NBC suspends Brian Williams for six months
NBC Brian Williams apologizes Friday during ‘NBC Nightly News’ for his 12-year-ancient report about coming under attack in Iraq, which turned out to be fake. NBC officials are hoping to resolve their anchor nightmare “today or tomorrow,” sources tell The Day after day News.
Brian Williams could lose his job, be slapped with a lengthy suspension or even restore to the broadcast with a more heartfelt, honest — and specific — apology than the one he existing last week.
But it’s all still up in the air, as top brass has yet to make a choice. Still, insiders persist that the choice is imminent because it is the only topic on which the entire top echelon at NBC News is focused.
The wayward anchor has also been told by his network overseers to stay in New York and has met with top executives at Comcast, NBC’s parent company, including the company’s boss Steve Burke, to discuss his future.
Williams is under fire for exaggerating his experience while casing the Iraq War in 2003. For 12 years he has claimed to have been riding in a military helicopter that was hit with an enemy rocket-propelled grenade.
Military crew members who were there have come forward to say he was not — which has thrown a shadow over much of his past reporting.
Over the weekend, NBC launched an internal investigation, led by Richard Esposito, a former analytical reporter for ABC News, who is now the executive producer in charge of NBC’s analytical unit.
Esposito has been burning the midnight oil, meeting with top brass at NBC News and parent Comcast every day, informing them of his progress in the investigation.
Rivals like ABC News and CNN have launched their own probes.
NBC News officials declined to note.
