network news

In the frantic race to first with the news, the rival cable networks yesterday incorrectly reported that a suspect in the Boston Marathon bombing had been arrested, and they were not alone in gettng ahead of the story. AP and The Boston Globe also erred in saying that a suspect was in custody. ABC, CBS and NBC all broke into their regular programming to report progress in the investigation, but stopped short of saying there was an arrest or someone was in custody.

Boston’s TV stations were on the story full time soon after of the detonations of two devices during yesterday’s Boston Marathon. They went wall-to-wall with within minutes of the explosions and, after overnight breaks, started up again early this morning. Drawing on video from the affiliates and others, notably Boston.com, the networks quickly got on board covering their explosions for the rest of the country and contributing supplemental reports, including President Obama’s appearance Monday afternoon.

All the major networks are doing comprehensive coverage of the Boston Marathon explosions that left two people dead and dozens injured. Some are expanding newscasts, others will air special reports.

NBC News today hired award-winning investigative journalists Richard Esposito and Mark Schone, both formerly of Brian Ross’s investigative unit at ABC News. Esposito has been named senior executive producer of NBC News’s investigative unit, while Schone will be an editor on the NBCNews.com investigative unit.

After 15 years at CBS News, Byron Pitts is joining ABC News as an anchor and chief national correspondent. ABC News President Ben Sherwood said in a staff memo that Pitts will be based in New York and will start in a few weeks.

After years of speculation, Barbara Walters may be finally ready to hang up her microphone. A plan has been put in place for Walters to announce, probably in May, her retirement next year. Fitting for Walters’ status as the grande dame of TV journalism and a signature face of ABC News, she would be given a big sendoff with retrospectives and other special content in the weeks leading to her retirement that would celebrate her 52-year broadcast career.

“Just when you think somebody might figure out when it’s on and want to see it the next week, they move it to another place,” said the former Nightline anchor who contributes to the NBC newsmagazine. “That’s not helpful, and I think Brian [Williams] deserves more support than that.”

There is no excuse for the kind of coverage TV has delivered the last two weeks on the sequester. Television news has been polarizing, sensational and mostly focused on personality rather than the policy behind the $85 billion in federal spending cuts that has come to be known as sequestration.

This is the latest in a string of TV news personnel moves that have included Jake Tapper and Chris Cuomo to CNN.

Forbes combed through data gathered annually by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, a division of the Labor Department, to find the 13 most surprising low-paying jobs. Radio and TV announcers, reporters and correspondents earn only $40,510 a year, on average.

Rick Klein has been named ABC News political director, the third major political staff announcement from the network in as many days.

ABC News has hired New York Times national political correspondent Jeff Zeleny to serve as senior Washington correspondent covering Congress and politics.

The 42-year-old Gregory began as host of the Sunday morning public-affairs program in December 2008. He succeeded the late Tim Russert.

NEW YORK (AP) — Five months after undergoing a bone marrow transplant, Robin Roberts is back on television in the morning. Roberts said Wednesday she’d been waiting 174 days “to […]

NEW YORK (AP) — David Axelrod, former strategist and aide to President Obama, has landed a new job at NBC News. The network said Tuesday that Axelrod is joining as […]

Vivian Schiller, chief digital officer of NBC News, says the news organization is in the midst of the “reinvention” of its Web site which will launch this spring as a “rich journalism destination,” with enterprise, investigative reporting and a significant increase of “Web native video” news reporting. Watch the video here.

Tuesday’s showdown with fugitive Christopher Dorner brought the conflicting agendas of law enforcement and the media into sharp relief, spotlighting the challenges —  and pitfalls — of such immersive live coverage. Uncensored obscenities made it on the air, phone conversations interrupted live coverage and journalists were asked by authorities to restrict their coverage to avoid tipping off the suspect.

NEW YORK (AP) — ABC News says Robin Roberts will be back on the job at the “Good Morning America” anchor desk on Feb. 20. Her return will be five […]

“It is a privilege to have spent two decades here, but it is now time to head in a new direction,” said Capus, who did not announce future plans. His influence at the news division was curtailed last year when Comcast Corp., NBC’s new corporate parents, appointed Pat Fili-Krushel to oversee news operations. NBC News oversees not only the network newscasts, but also the cable networks CNBC and MSNBC.

The groundbreaking newswoman is said to be “seriously considering” retirment as early as this year. An ABC rep denies it: “That’s a bunch of nonsense as we made clear and Diane’s plans for 2013 haven’t changed in any way.”

Following Chirs Cuomo’s exit to CNN, ABC News confirms that the correspondent will join Elizabeth Vargas at the desk.

NBC News was the most-watched broadcast or cable television network, drawing an average of 5.081 million viewers during its 10 a.m.-4:30 p.m. broadcast, according to Nielsen ratings. CBS News averaged 3.671 million; ABC News averaged 3.922 million.

Rice, who served as secretary of state during President George W. Bush’s second term, made her debut on Face the Nation Sunday and will be included in inauguration coverage today.

ABC had a very good 2012 year for Good Morning America — usurping the decades-long leader NBC’s Today. Going into the December holiday period — where all TV viewing takes a dip — ABC’s GMA had around 430,000 viewer lead over Today.

Brian Williams is about to start distancing himself from his struggling NBC news magazine show Rock Center With Brian Williams, sources say.

Jake Tapper, ABC’s senior White House correspondent, is leaving the network for CNN, where he will anchor a new one-hour news program beginning early next year as CNN’s chief Washington correspondent. Tapper’s exit triggered changes at ABC News. Veteran Washington hand Jonathan Karl will be ABC’s new chief Washington correspondent, and Martha Raddatz’s role will expand as the new chief global affairs correspondent.

Ian Rivers was part of the NBC team led by the network’s chief foreign correspondent, Richard Engel. They were kidnapped in Syria on Thursday, and Engel and several other members escaped unharmed on Monday. “We’re thrilled that he found his way to safety,” said NBC News communications director Erika Masonhall today.

NBC was able to keep the abduction of chief Middle East correspondent Richard Engel in Syria largely a secret until he escaped late Monday because it persuaded some of this country’s most prominent news organizations to hold back on the story.