Brian Williams, who transformed his career as an MSNBC host after losing his job as NBC Nightly News anchor for making fraudulent claims about a wartime story, is leaving the network after 28 years.
Brian Williams said in a note to co-workers that following much consideration, he’d decided to exit when his contract expires in December.
He said that this was the end of a chapter and the start of another and that there were numerous things he wanted to do and that he would pop up again somewhere.
Brian Williams, 62, said he would be taking several months off to spend time with his family.
Brian Williams succeeded legendary NBC News Anchor Tom Brokaw in 2004 and held the coveted position until 2015 when he was suspended for dishonestly claiming that he’d been in a helicopter hit by enemy fire during the Iraq War.
A subsequent inquiry found that he’d made other fallacious statements about his experiences covering events, and he lost his job.
He was later given the 11 pm hour at MSNBC, which he transformed into a fast-moving, entertaining newscast summing up the day’s news.
Brian Williams said that for the next few months he’ll be with his family, the people he loved the most and the people who enabled his career to happen, and that he would reflect on the kindness people have shown him and that he would pay it forward.
Brian Williams and his wife Jane have two adult children, including actress Alison Howell Williams, who earned recognition on the HBO series Girls.
Brian Williams started broadcasting his current show, The 11th Hour, shortly before the 2016 presidential election. His current contract terminates at the end of 2021.
Brian Williams got his start in broadcast journalism at KOAM-TV in Kansas and worked his way up to bigger markets before landing a position at New York’s WCBS in 1997.
The newsman joined NBC News in 1993 as chief White House correspondent, also anchoring the weekend nightly news.
Following Tom Brokaw’s retirement in 2004, Brian Williams took over the top job at NBC News, securing the weekday national news broadcast, and he won praise early on for his coverage of Hurricane Katrina, including the harsh critique of the Bush administration over failures in the government’s response.
Under Brian Williams, NBC Nightly News consistently led in the ratings, beating rival broadcasts from ABC and CBS, and Williams was showered with applause, including 12 Emmy Awards.
Next stop CNN where his fabrications will not only be tolerated but will be embraced, but after his falsifications, can he be trusted?
His contract might be up in December, but even he could read the writing on the wall, and it looks like he put the fake in news. Perhaps he’ll even write a book, mind you, it would have to be in the fiction section, but in his defence, he was just ahead of his time because they all lie now.
Brian Williams embellished the truth, and we’re supposed to believe that mainstream news is to be trusted.
He should now be called Pinocchio Williams and he’s discredited himself as a journalist and he’s nothing more now than a dirty American newsman, but I’m sure they’ll find another arrogant, prevaricating windbag to succeed him, and liars are in great demand right now, so I’m sure he’ll find a job somewhere.
People read the news all the time and news distorts the truth all the time, but it’s not a lie if you believe it.
THE MONTHLY MOSQUITO 