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Report: Brian Williams To Remain At NBC By Heading To MSNBC
By
Jen Chung
Published Jun 17, 2015
Modified Jun 17, 2015
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By
Jen Chung
Published Jun 17, 2015
Modified Jun 17, 2015
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Four months into his six-month self-imposed hiatus, Brian Williams looks like he'll be staying at NBC. But not as anchor of the NBC Nightly News, according to reports.
The NY Times says, "Mr. 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, according to one of the people." Which smells like a demotion, given how MSNBC has been struggling in the ratings. Still, CNN suggests, "It would be a homecoming of sorts for Williams, who anchored a signature 9 p.m. newscast on the cable channel back in the late 1990s, before ascending to the 'Nightly News.'"
It's believed that Lester Holt, who has been subbing for Williams, will be officially named the NBC Nightly News anchor.
Williams has been off the air ever since questions have been raised about incidents he mentioned. The most controversial is Williams' story about being in Iraq in 2003: He said he was riding in a helicopter behind a chopper that was shot down but later went on talk shows claiming he was in the shot-down helicopter, which upset pilots. Then there were other anecdotes that raised eyebrows.
NBC News is conducting an internal investigation of Williams' storytelling. Rumor is that Williams may have resorted to embellishing his accomplishment to overcompensate for his lack of in-the-field news experience and beat back the ghost of Tom Brokaw.
The Times points out, "Finding an appropriate role for Mr. Williams at NBC posed a challenge, television executives said. Mr. Williams built a reputation as a master storyteller and news reader but wasn’t known for his interviewing skills or journalism chops. Television executives said that NBC would stand to benefit by keeping Mr. Williams from going to a competitor and talking publicly about the controversy." Plus, he recently signed a $50 million, five-year contract.
However, the Hollywood Reporter reveals, "Sources say one of the sticking points of the negotiation has been Williams' reluctance to make an unequivocal apology for repeated misrepresentations about his experiences reporting in the field. And it is still unclear how Williams will apologize, though NBC News executives had been pushing for an on-air mea culpa."
Holt has been able to keep up Nightly News ratings, in spite of NBC not promoting the program.
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brian williams
Lester Holt
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Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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