Anchor Brian Williams To EXIT NBC, MSNBC

NY Post Feb. 2015

Anchor and journalist Brian Williams will leave NBC News and MSNBC next month after nearly three decades with the company to spend time with his family (code for we don't want to pay him more money) , MSNBC President Rashida Jones said in a memo on Tuesday.

Reuters reports Jones said Williams' time at NBC has been marked by breaking countless major stories and attracting leading journalists and guests to his programs.

"Brian Williams has informed us he would like to take the coming months to spend time with his family. He will be signing off from The 11th Hour at the end of the year," Jones said in a memo seen by Reuters.

Williams said in the memo that his time at NBC spanned 28 years in 38 countries, covering eight Olympic Games, seven presidential elections, half a dozen presidents, "a few wars, and one Saturday Night Live."

"I was on the air for the launch of MSNBC. My return years later was my choice, as was launching The 11th Hour that I'm as proud of as the decade I spent anchoring Nightly News," he said.

Brian Williams

"The 11th Hour with Brian Williams" is a late night program on MSNBC that discusses evolving general and political news stories of the day.

Williams said, "There are many things I want to do, and I'll pop up again somewhere. For the next few months, I'll be with my family, the people I love most and the people who enabled my career to happen."

The online trade website Showbiz411 reports  MSNBC is crumbling before our eyes. Rachel Maddow has already said she’ll leave her daily show next year and appear monthly or occasionally or something. But she’s the lead ratings getter, and she wants out, too.

All of this suggests that news chief Rashida Jones is taking a wrecking ball to an already precarious structure. Consistency is the key to success on these nighttime news networks. That’s why Fox News does so well. The only people who leave are discovered to be part of a scandal and are forced out.

NBC isn’t alone in having problems with on air talent. CBS News is a mess under new leadership that let Norah O’Donnell be kicked around in the press last week.