Update, 8:52 p.m. Eastern: MSNBC confirmed Stelter’s CNN Money report on Tuesday evening as well as the details about how long and when his show will air.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Despite his fall from prominence due to serial lying and removal from the anchor desk of NBC Nightly News, current MSNBC breaking news anchor Brian Williams will be given another chance to rein over a daily news program when, according to CNN’s Brian Stelter, MSNBC awards him a half-hour show at 11:00 p.m. at a date to be determined.
Stelter reported late Monday night that Williams’s program will be slated to run from Labor Day to Election Day and last for only a half-hour “wrapping up the day’s campaign news, the sources said.”
Of course, this brings to mind Williams’s long fantasy of dabbing into the late-night talk show scene, but it won’t butt up directly against the shows of comedians Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Fallon, and Jimmy Kimmel.
For those unaware, Williams was a mainstay on MSNBC from its inception in 1996 for many years before adding fill-in and weekend duties at NBC Nightly News then taking the newscast’s mantle from Tom Brokaw when he retired from the chair in 2004.
<<< Please consider helping NewsBusters financially with your tax-deductible contribution today >>>
Williams was often the leader of the ratings in network evening newscasts, but his cushy career spiraled out of control in 2015 when Stars and Stripes discovered that he had lied about a story while covering the Iraq War.
This lie led to investigations that turned up a plethora of other misstatements. He was subsequently suspended for six months and returned to the air in September 2015.
In his time as breaking news anchor on MSNBC, Williams has been there to guide viewers through everything from the Pope’s trip to the United States to presidential primary results nights to the Dallas police shootings to conventions of both major parties.
