Brian Williams (news anchor)

From Free net encyclopedia

(Difference between revisions)

Revision as of 17:47, 19 April 2006
OrphanBot (Talk | contribs)
Removing image with no copyright information. Such images that are older than seven days may be deleted at any time.
Next diff →

Current revision

Template:Redirect Brian Williams (born May 5, 1959) is the anchor and managing editor of the most watched news program in the United States, NBC Nightly News, the flagship evening news program of NBC. Williams replaced former Nightly News anchor Tom Brokaw on December 2, 2004. Previously, Williams was the network's chief correspondent at the White House and then anchor of The News with Brian Williams on CNBC and MSNBC cable networks.

1 History<ref name="History" />
2 Highlights
3 WCBS
4 NBC Nightly News
- 4.1 Rise to the Throne
5 Family
6 Factoids
7 Notable Coverage
8 Ratings
9 External links
10 References

[edit]

History<ref name="History" />

Brian Williams succeeded Tom Brokaw to become the seventh anchor and managing editor in the distinguished history of the broadcast "NBC Nightly News" on December 2, 2004.

Prior to assuming the role of anchor, Williams traveled to 37 U.S. cities during the 2004 presidential election cycle and filed a series of reports called "Assignment America" which focused on the attitudes of voters across the country. In addition, during the week leading up to the death of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, Williams traveled to Ramallah on the West Bank to cover the ramifications of Arafat's illness, and after Arafat's passing, reported on the funeral amid live gunfire just feet from his anchor location. Williams' passion to pursue the stories of the men and women injured on the front lines in Iraq and Afghanistan has produced some of the most riveting reporting about how America's gravely wounded soldiers are overcoming their injuries at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C.

Since joining NBC News in 1993, Williams has become one of the nation's foremost television journalists, covering virtually every major breaking news event and traveling extensively around the world. From 1996 to January 2004, he was anchor and managing editor of "The News with Brian Williams," a live, hour-long nightly newscast on MSNBC and then on CNBC. Williams was the anchor and managing editor of the Saturday edition of "NBC Nightly News" for six years before becoming anchor of the weekday edition.

In 1994, Williams became NBC News' Chief White House correspondent. Accompanying President Clinton aboard Air Force One, Williams circled the world several times, covering virtually every foreign and domestic trip by the President until 1996. On perhaps one of the most historic trips of the Clinton presidency, Williams was the only television news correspondent to accompany three U.S. presidents -- Clinton, Bush and Carter -- to Yitzhak Rabin's funeral in Israel.

While covering the 2003 war in Iraq, Williams became the first NBC News correspondent to reach Baghdad after the U.S. military invasion of the city. Just days into the war, Williams was traveling on a U.S. Army Chinook helicopter mission when the lead helicopter was shot down by rocket-propelled grenade fire. Williams spent three days and two nights in the Iraqi desert south of Najaf, with a mechanized armored tank platoon of the Army's Third Infantry Division providing protection. During the war, Williams traveled to seven nations throughout the Mideast during his seven-week overseas deployment.

In 2003, Williams moderated NBC News' first Democratic Presidential Candidates primary debate in New York City, which focused on the nation's economy. In 2000, he led a Republican Presidential Candidates primary debate in South Carolina.

Following the terrorist attacks of September 11, Williams was on the air for days of continuous coverage. USA Today named him "Best Anchor" of the marathon 2000 Presidential election night coverage. In 1997, his continuous coverage of the death of Princess Diana was watched by millions worldwide on the networks of NBC News, as were his many hours of live coverage following the crash of TWA Flight 800 and the death of John F. Kennedy, Jr. "GQ" magazine has called him "the most interesting man in television today," and in 2001 named him "Man of the Year." The National Father's Day Committee named him "Father of the Year" in 1996.

Known for his quick wit, Williams is a frequent guest on "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart," "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno," "Late Night with Conan O'Brien" and "The Late Show with David Letterman."

Image:Wcbs-firstnews92.jpg

Prior to joining NBC News, Williams spent seven years at CBS's owned-and-operated stations division as anchor and correspondent for WCBS-TV in New York, where he covered the collapse of the Berlin Wall in 1989. He began his service at CBS as a correspondent for the network-owned WCAU-TV in Philadelphia and was a correspondent at WTTG-TV in Washington, D.C. He started his broadcasting career at KOAM-TV in Pittsburg, Kansas.

Prior to his broadcasting career, Williams worked in the White House during the Carter administration, beginning as a White House intern. He later worked as assistant administrator of the political action committee of the National Association of Broadcasters in Washington. A native of both Elmira, New York, and Middletown, New Jersey, Williams is particularly proud of his several years of service as a volunteer firefighter in New Jersey.

Williams is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations in New York, and has lectured at Columbia University School of Journalism and the Lyndon Baines Johnson Presidential Library in Austin, Texas. He attended George Washington University and the Catholic University of America, both in Washington, and is the recipient of four honorary Doctorates. He and his wife, Jane Stoddard Williams, have two children.

[edit]

Highlights

Williams was raised in Elmira, New York.
He attended Hendy Avenue Elementary.
Williams moved with his parents to Middletown, New Jersey.
He was a volunteer fireman, worked at a pancake restaurant and local Sears store.
Graduated from Mater Dei, a Roman Catholic High School in New Monmouth, NJ.
Attended George Washington University, but transferred to Catholic University of America.
Left college without a degree, a decision that he terms "one of my great regrets" .
Williams began his broadcasting career at KOAM-TV in Pittsburg, Kansas.
Moved back to Washington, D.C.
Worked at WTTG-TV as general assignment correspondent.
Williams was hired at WCBS-TV in New York.
Won his first Emmy for his reporting of the stock market collapse.
Williams regards WNBC's Chuck Scarborough as a mentor.

[edit]

WCBS

It was at WCBS-TV where Williams was discovered by national network executives. In March of 1993, Williams began work at NBC News where he climbed the ranks to his current position.

[edit]

NBC Nightly News

[edit]

Rise to the Throne

In the past, some viewers held the perception that Williams was stiff and lacked charisma during his broadcasts. After the announcement that he would succeed Brokaw, Williams was a guest on various television entertainment programs including The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and The Daily Show with Jon Stewart where he showed a more jovial and charismatic side of his personality which largely eliminated this perception.

Williams was the honored guest at the 2005 Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation Fall Gala. Also in 2005, Williams received an honorary degree from Bates College in Maine, a school his father and brother attended.

[edit]

Family

His sister, Mary Jane Esser, died on February 27, 2006. He cancelled his coverage of Mardi Gras in New Orleans when he heard of the death that day.

[edit]

Factoids

Worked as an intern during the administration of U.S. President Jimmy Carter.

Williams was handpicked by NBC's Tom Brokaw to take over after his retirement

Won the year 2005 in the Nielsen Ratings War

Williams is considered the dean of network news with the retirement of Brokaw and Rather, and the death of Peter Jennings

In a December 2004 interview with C-Span's Brian Lamb, Williams proclaimed that he is a longtime listener of The Rush Limbaugh Show : "I do listen to Rush. I listen to it from a radio in my office, or depending on my day, if I'm in the car, I will listen to Rush. And he will tell you I've been listening for years. I think it's my duty to listen to Rush. I think Rush has actually yet to get the credit he is due, because his audience for so many years felt they were in the wilderness of this country. No one was talking to them." [1]

He has a wife Jane and a son, Douglas and an 18 year-old daughter Alison.

[edit]