Both the New York Times and Wall Street Journal have stories today taking a long, hard look at the current state of NBC News. Much of the pieces won’t be news to regular TVNewser readers. They both cover “Today”‘s recent ratings issues and the rise of ABC’s “Good Morning America,” as well as “Meet the Press” losing ground to “Face the Nation” on CBS.
However, they also both bury some very interesting–and important–things deep into the articles relating to NBC News president Steve Capus.
Mr. Capus had publicly said as recently as April that the team in place at “Today” was the right one, but the show’s executive producer, Jim Bell, and Mr. Burke, who have built a rapport since Mr. Burke came from his role as Mr. Robert’s second-in-command at Comcast to lead NBCUniversal, favored a more aggressive approach, according to people familiar with the matter.
Mr. Capus is the longest-serving of the network news presidents, having been in charge since 2005. With the recent ratings troubles, his future in the job had become source of speculation in the news business. Mr. Wheatley pointed out that such speculation is common “any time there is significant slippage” in the ratings for a network.
But, though he declined to comment on it, Mr. Capus won a significant endorsement this week: he signed a new long-term deal to continue as the top executive in the news division.