NBC News anchor Tom Brokaw interviewed Günter Schabowski after the 9 November 1989 press conference.
Schabowski, an East German government spokesman, had just announced new travel rules that appeared to allow citizens to cross the country’s borders immediately. The statement was based on a bureaucratic misunderstanding: the regulations were intended to take effect later, but Schabowski was not properly briefed and said they applied “immediately, without delay.”
Brokaw’s follow-up interview helped clarify the announcement for international viewers. Schabowski confirmed that East Germans could leave without first traveling through another country and agreed that this represented freedom of travel. Brokaw later reported from Berlin as crowds gathered at the Wall.
A common mix-up is confusing Brokaw’s role with those of Riccardo Ehrman or Peter Brinkmann, who asked important questions during the press conference itself. Brokaw interviewed Schabowski afterward; he did not conduct the question-and-answer exchange that triggered the famous announcement.