NBC Doc May Have Damaged Her Career

Dr. Nancy Snyderman

If she continues to not have any symptoms, NBC News' chief medical officer Dr. Nancy Snyderman should be cleared to return to work this week when her quarantine for possible Ebola exposure ends, but there's a good chance the network may not want her going back to reporting on the disease, or potentially even reporting for them at all anymore, after she violated the quarantine nearly two weeks ago.

 After returning to the U.S. from covering the Ebola outbreak in West Africa, Snyderman and her crew voluntarily agreed to quarantine themselves for 21 days after working briefly with cameraman Ashoka Mukpo, who caught the disease and is now being treated in Nebraska.

But New Jersey health officials made the quarantine mandatory after Snyderman and her crew were seen getting takeout food from a restaurant.

After that, more than 1,000 people angrily commented on her Facebook page, with some viewers saying they wouldn't trust her again. Snyderman offered a weak apology, saying that she knew they didn't present a risk because they didn't have any symptoms, and NBC has to decide how damaged they believe Snyderman's credibility is. Poynter Institute journalism ethics expert Kelly McBride told AP that Snyderman should perhaps take a leave of absence, but definitely not report on Ebola anymore.

However, Bill Wheatley, a longtime NBC executive who now teaches journalism, told AP he think Snyderman should explain to viewers exactly what happened, saying, "If she and the network are more forthcoming about the whole matter, I believe that her credibility can be preserved."