The media has been contemplating the fate of fallen NBC anchor, Brian Williams, ever since he was suspended back in February. At that time, Williams admitted to "misremembering" the details of a story that he had covered, by inserting himself into the story itself. Unfortunately for Williams, after a thorough investigation the network came to the conclusion that Williams had lied his way through various reports which made it impossible to justify bringing him back to anchor NBC Nightly News. Supposedly, negotiations have been ongoing for quite some time and Williams has finally agreed to take a lesser position over at MSNBC.
According to an exclusive report update by Deadline, "NBCU is announcing tomorrow it has reached that expected agreement in which Brian Williams remains at the company but does not return to the anchor chair at NBC Nightly News. Nightly News fill-in Lester Holt will be named permanent anchor, making him the first African-American solo anchor of a broadcast network's evening newscast, informed sources said once again."
Ironically, this decision by NBC could possibly kill two proverbial birds with one stone. If Williams can regain his credibility via MSNBC, he will no doubt also help their sagging ratings. While it was initially assumed that former NBC News Chief, Andy Lack had returned to the network to save Williams high profile job, perhaps he really has intended to use Williams to save MSNBC all along.
Lester Holt is the clear-cut winner in all of this. He has spent more than fifteen years at the network and has held nearly every job possible. Until this year, Holt was host of Weekend Today and also working on Dateline. He is known to be a strong team player and everyone genuinely seems to like and respect him, unlike Williams. It is a bit ironic that Holt finally is stepping into the best gig at the network through this most unexpected of ways.
Are you glad that Holt will be named permanent anchor of NBC Nightly News and Williams is being shipped over to MSNBC? Tell us your thoughts in the comments below!
