On Sunday’s Reliable Sources, CNN’s Brian Stelter reported that disgraced NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams may not be done with the network and instead may have a “new role” following the completion of his six month suspension.
According to Stelter “sources are pointing to a third option, a new role for Williams. Not necessarily at Nightly News but somewhere else at NBC. Now these talks are still top secret inside the network and anything could happen.”
From the CNN anchor:
But NBC News' new chairman Andy Lack is said to be advocating for this third option, this new role that would keep Williams in the fold.. Now presumably that would keep Lester Holt at the Nightly News anchor desk for the foreseeable future. Brian Williams has called NBC home for over 20 years but it's still quite possible that the two sides will not agree on this new role.
Some of my sources think he is on the way out, but others see a way for him to stay in. These negotiations have been going on for weeks and several times along the way it had seemed that there is imminent news but I'm at the moment told there's been no official decision about whether he will stay or whether he will go.
Stelter then brought on Vanity Fair’s Bryan Burrough who speculated that Williams may end up on MSNBC:
If you’re NBC why get rid of a very valuable asset. If you bring him back in the fold, let him do some documentaries, stand ups, heck let him do something on MSNBC, what's the worst that could happen?
And that doesn't work out a there’s pushback, you can part ways then. And for Brian it's very clear he knows what the future holds for him out there if he leaves NBC, it’s called Dan Rather. I don't think he wants that.
Burrough then ridiculously suggested that Williams could even air a special on his own problems with the truth that resulted in his suspension:
You bring him on, who is not going to watch the first thing Brian Williams does. Let’s say he does a one hour documentary on his own plight. Let's say that leads to standups or specials on MSNBC or a talk show on MSNBC. And if none of that works out, then they part ways. I think from Andy’s point of view, Brian’s too valuable just to throw out the door. And we also know that the men have long, strong social connections.
Stelter didn’t see anything wrong or bizarre with Burrough arguing that Williams could be a credible person to host an hour long special chronicling his own downfall from the Nightly News desk. Instead, the two quickly moved on to discuss the future of NBC Nightly News and whether or not fill-in host Lester Holt would permanently take over as anchor and receive the full support from NBC.
See relevant transcript below.
CNN’s Reliable Sources
May 31, 2015
BRIAN STELTER: It's a big news day and we’re beginning with breaking news about the story that the whole TV business cannot stop talking about. It's about the man over my shoulder, Brian Williams, and what’s going to happen with the suspended newsman. It’s been almost four months since he was suspended and most people have been assuming he will either come back to Nightly News at the end of his six month suspension or he will be leaving NBC entirely, frankly tarnished or disgraced after that exaggeration scandal. But this morning my sources are pointing to a third option, a new role for Williams.
Not necessarily at Nightly News but somewhere else at NBC. Now these talks are still top secret inside the network and anything could happen. But NBC News' new chairman Andy Lack is said to be advocating for this third option, this new role that would keep Williams in the fold.. Now presumably that would keep Lester Holt at the Nightly News anchor desk for the foreseeable future. Brian Williams has called NBC home for over 20 years but it's still quite possible that the two sides will not agree on this new role. Some of my sources think he is on the way out, but others see a way for him to stay in.
These negotiations have been going on for weeks and several times along the way it had seemed that there is imminent news but I'm at the moment told there's been no official decision about whether he will stay or whether he will go. So we have all the angles covered this morning beginning with Bryan Burrough , a correspondent with Vanity Fair who wrote an explosive article about what happened inside NBC when all this happened in February. Brian thanks for being here this morning.
BRYAN BURROUGH: Pleasure.
STELTER: Your story was a tick tock explaining how we got to this point where Williams was suspended. Do you think it makes sense for him to return in some way? Not to the Nightly News anchor desk but in some other capacity?
BURROUGH: I think for all parties concerned it makes perfect sense. If you’re NBC why get rid of a very valuable asset. If you bring him back in the fold, let him do some documentaries, stand ups, heck let him do something on MSNBC, what's the worst that could happen? And that doesn't work out a there’s pushback, you can part ways then. And for Brian it's very clear he knows what the future holds for him out there if he leaves NBC, it’s called Dan Rather. I don't think he wants that.
STELTER: Tell me what you mean by that? You don't think there's a lot of other possible jobs for Williams outside NBC?
BURROUGH: I think there's going to be possible jobs. I don’t think any of them possess the luster or the prestige of anything that he could do at NBC News. I’ve always thought that NBC remains his last best chance to stay in the news business. That if he leaves he would almost certainly go into a talk show role which I think may ultimately make the most sense.
STELTER: Well and we talk about this new role. The sources that I’ve been talking to don't say it's necessarily within NBC News. For all we know it could be somewhere else in the company like MSNBC or NBC Entertainment.
BURROUGH: You bring him on, who is not going to watch the first thing Brian Williams does. Let’s say he does a one hour documentary on his own plight. Let's say that leads to standups or specials on MSNBC or a talk show on MSNBC. And if none of that works out, then they part ways. I think from Andy’s point of view, Brian’s too valuable just to throw out the door. And we also know that the men have long, strong social connections.
