Steve Capus
Encyclopedia
Early life and career
Steve Capus was born in 1963. He graduated from William Tennent High SchoolWilliam Tennent High School
William Tennent High School is a public high school serving grades 9 through 12, located in Warminster, Pennsylvania, USA.The school is the only public high school serving Warminster and Upper Southampton townships and Ivyland borough in the Centennial School District, located in Bucks County,...
in Warminster, Pennsylvania and went on to attend Temple University
Temple University
Temple University is a comprehensive public research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Originally founded in 1884 by Dr. Russell Conwell, Temple University is among the nation's largest providers of professional education and prepares the largest body of professional...
, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in journalism in 1986. Capus began his journalism career in radio and print, working at several stations and daily newspapers in the Philadelphia area. He worked at WCAU-TV in Philadelphia in 1986, and became an executive producer with KYW-TV in Philadelphia in 1990.
Capus moved to Charlotte, N.C. in 1993, joining the NBC News team as the senior producer of NBC Nightside
NBC Nightside
NBC Nightside was an overnight news program which aired from 1991 to 1998 on NBC. The show was produced in three half-hour long segments. It usually aired live nightly from 1:00-2:30 a.m. Eastern Time, followed by rebroadcasts until 4:30 or 5 a.m...
, an overnight news program.
Capus then continued his career with NBC in Manhattan. During this time, he was the broadcast producer of "NBC News Sunrise" and then the supervising producer for Today. From 1997 to May 2001, Capus was the executive producer of MSNBC’s The News with Brian Williams
Brian Williams
Brian Douglas Williams is the anchor and managing editor of NBC Nightly News, the evening news program of the NBC television network, a position he assumed in 2004...
. He was also the executive producer of numerous NBC News breaking reports and MSNBC special broadcasts. Among them were the 2000 presidential primaries and election, the “Summit in Silicon Valley” with Tom Brokaw
Tom Brokaw
Thomas John "Tom" Brokaw is an American television journalist and author best known as the anchor and managing editor of NBC Nightly News from 1982 to 2004. He is the author of The Greatest Generation and other books and the recipient of numerous awards and honors...
and the political series 100 Days, 1000 Voices.
Capus was the executive producer of NBC Nightly News from May 2001 to June 2005. During this time, Capus was the executive producer for NBC News' coverage of the terror attacks on September 11, 2001, the war in Iraq, and the "Decision 2002-2004" political coverage. Capus was then promoted to senior vice president of NBC News.
President of NBC News
In November 2005, Capus was named president of NBC News. Capus has served as the arbiter of issues involving ethics, style, standards, safety and other matters that affect the Division’s journalistic bearing. Capus reports to Steve Burke, chief executive officer of NBC Universal.Capus has received criticism for many decisions he has had to make throughout his career - especially for those made during his time as NBC News president. He has stated that it is his job to try to balance conflicting opinions and to come to the decision that he believes is the right one. Capus has also received numerous awards throughout his career, including four Emmy Awards, six Edward R. Murrow Awards, one Alfred I. duPont and six National Headliner Awards.