Quotes of the Day
What do you consider the most important story of this decade?
— Jared May, Boston
I would say 9/11. We're fighting two wars in its name. It changed how we are viewed in the world and changed how my children's generation will grow up as Americans. It changed how I entered this building today.
The most surprising news story in my lifetime is the Soviet Union's collapse. What is yours?
— Ed Winters, Suffolk, N.Y.
I was born in 1959 in Ridgewood, N.J., so if you think back, it's very hard to single out one thing in a lifetime of 50 years. We lost a very visible war in Vietnam. We won a very visible space race. Though the end of the Cold War and all it has wrought is probably as good an answer as any.
Have you interviewed anyone who made you really nervous?
— Barb Micetic Lancaster, Gridley, Ill.
The worst interview I ever conducted was with TV host Steve Allen, who was having a bad day and decided that one-word answers should suffice. The interview felt like about a week and a half, and I think it took 20 minutes.
How do you expect TV journalism to change in the next five years?
— Debra Turner, New York City
I've seen a lot of death notices come and go about what I do for a living. Not only are we still standing; I'm proud to report that NBC Nightly News viewers have increased over last year. I think with media rapidly multiplying, the choices we have, have perhaps become so dizzying that there is a kind of "Come home, America" aspect to our increased audience.
Do you actually wear pants while doing the news?
— Curtis Ohl, Escondido, Calif.
I choose to. I know colleagues — and I'm not going to use any coy initials here, Al Roker — I know people in the industry who don't: Garrison Keillor. I don't celebrate that. I think it's a tawdry trick, Matt Lauer.
Why are there no ugly people reading the nightly news?
— David Keyes, Sandpoint, Idaho
I have some buddies in New Jersey who would argue that there's a big ugly one anchoring NBC Nightly News. There are a whole bunch of us on television who look normal. Has there been traditionally a fiendish double standard for men and women on television? Yes. It's not right. Especially with the advent of high-definition television, it's a cruel, cruel medium.
What are your thoughts on losing TIME.com's "most trusted name in news" poll to Jon Stewart?
— Kirk Bado, Shawnee, Kans.
This is a bitter and divisive issue. We have evidence that it wasn't fair, that someone tinkered with the machinery of the "most trusted" poll. I got played. In real life, as they say, I love the guy. I consider Jon Stewart and The Daily Show and their freakishly talented staff to be an entire branch of government. They play a role in holding media and politicians accountable.
Have you ever thought about giving up journalism and doing comedy?
— Matthew Thacker, Bowling Green, Ohio
Thanks, but no. I'm working in my first love. I don't know what I would do for a living if I couldn't work in journalism.
When are you going to start Twittering?
— Tracy Marino, Austin, Texas
Our team has used Twitter on occasion. I see it as kind of a time suck that I don't need any more of. Just too much "I got the most awesome new pair of sweatpants." I'm going to go ahead and assume that people buy awesome sweatpants every day and that I don't need to know them by name.
What story have you felt most passionate about covering?
— Keith Spencer, Everett, Mass.
I think probably Hurricane Katrina. I cover a lot of perfectly horrible things. I'd love to shake what we saw in Baghdad. I'd love to shake what we saw in Banda Aceh, where 30,000 people died. But I can't shake the sight of a dead body on a major street corner next to the Superdome and how these people were failed by grownups and their government, whom we entrust to protect us.
