in me just wanted to swoop in and scoop them all up and tell them everything was going to be OK. It's an awful coincidence that the top of our broadcast tonight will contain a combination of two stories that speak to our children at risk. In addition to this sick and awful tragedy in Pennsylvania, we will cover the continuing fallout from the Congressman Foley e-mail scandal. It would be a tragedy if this suppressed or affected interest or participation in the Page Program -- which for so many decades has been such a wonderful program for the kinds of students who are drawn to Washington. Beyond the damage to the now-former congressman, we must fear for what this will do to the alleged victims of his advances. These stories combined are a lot to take in (and we're aware of course that we air during what we used to call "the dinner hour" in American households, with children often near the TV) and are a sad reflection of today's news.
Discuss (37 comments) Email this | Link to this
"A full boat" of news... that's how Brian characterizes this busy Monday. We'll tell you about the latest revelations in the Mark Foley scandal and why Yankton, S.D., was such an emotional place recently. Click here to watch the vlog.
And if you missed it, click here to watch Brian's appearance on "Saturday Night Live."
Discuss (8 comments) Email this | Link to thisGood day. John Seigenthaler has the night off and I'll be sitting-in for him. We're also following developments in the e-mail scandal involving now former Representative Mark Foley. Democrats are suggesting a cover-up. This is beginning to look like a brewing political storm and we will have a full report on the questions being asked tonight.
On this evening's broadcast we’ll examine the tape that emerged today of 9/11 ringleader Mohammad Atta. On it we see Atta and another hijacker, as well as Osama bin Laden. Beyond the disturbing fact that we see Atta offering his will and preparing for the attacks, the timing of the tape is significant. It was shot 20 months before the attacks. Lisa Myers will report tonight on what new light this tape may be shedding on our understanding of the plot.
Discuss (4 comments) Email this | Link to this
