SHORT TAKES : NBC to Air ‘Day at White House’

NBC News has announced that it will air “an unusual and unprecedented behind-the-scenes look at George Bush’s White House” on Feb. 28. “A Day in the Life of the White House,” anchored by Tom Brokaw, will be taped the day before, when Brokaw will follow the President from his first early-morning meetings with staff, through his public appearances and a state dinner for a visiting foreign dignitary. At the end of the day, Brokaw will have an extended interview with the President and Barbara Bush. Late last year, ABC News’s “Primetime Live” anchors Diane Sawyer and Sam Donaldson were given an hourlong tour of the White House by the Bushes.

The arrangement with the White House culminates a year of discussions that began when NBC News Senior Vice President Tim Russert wrote to Bush last February suggesting such an interview and follow-up talks with Chief of Staff John H. Sununu and Press Secretary Marlin Fitzwater.