Capus Is Surprised It’s Not Gibson

NBC News president Steve Capus was surprised by this week’s World News Tonight decision.
“Charlie Gibson strikes me as somebody born to do a job like that [anchor WNT],” Capus tells Gail Shister. “He did a terrific job as the face of ABC News through the death of Peter Jennings. I thought he had cemented his role in the future. I don’t know what led them to come to this decision. There’s no question he’s done a better job for them from a ratings point of view.”

ABC News vice president Jeffrey Schneider responded: “With an anchor threatening to jump ship [Katie Couric] you’d think that’s where Steve’s focus would be right now.”

> Update: 9:45am: “That Capus quote makes him sound sounds like the EP of Nightly News, not the President of NBC News,” an e-mailer says. “He will learn the hard way that he shouldn’t take cheap shots like that in his current job.”