NBC

Tomorrow, the Newseum will open its Tim Russert exhibit titled "Inside Tim Russert's Office: If It's Sunday, It's 'Meet the Press.'"

The Newseum says the exhibit's highlights include the "Florida" eraser board, draft scripts for an interview with President George W. Bush, and Russert's wooden "Thou Shalt Not Whine" sign.

Here are some preview photos of his recreated Washington office:

NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams is doing more than just picking up another award during his trip to Arizona this week. Today, he is receiving the Walter Cronkite Award for Excellence in Journalism at ASU, but yesterday he and his boss coached the next generation of journalists.

Williams and NBC News President Steve Capus took time during the day Tuesday to talk to students, answer their questions and even critique their work. Williams did an impromptu question-and-answer session with Cronkite NewsWatch students in their sixth-floor newsroom, and Capus "went from edit bay to edit bay looking at the students' work and critiquing it for them," Lodato said. "They were incredibly generous with their time and attention."

Williams anchored Nightly News from the rooftop of ASU's Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication last night.

Last night, NBC's Brian Williams anchored "Nightly News" from the NBC News Los Angeles bureau while he spends some time on the west coast this week.

Williams will receive the Walter Cronkite Award for Excellence in Journalism at Arizona State University tomorrow. While he's out of town, NBC set things up for him to anchor "Nightly" from LA last night and from Phoenix tonight.

During his time in California, Williams taped an interview with Ellen Degeneres yesterday, which is airing today (4pmET in NYC). He will also appear on "Extra" tonight. On "Ellen," Williams discussed his recent trip to Afghanistan and showed Degeneres how to eat an MRE (Meal Ready to Eat), telling her, "I schlepped this, an Afghan word, all the way from Kabul." Screen grabs below.

NBC's Matt Lauer takes a look at the most fascinating, inspirational, heroic and notorious figures, and the most-talked about stories of 2009 in a Thanksgiving night special. NBC's "People of the Year" includes a hero pilot, an amateur singer and an Octomom. "People of the Year" premieres Thanksgiving night at 9pmET.

NBC's Washington bureau has been having power problems all day. Politico's Michael Calderone emailed bureau chief Mark Whitaker about it this morning. Whitaker writes, "somehow the bureau lost power and the electrical system froze in transition to the backup generator."

Insiders tell us the phones haven't worked for most of the day, e-mails aren't going through, shows are being moved and guests, including DHS secretary Janet Napolitano (pictured), are having to do live shots from outside.

DC-based Andrea Mitchell anchored her 1pmET MSNBC show from New York while David Shuster is anchoring the 4pmET show from MSNBC's studios on Capitol Hill (the same building as Fox News Channel's DC bureau.) Chris Matthews will anchor "Hardball" from Los Angeles.

NBC's Lester Holt will give the 2010 graduation keynote address at The University of California, Merced in May.

"We are honored that a journalist of Mr. Holt's caliber has agreed to inspire the Class of 2010 during their commencement exercise next May," said Chancellor Steve Kang in a press release.

Merced is the newest of the University of California system campuses; it graduated its inaugural class last year, with First Lady Michelle Obama delivering the keynote commencement address. Holt, a California native, reported from Merced last spring on the student-led effort that brought Obama to campus.

"The way to tell a story is all about the people," NBC News Tel Aviv bureau chief and correspondent Martin Fletcher told an audience of about 400 last night in suburban Chicago, describing how he approaches journalism. "It's very important to me to be as close-up as possible."

TVNewser was there as Fletcher spoke in Northbrook, part of a 23-city book tour this month to mark the paperback release of his 2008 memoir, Breaking News. He told the crowd of his nearly 40 years in journalism — 32 with NBC — and his experiences in some of the world's most dangerous hot spots.

Take an incident almost 30 years ago, on November 15, 1979. In Tehran reporting on the 53 American hostages at the U.S. embassy, he too was taken by Iranian militants. Held for nine hours, Fletcher was transported to the same embassy, making him the first television correspondent inside the occupied building, though not by his choosing.

The episode "wasn't scary at all," he tells TVNewser. "I don't take risks, and I don't go into dangerous situations," he explains. "However, my definitions of risk and danger may well be different from most people!"

More from Fletcher about foreign news coverage, and his next book — plus additional photos, after the jump...

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CNBC's David Faber reports on the impending acquisition of his network's parent company. "General Electric and Comcast are now expected to announce a deal over GE's NBC Universal unit on Nov. 16, not next week as originally thought," Faber writes on CNBC.com. GE will shed 51% of NBC Universal to Comcast and hold the remaining 49%.

NBC "Nightly News" anchor Brian Williams made his acting debut returned to "30 Rock" playing himself, (and playing Nicky Mortarulo of Scotch Plains, NJ) last night. He was in two short scenes. Here's one of them:

> More: Tony Mortarulo of Scotch Plains, NJ is Williams' real-life uncle.

On NBC Nightly News last night, Brian Williams introduced a story about a flare-up in violence in Tehran related to the 30th anniversary of the Iran hostage crisis by saying, "We get more from NBC News Tehran bureau chief Ali Arouzi, the only journalist working for an American broadcaster who is currently in Iran."

Turns out, that's not the case.

CNN's full time, Tehran based producer, Shirzad Bozorgmehr reported from Tehran yesterday both on-air and online. He's been based there full-time for 12 years. Shirzad also contributed to Reza Sayah's coverage of the anniversary from Pakistan.

The "Nightly" story after the jump...

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