NBC News is the news division of the American broadcast television networkNBC. It operates under theNBCUniversal News Group, a unit ofNBCUniversal, which itself is a subsidiary ofComcast. The news division's various operations report to the president of NBC News,Rebecca Blumenstein. The NBCUniversal News Group also comprises the Spanish languageNoticias Telemundo and United Kingdom-basedSky News.[1] It formerly includedMSNBC, the network's 24-hour liberal cable news channel, as well as business and consumer news channelsCNBC andCNBC World before their split in 2025 as part of a larger split from NBCUniversal intoVersant.
NBC News aired the first regularly scheduled news program in American broadcast television history on February 21, 1940. The group's broadcasts are produced and aired from30 Rockefeller Plaza, NBCUl's headquarters inNew York City. The division presides over the flagship evening newscast,NBC Nightly News; the world's first of its genre morning television program,Today; and the longest-running American television series,Meet the Press, a Sunday morning newsmaker interview program. NBC News also offers 70 years of rare historic footage from theNBCUniversal Archives online.[2] NBC News operatesNBCNews.com, the division's official website.
The first regularly scheduled American television newscast in history was made by NBC News on February 21, 1940, anchored byLowell Thomas (1892–1981), and airing weeknights at 6:45 P.M.[3] In June 1940, NBC, through its flagship station inNew York City, W2XBS (renamed commercial WNBT in 1941, nowWNBC) operating on channel one, televised 30.25 hours of coverage of theRepublican National Convention live and direct fromPhiladelphia. The station used a series of relays from Philadelphia to New York, for rebroadcast on W2XB inSchenectady (nowWRGB), making this among the first "network" programs of NBC Television. Due to wartime and technical restrictions, there were no live telecasts of the 1944 conventions, although films of the events were reportedly shown over WNBT the next day.
About this time, there were irregularly scheduled, quasi-network newscasts originating from NBC's WNBT in New York City (WNBC) and reportedly fed to WPTZ (nowKYW-TV) in Philadelphia andWRGB in Schenectady, NY. For example, Esso sponsored news features as well asThe War As It Happens in the final days of World War II, another irregularly scheduled NBC television newsreel program that was also seen in New York, Philadelphia, and Schenectady on the relatively few (roughly 5000) television sets which existed at the time. After the war,NBC Television Newsreel aired filmed news highlights with narration. Later in 1948, when sponsored byCamel Cigarettes,NBC Television Newsreel was renamedCamel Newsreel Theatre and then, whenJohn Cameron Swayze was added as an on-camera anchor in 1949, the program was renamedCamel News Caravan.
In 1948, NBC teamed up withLife magazine to provide election night coverage of PresidentHarry S. Truman's surprising victory over New York governorThomas E. Dewey. The television audience was small, but NBC's share in New York was double that of any other outlet.[4] The following year, theCamel News Caravan, anchored by Swayze, debuted on NBC. Lacking the graphics and technology of later years, it contained many elements of modern newscasts.[5] NBC hired its own film crews and in the program's early years, it dominated one of its competitors,CBS, which did not hire its own film crews until 1953.[5] In 1950,David Brinkley began serving as the program'sWashington correspondent, but attracted little attention until paired withChet Huntley in 1956.[6] In 1955, theCamel News Caravan fell behind CBS'Douglas Edwards with the News, and Swayze lost the already tepid support of NBC executives.[5] The following year, NBC replaced the program with theHuntley-Brinkley Report.
Beginning in 1951, NBC News was managed by Director of NewsBill McAndrew, who reported to Vice President of News and Public Affairs J. Davidson Taylor.[7]
The NBC logo in 1954NBC News had close to 700 correspondents and cameramen in 1961 who were stationed throughout the world. The film was received in the United States by plane or by the jointly operated NBC-BBC transatlantic film cable.David Brinkley, one of the network's first anchors
Television assumed an increasingly prominent role in American family life in the late 1950s, and NBC News was called television's "champion of news coverage."[8] NBC presidentRobert Kintner provided the news division with ample amounts of both financial resources and air time.[5] In 1956, the network paired anchorsChet Huntley andDavid Brinkley and the two became celebrities,[6] supported by reporters includingJohn Chancellor,Frank McGee,Edwin Newman,Sander Vanocur,Nancy Dickerson,Tom Pettit, and Ray Scherer.
NBC's Vice President Of News And Public Affairs, J. Davidson Taylor, was a Southerner who, with Producer Reuven Frank, was determined that NBC would lead television's coverage of thecivil rights movement.[10] In 1955, NBC provided national coverage ofMartin Luther King Jr.'s leadership of theMontgomery bus boycott inMontgomery, Alabama, airing reports from Frank McGee, then News Director of NBC's Montgomery affiliateWSFA-TV, who would later join the network.[11] A year later, John Chancellor's coverage of theadmission of black students toCentral High School inLittle Rock, Arkansas, was the first occasion when the key news story came from television rather than print[11] and prompted a prominent U.S. senator to observe later, "When I think of Little Rock, I think of John Chancellor."[7] Other reporters who covered the movement for the network included Sander Vanocur, Herbert Kaplow, Charles Quinn, and Richard Valeriani,[10] who was hit with an ax handle at a demonstration inMarion, Alabama in 1965.[12]
While Walter Cronkite's enthusiasm for the space race eventually won the anchorman viewers for CBS and NBC News, with the work of correspondents such as Frank McGee, Roy Neal,Jay Barbree, andPeter Hackes providing ample coverage of American-crewed space missions in theProject Mercury,Project Gemini, andProject Apollo programs. In an era when space missions rated continuous coverage, NBC configured its largest studio,Studio 8H, for space coverage. It utilized models and mockups of rockets and spacecraft, maps of the Earth and Moon to show orbital trackage, and stages on which animated figures created by puppeteerBil Baird were used to depict movements of astronauts before on-board spacecraft television cameras were feasible. (Studio 8H had been home to theNBC Symphony Orchestra and is now the home ofSaturday Night Live.) NBC's coverage of thefirst Moon landing in 1969 earned the network anEmmy Award.[13]
In the late 1950s, Kintner reorganized the chain of command at the network, makingBill McAndrew president of NBC News, reporting directly to Kintner.[7] McAndrew served in that position until his death in 1968.[7] McAndrew was succeeded by his Executive Vice President, Producer Reuven Frank, who held the position until 1973.[7]
On November 22, 1963, NBC interrupted various programs on its affiliate stations at 1:45 p.m... to announce thatPresident John F. Kennedy had been shot inDallas,Texas. Eight minutes later, at 1:53:12 p.m......, NBC broke into programming with a network bumper slide andChet Huntley,Bill Ryan andFrank McGee informing the viewers what was going on as it happened. Still, the reports were audio-only since a camera was not in service. However, NBC did not begin broadcasting over the air until 1:57 p.m. ET. About 40 minutes later, after word came that JFK was pronounced dead, NBC suspended regular programming and carried 71 hours of uninterrupted news coverage of the assassination and thefuneral of the president—including the only live broadcast of the fatal shooting of Kennedy's assassin,Lee Harvey Oswald, byJack Ruby as Oswald was being led in handcuffs by law-enforcement officials through the basement of Dallas Police Headquarters.[14]
NBC's ratings lead began to slip toward the end of the 1960s and fell sharply when Huntley retired in 1970; he died ofcancer four years later, in 1974. The loss of Huntley and RCA's reluctance to fund NBC News at a similar level as CBS's funding of its news division left NBC News in the doldrums. NBC's primary news show gained its present title,NBC Nightly News, on August 3, 1970.
This is a previous 2D version of the 1986 NBC News logo, which was used from 1986 to 2023, using the NBC Futura Medium typeface.
The network tried a platoon of anchors (Brinkley, McGee, and Chancellor) during the early months ofNightly News. Despite the efforts of the network's eventual lead anchor, the articulate, even-toned Chancellor, and an occasional first-place finish in theNielsens,Nightly News in the 1970s was primarily a strong second.[5] By the end of the decade, NBC had to contend not only with a powerful CBS but also a surgingABC, led byRoone Arledge.Tom Brokaw became sole anchor in 1983, after co-anchoring withRoger Mudd for a year, and began leading NBC's efforts. In 1986 and 1987, NBC won the top spot in theNielsens for the first time in years,[15] only to fall back when Nielsen's rating methodology changed. In late 1996,Nightly News again moved into first place,[16] a spot it has held onto in most of the succeeding years.Brian Williams assumed primary anchor duties when Brokaw retired in December 2004.[17] In February 2015, NBC suspended Williams for six months for telling an inaccurate story about his experience in the2003 invasion of Iraq.[18] He was replaced byLester Holt on an interim basis. On June 18, 2015, it was announced that Holt would become the permanent anchor and Williams would be moved to MSNBC as an anchor of breaking news and special reports beginning in August.[19]
NBC Nightly News Set in 2008
In 1993,Dateline NBC broadcast an investigative report about the safety ofGeneral Motors' (GM) trucks. GM discovered the "actual footage" utilized in the broadcast had been rigged by including explosive incendiaries attached to the gas tanks and improper sealants for those tanks. GM subsequently filed an anti-defamation lawsuit against NBC, which publicly admitted the results of the tests were rigged and settled the lawsuit with GM on the very same day.[20]
In November 1995, NBC News signed an agreement with German public broadcasterZDF to share newsgathering resources. The agreement enabled NBC News to move its Frankfurt bureau to ZDF's headquarters in Mainz.[21]
On October 22, 2007,Nightly News moved into its new high-definition studio, Studio 3C, atNBC Studios in 30 Rockefeller Plaza in New York City. The network's 24-hour cable network,MSNBC, also joined the network in New York on that day. The new studios/headquarters for NBC News and MSNBC were now located in one area.[citation needed]
The previous 3D version of the 1986 NBC News logo, using the NBC Futura Medium typeface, was used from 2013 to 2023.
During theGreat Recession, NBC Universal urged NBC News to save $500 million. On that occasion, NBC News laid off several of its in-house reporters, such asKevin Corke, Jeannie Ohm, and Don Teague. This was the largest layoff in NBC News history.
After the sudden death of the influential moderatorTim Russert ofMeet the Press in June 2008,Tom Brokaw took over as an interim host; and on December 14, 2008,David Gregory became the new moderator of the show until August 14, 2014, when NBC announced that NBC News Political DirectorChuck Todd would take over as the 12th moderator ofMeet the Press starting September 7, 2014. Gregory's last broadcast was on August 10, 2014.[22][23]
By 2009, NBC had established leadership in network news, airing the highest-rated morning, evening, and Sunday interview news programs.[24] Its ability to share costs with MSNBC and share in the cable network's advertising and subscriber revenue made it far more profitable than its network rivals.[25]
NBC Nightly News broadcast, March 2008
On March 27, 2012, NBC News broadcast an edited segment from a 911 call placed byGeorge Zimmerman before heshot Trayvon Martin. The editing made it appear that Zimmerman volunteered that Martin was black, rather than merely responding to the dispatcher's inquiry, which would support a view that the shooting was racially motivated. A media watchdog organization accused NBC News of engaging in "an all-out falsehood." While NBC News initially declined to comment,[26] the news agency did issue an apology to viewers.[27]The Washington Post called the statement "skimpy on the details on just how the mistake unfolded."[27]
On December 13, 2012, NBC News reporterRichard Engel and his five crew members, Aziz Akyavaş, Ghazi Balkiz, John Kooistra, Ian Rivers, and Ammar Cheikh Omar, werekidnapped in Syria. Having escaped after five days in captivity, Engel said he believed that aShabiha group loyal toal-Assad was behind the abduction and that the crew was freed by theAhrar al-Sham group five days later.[28] Engel's account was however challenged from early on.[29] In April 2015, NBC had to revise the kidnapping account, following further investigations byThe New York Times, which suggested that the NBC team "was almost certainly taken by a Sunni criminal element affiliated with theFree Syrian Army," rather than by a loyalistShia group.[30]
In 2013, John Lapinski was Director of Elections, replacing Sheldon Gawiser. In 2015, the election team'sdecision desk group was given its first permanent space at 30 Rockefeller, replacing the News Sales Archives that had occupied the space previously.[31]
The NBC News Division was the first news team to possess thetape of Donald Trump recorded byAccess Hollywood, after a producer of the NBC show had made the News Division aware of it; the News Division internally debated publishing it for three days, and then an unidentified source gave a copy of the tape toThe Washington Post ReporterDavid Fahrenthold, who contacted NBC for comment, notified the Trump campaign that he had the video, obtained confirmation of its authenticity, and released a story and the tape itself, scooping NBC.[32][33][34] Alerted that thePost might release the story immediately,[34] NBC News released its own story shortly after thePost story was published.[35][36]
On November 29, 2017, NBC News announced thatMatt Lauer's employment had been terminated after an unidentified female NBC employee reported that Lauer had sexually harassed her during the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, and that the harassment continued after they returned to New York.[37] NBC News management said it had been aware thatThe New York Times andVariety had been conducting independent investigations of Lauer's behavior,[38] but that management had been unaware of previous allegations against Lauer.[39][40] Linda Vester, a former NBC News correspondent, disputed the claims that management knew nothing, saying that "everybody knew" that Lauer was dangerous.[41] According toRonan Farrow, multiple sources have stated that NBC News was not only aware of Lauer's misconduct beforehand, but that Harvey Weinstein used this knowledge to pressure them into killing a story that would have outed his own sexual misconduct.[42][43]Variety reported allegations by at least ten of Lauer's current and former colleagues.[44] Additional accusations went public in the ensuing days.[38][45]
NBC News PresidentNoah Oppenheim suggested an investigation into alleged sexual misconduct byHarvey Weinstein after NBC contributorRonan Farrow pitched a general idea to report on sexual harassment in Hollywood.[46] After a 10-month investigation by Farrow and NBC Producer Rich McHugh, NBC chose not to publish it.[47][48] The story, with very few changes, was published a few weeks later in theNew Yorker Magazine instead.[42] A story on the subject of Weinstein's alleged behavior also appeared several days earlier inThe New York Times.[49] Following criticism for missing a major story it had initiated, NBC News defended the decision, saying that at the time Farrow was at NBC, the early reporting still had important missing necessary elements.[50] Farrow later disputed this characterization, saying that he had multiple named accusers willing to come forward and that the version ultimately published in theNew Yorker had very few changes from the version that NBC News rejected.[42][48][50] This version went on to win thePulitzer Prize for Public Service in April 2018.[51] A former NBC News executive has said that the story on Weinstein was killed because NBC News was aware of the sexual misconduct by Lauer; inCatch and Kill: Lies, Spies, and a Conspiracy to Protect Predators, Ronan Farrow cites two sources withinAmerican Media, Inc. stating that the story was killed in response to an overt threat from Weinstein to out Lauer.[42][52]
In March 2024, NBC News hiredRonna McDaniel, the former chairwoman of the Republican National Committee (RNC) from 2017 to 2024. The hire stirred controversy, as McDaniel had been a staunchDonald Trump loyalist during her tenure at the RNC. She made false claims of voter fraud after Joe Biden won the 2020 presidential election, which she sought to overturn.[53][54][55][56]
After NBC hired her during her interview onMeet the Press withKristen Welker, McDaniel backtracked on her claims, saying that Biden won the 2020 election "fair and square" and condemned political violence.[54] She said of her conduct as RNC chair, "When you're the RNC chair, you — you kind of take one for the whole team, right? Now I get to be a little bit more myself."[57]
On January 31, 2025, a Defense Department memo announced that NBC News must move out of its longtime workspace on the Correspondents' Corridor in the Pentagon, a move under a new Annual Media Rotation Program for the Pentagon Press Corps. In a statement, NBC News said, "We're disappointed by the decision to deny us access to a broadcasting booth at the Pentagon that we've used for many decades".[60]
In October 2025, NBC fired its journalism teams dedicated to covering the Black, Latino, Asian, and LGBT communities.[61]
NBC News provides content for the Internet and produces a daily (formerly twice-daily show) calledStay Tuned forSnapchat's Discover platform. It also produced programming forQuibi calledThe Report. TheStay Tuned team launchedThe Overview onPeacock in 2021.
In November 2016, NBC News Group chairman Andy Lack announced NBCUniversal intended to purchase a 25% stake inEuronews, a European news organization competing against the likes ofBBC News andITV News[68] The transaction was completed at the end of May 2017;Deborah Turness, former President of NBC News, was appointed to run "NBC News International," to perform NBC's role in the partnership, in which each network would contribute reporting to the other.[69]
In April 2020, NBCUniversal sold its stake in Euronews to focus all resources on the launch ofNBC Sky World News, which was scheduled to launch later in 2020.[70] However, the proposed new service was scrapped in August 2020, resulting in layoffs of 60 employees.[71]
TheNBC Radio Network had been in place since 1926. On March 30, 2003,NBC News Radio debuted on approximately 240 radio stations as anall-news radio service, initially using the slogan "The news you want, when you want it." It featured NBC and MSNBC anchors and reporters, but was limited to one-minute newscasts on weekdays.
Westwood One partnered with NBC and made NBC News Radio available to all radio stations with which the syndicator was affiliated.[72]
On October 21, 2011, Dial Global—a subsidiary ofOaktree Capital Management'sTriton Media Group—acquired the majority of Westwood One's assets, including the distribution rights to NBC News Radio.[73] Dial Global announced on March 2, 2012, that it would make NBC News Radio a full-time operation and a majority ofCNN affiliates switched to NBC in this process.[74] The new format consisted of twice-hourly newscasts.[75]
Beginning July 11, 2016, NBCUniversal licensed the name "NBC News Radio" toiHeartMedia, utilizing talent and reporters from iHeartMedia's existing 24/7 News Network, made available to the group's approximately 850 radio stations.[76] The reintroduced service included an hourly newscast along with ancillary specials and longform breaking news coverage.[77]
On February 16, 2023, NBC News announced[78] that NBC News NOW was the name of their news streaming platform. It continued to be available on iHeartMedia, as well as via theTuneInpodcasting service.
Audio portions of NBC News cable networksMSNBC andCNBC are currently available as Internet radio stations throughTuneIn and theSiriusXMsatellite radio platform.
NBC News Overnight was canceled in December 1983, but in 1991, NBC News launched another overnight news show calledNBC Nightside. During its run, the show's anchors included Sara James,[79] Bruce Hall,Antonio Mora, Tom Miller,Campbell Brown, Kim Hindrew, Tom Donavan, and Tonya Strong. It was based at NBCNetwork affiliateWCNC-TV inCharlotte, North Carolina. It provided an overnight news service that NBC affiliates could air until early morning programming began, providing programming to help them stay on the air 24/7. At the time, a few NBC affiliates had begun usingCNN'sHeadline News service to provide overnight programming, and NBC decided to offer the network's own overnight news service.CBS andABC also began their overnight news programming, as well. In addition, the facility produced a 24-hour news service aimed at Latin American viewers called "Canal de Noticias, NBC. The service closed in 1997, and five years later, the network bought Telemundo.
NBC News Studios – documentary production unit founded on January 23, 2020[80]
NBC News Channel – a news video and report feed service[81] similar to a wire service, providing pre-produced international, national and regional stories some with fronting reporters customized for NBC network affiliates. It is based inCharlotte, North Carolina with bureaus inNew York City at30 Rockefeller Plaza,Washington, D.C., on North Capital Street NW,Chicago at theNBC Tower, and inLos Angeles at the Brokaw News Center on theUniversal Studios Hollywood Lot with satellite bureaus atWFLA-TV in Tampa, Florida and atKUSA-TV in Denver, Colorado. Its Charlotte headquarters are connected to Charlotte NBC affiliate studiosWCNC-TV. NBC News Channel also served as the production base ofNBC Nightside and "Canal de Noticias, NBC."
NBC News Digital Group
NBC News Now – a free streaming service, initially launched May 29, 2019, under Janelle Rodriguez, Senior Vice President of Editorial for NBC News and MSNBC. It was initially operated without an anchor until they hiredAlison Morris, formerly of Fox 5 in New York, starting on July 1, 2019.
TheOTT services were announced in October 2018 as "NBC News Signal" with Simone Boyce, who was originally tapped as the evening (7 PM) host, with two MSNBC acting as hosts.[82] The channel broadcasts rolling news on weekdays from 5 am ET until early evening with NBC news magazines, includingDateline NBC repeats andMeet the Press, shown overnight and at the weekend. The service is streamed live on YouTube internationally, Peacock streaming service in the US and Canada, and in 2022 and 2023 it was aired as a linear channel in the UK on Sky TV andVirgin Media's platforms. During breaking news events of major significance when NBC News Now is not broadcasting live programming, such as at the weekend, the channel broadcastsSky News.[83]
NBC News got the first American news interviews from two Russian presidents (Vladimir Putin,Mikhail Gorbachev), andTom Brokaw was the only American television news correspondent to witness the fall of theBerlin Wall in 1989.[86]
Hallie Jackson – Senior Washington Correspondent (2014–present)NBC Nightly News Sunday Anchor (2024–present) & Hallie Jackson NOW Anchor (2021–present)[97]
In thePhilippines,NBC Nightly News andToday is previously both shown on9TV (formerlyTalk TV andSolar News Channel; now asRPTV), whileEarly Today was officially dropped from the network in December 2013, but they replaced by the repeats ofInside Edition, whileToday dropped it in September 2014 to make room for the weekend children's programming andNBC Nightly News was the last to dropped it in March 2015, due to the firing ofBrian Williams as anchor and the move ofLester Holt to main anchor position as well as the anticipation of rebranding of the said network toCNN Philippines in March of the same year (bothNightly News andToday were both previously aired onETC from 2004 to 2005 and the now defunct2nd Avenue from 2005 to 2007;Nightly News was later moved to C/S 9 (later Solar TV) from 2008 to 2011, whileToday retains it separately on 2nd Avenue until 2011). After five years of not airing it in the Philippine airwaves, bothNBC Nightly News andToday returned in November 2020 as the launch programs ofTAP TV (NBC Nightly News was later moved to its sister networkTAP Edge from January to October 2021, until they returned it to the said network in October 2021). TAP TV may also occasionally air special coverage from NBC News, including the U.S. Elections every 2 years and the U.S. Presidential Inauguration every 4 years, as well as breaking news during regular broadcasts ofToday.NBC Nightly News, along with the full program lineup of NBC, was carried by affiliateVSB-TV inBermuda until 2014.
TheSeven Network inAustralia has close ties with NBC and has used a majority of the network's imaging and slogans since the 1970s.Seven News has featuredThe Mission as its news theme since the mid-1980s. Local newscasts were namedSeven Nightly News from the mid-1980s until around 2000. NBC and Seven will often share news resources between the two countries. NBC News has been known to use Seven News reporters for live reports on a developing news story in Australia. Seven News will sometimes also incorporate an NBC News report into its national bulletins.Today,Weekend Today andMeet the Press are all broadcast on theSeven Network during the early morning hours from 3-5 a.m., just before Seven's morning showSunrise.
In theUnited Kingdom, theITV network used to air segments fromNBC Nightly News on theirITV News at 5:30 morning newscast before it was canceled in December 2012. NBC News shares facilities and crew in the UK withITN, which is the news provider for ITV. NBC News Now is shown as a linear channel on both theSky andVirgin Media platforms in the UK.NBC News Now has been removed from these platforms as of December 2023 but remains free to view viaYouTube.
Meet the Press, NBC Nightly News, and special breaking news reports use movements from "The Mission" byJohn Williams as their themes.[190] The composition was first used by NBC in 1985 and was updated in 2004.[191] "Scherzo for Today," the third movement, was in use byToday until 2013, when it was replaced by a new theme by Alan Gubman.[190]
^"News at 9 on NBC-TV"(PDF).Broadcasting.88 (8): 81. February 10, 1975. RetrievedOctober 5, 2025.
^Shepard, Richard F. (December 23, 1978)."Brief News Spots on TV High in Profits, Ratings".The New York Times. RetrievedOctober 5, 2025.NBC was apparently the innovator of the short mini‐news, which is not to be confused with the mini‐series, although both run in maxi‐price time. It started "Update" on Aug. 6, 1976...
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