Ailing "NBC Nightly News" loses top producer

By Paul J. Gough

NEW YORK (Hollywood Reporter) - The executive producer of "NBC Nightly News With Brian Williams" is stepping down Friday, although the network said John Reiss' departure is unrelated to the newscast losing its traditional ratings lead twice in the past three weeks to ABC's "World News with Charles Gibson."

Sources said a change had been in the works for months. In December, Reiss approached NBC News president Steve Capus -- his predecessor at "NBC Nightly News" during the first months of Brian Williams' tenure and the last years of Tom Brokaw's term -- and asked about changing jobs sometime in the new year.

NBC News executives privately acknowledged that though the timing might indicate that the move was ratings-driven, that isn't the case. The relationship between Reiss and Williams wasn't as strong as it could have been, and the newscast wasn't meshing the way the network envisioned.

NBC expects to make an announcement about a new executive producer next week. Reiss will remain with NBC News in an as-yet-undetermined capacity. He had been executive producer of "NBC Nightly News" since June 2005.

Meanwhile, ABC declared victory for the February sweep in both viewers and adults 25-54 with "World News With Charles Gibson" -- the first time since 1996 that the ABC evening newscast has won both measures.

The ABC newscast is poised to win the sweep with 9.7 million viewers and a 2.6 rating in the news demographic of adults 25-54, according to data from Nielsen Media Research. NBC is in second place with 9.6 million viewers and a 2.4 rating, and CBS is in third place with 7.6 million viewers and a 2.1. NBC still is ahead season-to-date by 464,000 viewers and 4% in the demo, Nielsen said.

Reuters/Hollywood Reporter