Legendary CBS, ABC, NBC, CNN executive Jeff Gralnick Passes Away

By Chris Ariens 

Jeff Gralnick, who over the years worked for CBS News, ABC News, NBC News and CNN died at his home last night. He was 72. Gralnick had been a special consultant to NBC News president Steve Capus.

Gralnick began his broadcast news career in 1959 as a desk assistant at CBS News. He would spend 11 years at CBS, from reporting stints in Vietnam to being one of the original producers for “60 Minutes.” He joined ABC News in 1972 serving twice as EP of “World News Tonight” and producing political coverage through the 1980s and into the 1990s. Gralnick joined NBC in 1993, as EP of “NBC Nightly News with Tom Brokaw” bringing the newscast from third to first place, where it remains today.

Gralnick returned to ABC in 1996, to help launch ABCNews.com; then to CNN in 1999 and then a new career as TV news consultant.

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On a personal note, Gralnick would often email us here at TVNewser, always the fixer, telling us what we were doing wrong and how we could do it better. I’ll miss his guidance.

In an email to his staff Capus writes, “This is a huge loss to our profession and to this news division. Our friend Jeff will be sorely missed.”

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