Executives of NBC Nightly News received phone calls from senior communications staffers at the White House on Sept. 18 expressing “disappointment” in the program’s plans to air an interview with Bill Clinton that night, the online Salon magazine reported Thursday.
The interview, conducted by Nightly News anchor Tom Brokaw, also aired on NBC’s Dateline later that evening. During the interview, Clinton defended his administration’s policies regarding Arab terrorists. According to Salon, which cited sources familiar with the calls, the White House callers, while not directly asking NBC to shelve the interview, expressed the opinion that it, in Salon‘s words, “would not be helpful to the current war on terrorism.” Broadcasting & Cable later reported on its website that NBC News had denied receiving any calls from the White House expressing concern about the interview.
