For NBC News President, a Week In the Hot Seat

NEW YORK -- When he finally got home, close to midnight, on the night that his network aired part of the Virginia Tech killer's video, Steve Capus felt drained.

"I was pretty numb," the NBC News president says. "I definitely felt the pressure."

In the space of seven days this month, the once lesser-known executive found himself in the maelstrom of two emotionally charged, fiercely debated controversies: whether Don Imus should remain on the air and whether Seung Hui Cho's final recorded words should be broadcast to the world. In the face of an enormous backlash over Cho's hate-filled video, Capus flew to Chicago last week and defended himself on "Oprah" -- an unusually public posture for a man who generally labors in relative anonymity.

"I'm more comfortable behind the scenes," admits Capus, 43.

Even as critics accused him of caving to pressure in dropping MSNBC's simulcast of the Imus show -- and, later, of giving a mass murderer the infamy he craved -- Capus won plaudits at 30 Rock for his consensus-building style.

"When you're forced to make a decision like this, there's no rule book, and you're probably going to upset half the public," says Jeff Zucker, NBC's chief executive, who backed Capus in a meeting two hours before the network broadcast Cho's diatribe and gun-wielding photos. "What I saw in Steve is, he was willing to stand up, make a call and be decisive."

It was not the first time Capus had to handle a crisis that put NBC in the forefront of the news. In the fall of 2001, soon after he became executive producer of "NBC Nightly News," Capus spearheaded coverage about the anthrax-laced envelope that was mailed to anchor Tom Brokaw and opened by Brokaw's assistant.

"Steve was keeping the staff focused in a very low-key, quiet way, and it was impressive," Brokaw says. "He won a lot of affection from the rank and file for the way he handled that."

Capus (the first syllable pronounced like baseball "cap") has the thoughtful air of a college professor who enjoys analyzing the news business. He can be painfully introverted at times, but friends know to back off when Capus gets angry. "He does have a little bit of a hair trigger," Brokaw says. "He could blow. But I could always walk in and close the door and say, 'Take a breath.' "

As he made his way up the network escalator, shedding his sneakers and vests for dress shoes and suits, Capus did not aspire to the highest floor. "He never sat around during bull sessions and fantasized about running a division," says anchor Brian Williams. "What he loves to do, and very seldom gets to do, is produce television. I think he'd like to move his office to the control room. He is happiest in a dark room with a wall full of TV monitors and a headset on."

A native of the Philadelphia suburbs, Capus was a self-described "total geek." Andy Warren, who taught Capus in high school, recalls "the small radio station, with a range of about three blocks, that he and his buddies created. Given the choice of tinkering around with some backwater radio station or going to a party, he would choose the radio station."

Capus later dabbled in politics -- at 19, he was elected township auditor in his Bucks County, Pa., municipality -- but it was a brief diversion. He was still at Temple University in 1986 when Philadelphia's WCAU-TV hired him as a freelance writer and producer. He sported an earring and was a devotee of Frank Zappa, whose picture still adorns his wall.