At CNN, Taking On the Cable Guys

"She asked me to come to New York," says Kornblut, now with The Washington Post. "She said, 'I need someone to distract Brokaw so I can flirt with Dan.' "

It must have worked; the two tied the knot a year later, in what was Brown's second marriage. Senor now works at an investment fund and is a Fox News commentator. "These are two very ambitious, high-profile people," Dickerson says.

Last year, Brown was a contender for Couric's job at "Today" but was passed over for Meredith Vieira in what friends describe as a major disappointment.

"It's been written to death: 'Oh my God, she's leaving because she didn't get Katie's job.' Of course I wanted that job," Brown says. "Who wouldn't want that job? It's one of the best jobs in television."

Brown concluded that as a part-time anchor and correspondent -- she covered Hurricane Katrina and the death of Pope John Paul II -- there was no way for her to grow at NBC. "You've got 22 minutes at 'Nightly News,' which is Brian's show. You've got the 'Today' show, which is doing a limited amount of news."

Something else bothered her as well: a sense that the next generation is abandoning network news. "My younger sister, honest to God, has never seen 'Nightly News.' When anything happens in the world, she has on CNN. In cable you can go a little more in depth, be a little more inside baseball. In broadcast, you have to simplify things, and on occasion you're forced to dumb things down."

The tradeoff, of course, is that cable audiences are relatively modest -- 1 million is considered a strong showing -- compared with the 7 million to 8 million viewers who watch the Williams newscast. For the first time in her career, Brown will have to carry a show built around her personality, in an environment where outrage gets the highest ratings. That ultimately was too great a burden for Zahn, who also steered clear of opinion, and Brown freely admits: "It may not work."

Leaving NBC was hard -- Brown says she cried many times before telling her bosses she was leaving -- and the question was whether she wanted to remain in a comfortable environment, surrounded by friends.

Or, she says, "did I want to hold my breath and jump over the cliff?"

Howard Kurtz hosts CNN's weekly media program, "Reliable Sources."