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| Brian Williams |
In the midst of a career spent covering and consuming news, it has become painfully apparent to me that I am presently too much a part of the news, due to my actions.
As Managing Editor of NBC Nightly News, I have decided to take myself off of my daily broadcast for the next several days, and Lester Holt has kindly agreed to sit in for me to allow us to adequately deal with this issue. Upon my return, I will continue my career-long effort to be worthy of the trust of those who place their trust in us.
Earlier Posting....
Richard Esposito has been assigned to investigate the embattled “NBC Nightly News” anchor for lying about dodging danger while reporting in Iraq, sources told the NYDaily News.
Also, Ben Sherwood, the president of Disney-ABC Television Group, reportedly has put together a “secret task force” to comb through years of footage to see if Williams has told any other tall tales, the sources said. ABC officials strongly denied the task force’s existence.
The scandal has left the reporters and producers who work with Williams “shocked, furious and sad.” And they fear that the reputation of an anchor many considered “the most trusted name in news” has been wrecked, the sources said.
“This could be a career-killer for him,” said Michael Harrison, editor of Talkers magazine, which covers the news media and talk radio. “Here’s another highly exalted public figure being brought down and exposed as human.”
Williams has no one defending him. There's so much internal anger at NBC over what he has done and how it all went done.” Williams made no mention of the swirling controversy in his Friday newscast and sources said he continues to man the chair because NBC has not groomed anyone to succeed him.
Lester Holt is considered “more of a cable guy,” they said. And the other option would be replacing him on an interim basis with “Today” show hosts Matt Lauer or Savannah Guthrie.
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| Deborah Turness |
In a statement released Friday after The News broke the story about the investigation, NBC News honcho Deborah Turness said Williams has apologized again to staffers and “specifically expressed how sorry he is for the impact this has had on all of you and on this proud organization.”
The following memo was sent from NBC News President Deborah Turness to NBC news staff on Friday:
All,
This has been a difficult few days for all of us at NBC News.
Yesterday, Brian and I spoke to the Nightly News team. And this morning at the Editorial Exchange, we both addressed the wider group. Brian apologized once again, and specifically expressed how sorry he is for the impact this has had on all of you and on this proud organization.
As you would expect, we have a team dedicated to gathering the facts to help us make sense of all that has transpired. We're working on what the best next steps are — and when we have something to communicate we will of course share it with you.
Since joining NBC News, I've seen great strength and resilience. We are a close-knit family, and your response this week has made that even clearer.
As a relentless news agenda marches on, thank you again for continuing to do what we do best — bring the most important stories of the day to our audience.
DeborahWhile Turness appears to be standing behind the $10 million-a-year star, media watchers said it could be anchor away if the fibbing fallout continues to tarnish the company brand.
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This secret task force is further evidence of the arrogance, condescenion and lack of ethics in the mainstream media from the networks down to the local news level. Shocked, furious and sad are words to describe NBC News employees who are surprised they were caught. TV newsrooms are structured in such a way that atleast a half dozen people had to know about this falsified story because they worked directly with Mr. Williams. This time someone "outside" the news organization called him and the network on this. This mindset goes to top news management and has for many decades and continues to worsen. NBC, other networks and local news operations make their anchors into "stars". One of the biggest mistakes by news directors is a foolish belief that their anchors are responsible for pulling ratings along with the superficial "series" pieces during rating periods. Speaking as a veteran of radio and television news, a credible news organization is made up of many people working together not just one anchor or two anchors touted as a stars. When news organizations send their anchors out, they are playing viewers for fools. They do it to make it appear the anchors are connected, involved and that they care...which is a smoke screen for "we have an agenda" and they do it during rating periods or special situations to grab ratings. If they would simply do their jobs every hour of every day throughout the year, they'd have the trust and eyes of viewers. NBC has circled the wagons to protect its own no matter how obviously and clearly wrong they are. Most news managers would be quick to discredit me with labels like disgruntled, disenchanted or I simply don't know what I am talking about. If people don't agree with them, they will destroy them. As I always say, the media answers to no one. I am not and never have been a member of the RTNDA for good reason. What we are seeing unfold before our eyes, finally, is the undoing of the news media. I hope news organizations and the fraternal RTNDA take action to change the soul and face of news.
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