TV Newsmen Heading North to Helsinki

The Battle of the Anchors is moving to another venue this weekend.

NBC News announced Wednesday that Tom Brokaw, who has been mostly desk-bound in New York since the Persian Gulf crisis broke out in early August (he did spend a week in the Middle East), will be reporting from Moscow on Friday and from Helsinki, site of the Bush-Gorbachev summit, on Saturday and Sunday.

He leaves Thursday. Jane Pauley will substitute Thursday night on “Nightly News,” while Faith Daniels will anchor from New York on Friday.

With Brokaw as anchor, NBC will devote 4 1/2 hours to live coverage from Helsinki on Sunday, starting at 8 a.m., which, if current plans hold up, will conclude with a special “Meet the Press” from Finland at noon. The special will preempt the regular “Sunday Today.”

White House correspondent John Cochran and State Department correspondent John Dancy will also be in Helsinki.

CBS News anchor Dan Rather, who has dibs on the Persian Gulf story so far, will finally depart Saudi Arabia for Helsinki to report Saturday and Sunday on the summit. He will be joined by White House correspondent Lesley Stahl.

Rather, who has been in the Middle East from the start of the crisis, reportedly will finally return home to New York at the conclusion of the summit--barring another serious turn of events in the gulf, of course.

CBS’ “60 Minutes,” which has energized its usual summer reruns since the crisis with updated reports from the gulf, will include reports from Rather on Sunday .

ABC News anchor Peter Jennings, who has remained in New York, will also report from Helsinki this weekend.

And Bernard Shaw, stationed in Washington, will represent Cable News Network.

ANCHORS’ WEEKEND ITINERARY

Peter Jennings . . .

Flying from New York

Tom Brokaw . . .

Side trip to Moscow

Bernard Shaw . . .

Leaving Washington

Dan Rather . . .

Up from the desert