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Ann Curry’s absence from NBC News sparks gossip

Where in the world is Ann Curry? She’s visibly absent from the big international news stories for NBC, media insiders are sniping.

Curry was widely expected to get the breaking news interviews in her role as NBC News national and international correspondent and anchor-at-large. But many wonder why she hasn’t been reporting on stories such as the kidnapping of 300 schoolgirls in Nigeria or the unrest in Ukraine, or conducting the big interview with Edward Snowden that NBC aired on Wednesday.

Some news bookers are hissing that “NBC Nightly News” anchor Brian Williams “stole the Snowden interview from Curry,” who was “chasing it forever.” But others say Williams worked hard to land Snowden himself, and it was not “stolen” from anyone.

“It was all Brian’s pursuit, for months. Brian personally wrote a letter to Snowden himself,” said a source.

NBC News President Deborah Turness told us, via e-mail, the same: “This has always been Brian’s interview right from the start, to suggest otherwise is completely wrong.”

Others point to Curry’s broken ankle as a reason for her absence. She was injured in April while hiking in Harriman State Park and rescued by a New Jersey-based Boy Scout troop. She was told her leg would take 10 to 12 weeks to heal.

An NBC insider explained to us, “We wanted her for Nigeria, but she had just broken her ankle and she did reports from New York for several days.”

Curry appeared on-air for “Nightly News” and participated in a Twitter chat with Secretary of State John Kerry on the topic.

Curry produced a documentary on US diplomacy with Iran that ran two weeks ago online on nbc.com, and traveled to Pakistan this week on assignment.