Comedown as Brian Williams stays at NBC; Lester Holt takes over Nightly News chair
Brian Williams, suspended four months ago for exaggerating his role in a helicopter incident in Iraq, will not return to his position as the anchor of NBC’s Nightly News - but he will be staying with the network.
Williams: Comedown
Lester Holt, who has been filling in for Williams as anchor, is expected to take on the anchor position permanently.
That was the buzz in New York media circles last night. NBC is expected to make an official announcement, possibly as early as today.
Williams is expected to move to a new role primarily at the cable news network MSNBC, "probably in a breaking-news capacity in the beginning, " said the New York Times.
News of the decision was first reported by CNN.com. The Times described the new role as “ a humbling comedown for Mr. Williams, who before the controversy was one of the country’s most prominent and respected broadcast journalists.”
Williams, 56, drew close to 10 million viewers a night. He was a coveted speaker at dinners and panels, and a frequent celebrity guest on entertainment shows, said the NYT.
However, on his newscast on Feb. 4, Williams admitted that he had embellished his account of being on a helicopter that was hit by enemy fire in 2003, and apologized to viewers.
On Feb. 10, he was suspended for six months without pay.
Over the last months NBC uncovered as many as 10 to 12 instances where Williams was thought to have exaggerated or fabricated accounts of his reporting, said the NYT citing people with knowledge of the NBC inquiry.
Television industry executives said that it would have been difficult for Mr. Williams to return to the anchor chair, said the Times, "because he lost the trust not only of viewers but also of the people in NBC’s newsroom."
For Williams, the fact that he is staying at NBCUniversal could be interpreted as something of a victory, said the Times report.
Some supporters were said to see the decision as - if not quite an exoneration - a signal that any wrongdoing investigated by NBC was not so egregious as to prevent a return.
In December, Williams, signed a new five-year contract reportedly worth $10 million a year
“Brian misrepresented events which occurred while he was covering the Iraq War in 2003,” Deborah Turness, president of NBC News, said in a memo at the time of Williams’ suspension.
“It then became clear that on other occasions Brian had done the same while telling that story in other venues. This was wrong and completely inappropriate for someone in Brian’s position.”
In recent days, Williams' attorney Bob Barnett has been in meetings with top NBC executives, said the Times.
Among the topics said to be on the table: Where, when and how Williams will express regret for the storytelling exaggerations that led to his February suspension.