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.
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"Now is the winter of our discontent…"
This month kicks off a six-month citywide celebration honoring William Shakespeare. Venues in and around Washington, D.C., will be filled with plays, ballet, readings, exhibits -- all honoring the Bard of Avon.
So how curious it was to see that Richard III begins on Monday here in Washington. This 16th century play is considered by many to be his masterpiece. In it, he created a political character of evil incarnate in the form of Richard III. The Shakespeare Theater Company is serendipitously located in the Lansburgh Theater, just off Pennsylvania Avenue, almost halfway between the White House and Capitol Hill.
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Link to thisWhile we all focus on the 110th Congress and the new Speaker of the House, there was one perfect moment in the House chamber that would escape anyone but a parent. The new Speaker, Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., is a grandmother of six. In fact, there had even been a question around the time of the election whether she would choose to stay in Washington to watch the returns, or head to New York if her daughter went into labor.
Just yesterday, her 8-year-old granddaughter revealed at a fancy tea that her grandma eats chocolate ice cream for breakfast. So when grandma becomes Speaker of the House, it’s a huge day. You wear your best suit, mom makes you put on a tie, you gotta comb that hair, and behave. But as any parent knows, no matter how hard we try, kids just end up being, um, kids.
Click here or on the image to watch video from the House floor. There’s a little messing with grandma’s mic, a little shoving, a little grabbing of what looks to be grandma’s BlackBerry.
If Madame Speaker can control the House as well as she quiets down the kids, we foresee time-outs for misbehaving lawmakers in the near future.
Discuss (1 comments) Email this | Link to thisThere are different ways of experiencing history when you work in the news business. Usually, things happen in a rush, or a blur, so that there’s little chance to process what’s going on while it’s happening. It’s more like triage than anything else: suddenly rounding up crews, producers, correspondents, and satellite trucks.
When news first broke of President Ford’s death last week, first you get it on the air and then in the next moment, dozens of people are scrambling coverage plans. We get busy trying to figure out who goes where, who does what. Dozens of NBC people canceled family holiday plans over the weekend to cover the events surrounding the President’s funeral.
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A funny thing happened on the way to the Internet. Searching for the Daily Nightly blog while traveling, I somehow managed to land at a Web site for The Monkees (people of a certain age will know of whom I speak). Lo and behold, there were the lyrics to, yes, “Daily Nightly” by Michael Nesmith. I have no idea what they mean, but I suspect that wasn’t the point when Nesmith wrote them in 1967.
"The Monkees"
Discuss (3 comments) Email this | Link to thisOur capital city is literally blanketed in fog this morning. Barely able to see a quarter of a mile ahead, cars slowly inch along. From Virginia, you can't even see Washington across the Potomac. The entire city disappears.
The fog advisory says it's a couple thousand feet thick in the air. There's zero visibility at Dulles airport.
And what timing for a city in a fog of its own making. This morning things are more uncertain than certain. The political balance of the Senate. The balance of power. The condition of Democratic Senator Tim Johnson of South Dakota. What to do in Iraq. The President still seeks advice on his listening tour. As he said yesterday, "our enemy is far from being defeated."
The fog is supposed to lift here around noon today. The political fog? No one knows.
Discuss (4 comments) Email this | Link to thisThe Iraq Study Group's book is a slim volume: 142 pages, only 96 if you ignore the appendices. The paperback version could easily slip into a Christmas stocking. We were all surprised to see how small it was.
Take a gander at the picture on the left. At the far left, the smallest volume, that's the Iraq Study Group book; it's about a half inch thick. Next: the report of the 9/11 Commission. It's 1.5 inches thick. (And, yes, we remember it was nominated for a National Book Award.) Third from the left, the Tower Commission Report on Iran Contra: two volumes totaling two inches. What about the Clinton investigation? When you add up the Starr Report and the Committee on the Judiciary's report, we're talking nine inches of prose. (And you can't even read parts of it aloud at a family gathering.)
Photo caption: Four recent commission reports from the NBC News Washington library. Photo by Daily Nightly editor Rob Merrill.
Discuss (18 comments) Email this | Link to thisI don't know what other parents do in the morning, but my daughter is used to listening to all-news radio on the way to school. I keep half an ear on what’s happening while we talk. (Full disclosure: the amount of conversation depends on how wide-awake we are on a Monday morning.)
Today’s news included the item that President Bush would meet with the Iraq Study Group this morning at the White House. If you are not familiar with the term "study group," any student can probably tell you. It’s used in schools as an informal learning strategy in a group setting.
Her question was, "Mom, shouldn’t they have studied Iraq before the war?"
Discuss (4 comments) Email this | Link to thisTwo days and counting since Election Day... If you were the carpool parent or driving to work today, you probably noticed as many election signs today as there were two days ago.
Virtually every town has an ordinance requiring all political signs have to be removed within 10 days of an election. (And yes, that means even if you don’t have a winner yet in your district.)
So, America, get out there and grab a sign. Put it in the trashcan, save it for your memorabilia collection. Take down one if you voted for a candidate. If it makes you feel better, take one down that touted the other guy. Burn ‘em. Mulch ‘em. Get rid of them. This election’s over. It’s time to think about 2008.
2008?! Bob Faw will tell you tonight that for some candidates... it’s never, ever too early to get started.
Discuss (1 comments) Email this | Link to thisIt used to be that the scariest night of the year was Christmas Eve, as parents hustled to assemble toys and find batteries before dawn.
But now, it’s Halloween Eve. You can’t just carve a pumpkin with two triangles for eyes and a gaping mouth. Oh, no: Your kids will convince you that they need the Pumpkin Masters carving kit at $9.99 to create a detailed drawing of the ghoul of their dreams. It seems to only take about three hours to follow one of the "easy" designs.
The National Retail Federation estimates we will spend nearly $5 billion in stores this Halloween. That's up more than $1 billion from last year.
Discuss (0 comments) Email this | Link to thisYesterday the Department of Education announced the biggest change in public education in more than 30 years, the first time in an entire generation that public schools will have the right to teach boys and girls separately. This new rule under Title IX gives school districts unprecedented latitude to create all-girl or all-boy educational settings.
Under the new rules, which go into effect on Nov. 24, public schools can now separate boys and girls by grade, by subject, or even entire schools. Your child’s participation would be voluntary.
Tonight, correspondent Martin Savidge will report from Ascension Parish in Louisiana, just north of New Orleans. They decided to try the single-sex model last year. Martin will tell you how it's worked out so far.
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