Calling Maui

Posted: Monday, August 11, 2008 8:38 PM by Daily Nightly Editor

By Brian Williams, Anchor and managing editor

So tonight from Tiananmen Square I opened the broadcast by saying, in part, "as far as we can tell and as far looking back this is the first live network evening newscast to originate from here since 1987, the last time NBC Nightly News broadcast from here.”

It was wrong. It wasn't the most momentous mistake we've ever made, but wrong is wrong. We were alerted to our error the moment we got off the air -- by a posting (relayed to us from New York) on a website that covers our industry, saying Dan Rather had broadcast live from the Square for a portion of the CBS Evening News on May 20 of 1989 -- right before their plug was pulled and they were forced to finish broadcasting from another nearby location. Tom Brokaw, here with us, remembered it that way too with the prompting that the posting provided.

I knew there was only one man to call to confirm, for good, whether or not we screwed up: Lane Venardos, a legendary producer, now retired and (here's a reason to hate an otherwise loveable man) living in Maui. Lane had a number of big jobs at CBS News, but was Executive Producer of the their special reports unit at the time of Tiananmen Square. Because I last worked at CBS before joining NBC, I've known Lane for years -- make that decades -- (his daughter Kelly is a Nightly News producer) and I worked with him in Berlin the night the wall fell, among other times and places. Full disclosure: he's one of the funniest people I've ever known, and I love the guy. Sometimes love helps bad news go down easier. Not today.

Lane answered his cellphone (for all I know, he was at the beach) and while I stood in Tiananmen Square, I asked him if the web report was true, meaning we'd been wrong. He confirmed that we had indeed screwed up. He joked that from his home in Hawaii, he had 5 hours to wait until he saw our mistake air -- and since that thought (a mistake being repeated as the time zones head west) was too much to bear, we did another live feed, correcting our error. My apologies to Dan and Lane (who got a hearty chuckle out of this -- he's also a veteran hearty chuckler) and to the members of my former team. My thanks to whoever posted the correction, calling us out on what we got wrong. My current team is awfully proud of what we pulled off tonight -- something of a technical marvel...even if my own memory is not!

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm off to see the Forbidden City.

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Comments

Brian...I must say I am so disillusioned with all the press time the media is giving to the John Edwards affair. I don't condone what happened, but there are so many other issues to focus on. It should be a private situation between him and his wife. It's bad enough to deal with something like that privately, but when it's out for the world to see, the pain must be unbearable. Who are we to judge?? The rest of the world must think we are a joke. I hate to say it,but most people in power think they are beyond reproach and have and will continue to have affairs. In the future, it's going to be harder and harder to find qualified people to run for office as who among us doesn't have a skeleton in their closet?? With the internet, investigative reporting, and cell phone taking pictures...there isn't going to be anything that gets by. If someone has an affair, is it truly going to affect the way they do their job? (like I said I don't condone it, but it is going to happen). I believe in the future when someone runs for office they need to come out and reveal all their "misdeeds" upfront so those who like to "dig dirt" won't have anything to find.

I respect you and I know sometimes you have to choice but to report some of this stuff when it becomes mainstream, but maybe you could start a new trend and avoid reporting personal matters between a husband and wife. I believe that most Americans don't care!!

Jo (Sent Monday, August 11, 2008 9:53 PM)

Brian,

I wish I had found NBC Nightly News earlier. While my family is away in Beijing for the summer, I listen to your program from podcast audio every single day, as I am not a TV person.

Thank you for all the broadcasting on China and the Olympic Games. I liked your every report about China, be dark side or bright side, be Tian'anmen Square '89 or Tian'anmen Square '08.

Look forward to tomorrow's podcast.

s.t.c., Ottawa, Canada (Sent Monday, August 11, 2008 10:13 PM)

"Charm offensive" isn't it remarkable at best? So Time magazine and others are readily available for the show.

Next time you are in Beijing chat with Americans living there working for US companies. They will tell you that their internet is censored. Time magazine and The Economist are readily available with many articles ripped out from the publication or blacked out. Local telephone calls and cell phone calls are recorded. Even CNN's ticker feed is blacked out to edit news from America. People should know these facts and know that China's 1.3 billion people are living and breathing Communism each and every day.

Bests to all!

Anna (Sent Monday, August 11, 2008 10:42 PM)

Mr. Williams,
You and your team still have the best newscast of any network; I thought the reports tonight were especially great and I look forward to learning more about the country from you and your crew. As far as the mistake, don't sweat it. You get the big things right and your heart is in the right place-that's what really matters. Bill Kelly

Bill Kelly (Sent Monday, August 11, 2008 11:17 PM)

Brian,

Even your apoplogies are enjoyable reading and yours was the first "FULL" evening news broadcast from Tiananmen Square.

John Manning

John Manning, Somers, CT (Sent Tuesday, August 12, 2008 3:27 AM)

With the amount of travel you have put in lately, I would not beat myself up on a simple error of memory.. You are doing important work, Brian. Informative and entertaining. Take care of yourself.. you look tired and a little thin.. Remember that when Tim Russert passed away, everyone in "News" was saying they needed to take better care of themselves. I hope you have some R&R scheduled prior to the Conventions

Patrick Spears, Jupiter Florida (Sent Tuesday, August 12, 2008 6:34 AM)

Hello Brian. Please stop pronouncing the central square in Beijing as
"Tee ahn en muhn Square" . My Chinese is good but not great and I do sympathize. But you all should know better. Add the "t" sound to the word "yen" then "ahn" then "Muhn". Three syllables. Don't feel obliged to learn the tones.

Bruce Grill, Hong Kong (Sent Tuesday, August 12, 2008 8:32 AM)

Brian,

So, how was the Forbidden City? Awesome??!! I hope so.

You've been doing a fantastic job from over there. I can't imagine how much work it takes to put something together like what you've all been doing.

I eagerly await the broadcast later this evening...to see what kind of interesting reports you've got coming up.

Enjoy and keep up the great work!

Steve Doff, Ellicott City, Maryland (Sent Tuesday, August 12, 2008 8:39 AM)

This is what I love about you guys, Brian and the whole team -- if you make an error you fess up and take away from what's presumably your time to go out, explore, and film more pieces to clean up the versions of the broadcast going west.

Keep on Rockin' All Over the World, to quote one of those covers our favorite rocker Mr. Springsteen has played a bunch of times over the years.

Jeremy, Marlboro, NJ (Sent Tuesday, August 12, 2008 9:30 AM)

During the "Charm Offensive" segment, I just rolled over laughing when I heard "the custom of wearing pajamas in the daytime". You'll find many of those in San Francisco Chinatown and they'll have "bed head" too.

Raymond Hong, San Francisco (outside of Chinatown) CA (Sent Tuesday, August 12, 2008 1:21 PM)

Mr. Williams,if nothing else, please learn the proper pronunciation of the capital of China. I cringe every time you and others I've heard, pronounce Beijing with a hard "J". Check with Tom Brokaw!

Al Torres, Long Beach, CA (Sent Tuesday, August 12, 2008 3:01 PM)

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