advertisement

The day after

Charlie, Katie and I just interviewed President and Mrs. Bush -- we were given five minutes apiece before the President's motorcade departed. Because we were all asking for time with him during his visit, this sort of arrangement (hammered out in the early hours of the morning between the White House and the television networks) is quite common in situations like this one. The service on campus was an emotional gathering and the first of many, I'm afraid. For those who watched, the consensus seemed to be that the emotional high point came at the end: there was something about hearing the school cheer (led by a beloved figure on this campus, the poet Nikki Giovanni) that put people over the edge. It was a moment of old-fashioned school spirit... of great strength and brief joy in the power of the collective: but at the end of the day, and quite literally when the cheering is over, I'm afraid many of these students are going to need all the kindness that the surrounding community can offer, and then some. They have come here to enjoy the best years of their lives, and will leave here having seen the very worst of human behavior and depravity. That those of us with children in college continue to see this story through that prism is understandable -- and I'm quite sure somehow colors the way we see the anguish on these kids' faces.

I'm writing this in the back of a satellite transmission truck, and we're all clustered around the headquarters building for media and administration here on campus. We're doing an hour-long version tonight which will air across much of the country depending on your local NBC station -- and we're also doing an hour-long special tonight at 8 p.m. Eastern. We'll stay on this and try to cover all the questions and issues this tragedy has raised.

We hope you will join us tonight.

Discuss (124 comments) Email this | Link to this

Condolence calls from Iraq

"Military cadets at Virginia Tech experienced a sad role reversal late Monday when they began taking condolence calls from alumnae serving in Iraq." -- MSNBC.com's Bill Dedman blogs from the campus of Virginia Tech in our sister blog, "On the Scene."

Read the full entry

CONTINUED »

Discuss (2 comments) Email this | Link to this

'Early Nightly' is up

Today's vlog comes from the Virginia Tech campus, as will tonight's special one-hour broadcast. Here, Brian previews how we will continue our coverage of the horrific shooting massacre that took 33 lives on the campus on Monday. Who was the gunman? Why was he so troubled? Could anything have stopped his rampage?

Click here or on the image to watch the vlog.

Discuss (8 comments) Email this | Link to this

Massacre at Virginia Tech coverage

Just a note to let you know that the broadcast will expand to one hour tonight, with Brian again anchoring from Blacksburg, Va. I expect him to post in this space again later today.

In the meantime, MSNBC.com has launched a blog exclusively devoted to the story, featuring dispatches from correspondents and producers on the scene. Click here to check that out.

Discuss (14 comments) Email this | Link to this

Arriving at a tragedy

We landed in Roanoke, Va., a short time ago and are listening to the Virginia Tech press conference while we race to the scene.

We are all thinking about those kids and their families. And we're all thinking of personal touchstones in this tragedy we otherwise cannot understand. This past weekend, my wife and I visited our daughter at college. It was her first birthday away from home. We left her knowing she was happy and safe.

Today, as parents of a college-age child, we mourn along with the Virginia Tech parents, who thought their children were safe while pursuing their studies.

Tonight we've made arrangements to do something we first introduced months ago -- a broadcast with limited commercial interruption. There are other stories we must report on tonight, but none more important right now -- in this nation that has just suffered its worst-ever mass shooting.

We'll be broadcasting tonight from the campus of Virginia Tech. Following Nightly News, NBC will air a live one-hour special report from here as well, at 10 p.m. Eastern time.

Discuss (222 comments) Email this | Link to this

'Please stay put'

Our sister blog, Countdown with Keith Olbermann's 'The NewsHole,' has posted the five e-mails sent to students at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University after the shootings occurred -- the first at 9:26 a.m. You can see all of the messages, in sequential order by clicking here.

Discuss (5 comments) Email this | Link to this

Early Nightly

Today's vlog will not be published because of the breaking news out of Blacksburg Virginia that 31 people have been killed on the Virginia Tech University campus by what police believe was a lone gunman.

Discuss (12 comments) Email this | Link to this

Humor sometimes the better part of valor

Editor's note: Mike Taibbi and John Zito recently returned from Iraq, where they reported two more installments in their series, "On the Line." Another installment is set to air this week. If you missed any of their reports or blogs so far, you can find them all here.

It began in the desert with Daisy. Taking up the two back seats of a Humvee, Mike Taibbi and I rambled back to base at Ft. Irwin, Calif. Riding in the front seats and manning the gun turret were three soldiers with the 2-69 Armored Regiment of the 3rd Infantry Division. We had just wrapped up a day of shooting as they trained for their upcoming deployment to Iraq. 

If you’ve spent time in a Humvee, or any military vehicle, then you’re familiar with the “net.”  It’s the radio network units use to communicate in the field. The net crackles like a trucker's C.B. with seemingly hundreds of voices, all speaking military jargon, spewing tons of directives, orders and responses -- it's near impossible for virgin civilian ears to comprehend. But listen long enough and the chatter begins to make some sense.

CONTINUED »

Discuss (7 comments) Email this | Link to this

Record Breaker?

Getting to 30 Rock tonight was an adventure, and it wasn't because of the traffic. Those of us in the Northeast are finally getting a first-hand look at the storm system that has already wreaked havoc in the Southern Plains. The so-called "nor'easter" is bringing coastal flooding, storm surges and wild winds. It's predicted to be the region's worst storm in 15 years, and its surprisingly slow track means it could be causing trouble for the next 48 hours. We'll wrap up the developments tonight and get an outlook on how air travel could be affected. We'll also get a forecast from NBC Weather Plus's Bill Karins.

We have two reports from the front lines tonight. Richard Engel tells us how some Iraqis are coping after a weekend of deadly bombings. Also, Jim Maceda has made his way to Afghanistan to report on the new "spring offensive." Tonight, he'll bring us the first of several reports he plans to deliver over the next month.

Finally, chances are you've spent at least part of the past week thinking about race -- and the way it shapes the debate in America. Tonight, Peter Alexander will help us remember Jackie Robinson's first appearance with what was then the Brooklyn Dodgers. It was 60 years ago today. As you may know, Robinson changed the face of sports and opened the door for generations of athletes. We'll look at how Major League Baseball today remembered "number 42."

We hope you'll join us tonight.

Discuss (3 comments) Email this | Link to this