Brian Williams

The Washington Post reported on the front page Thursday that senior NBC officials "seriously considered firing" Brian Williams, and the anchor "failed to secure a promise he can return" later this year. But the juiciest part was the end, where they reported Williams has been in control with few 'checks and balances" since the Comcast merger in 2011, and "No one said 'No'" to the anchorman.

On Wednesday, ABC’s World News Tonight with David Muir was the lone network evening newscast to not mention the news that NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams had been suspended indefinitely for six months without pay. The program instead devoted just under two minutes to the ongoing liberal media fawning over Jon Stewart and the announcement that he will be stepping down from the anchor desk…

On its first broadcast since the announcement of anchor Brian Williams’s suspension, NBC Nightly News took the step of dropping both Williams’s name from the program’s title, opening graphics, recorded introduction, mastead of the show's website, and Twitter account. Following four teasers from now-interim anchor Lester Holt, the opening theme of the program was played as normal, but instead of a…

Ken Auletta reports that Williams had agreed to a suspension but “wanted a declaration by NBC that he would return as an evening-news anchor.” NBCUniversal CEO Steve Burke, “torn between wanting to take a hard line and feeling compassion for Williams,” sought Brokaw’s counsel regarding the matter. After Brokaw said he was “concerned about the effects of Williams’s actions on the reputation of the…

The Smoking Gun website has a great question today that the suits at NBC Universal really should be pressed to answer. Hint, it involves a certain Baptist preacher with his own show on MSNBC who has a penchant for repeatedly violating the Ninth Commandment (among others).

Reacting to the decision by NBC News to suspend NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams for six months following his Iraq war lies, Today 9 a.m. hour co-host Willie Geist acknowledged it was "kind of a difficult and strange morning." Fellow co-host Natalie Morales added: "...it is a difficult day here and we are certainly sharing our best wishes with Brian. It's a tough time for him and his family…

In the wake of a six month suspension for NBC anchor Brian Williams, ABC and CBS on Wednesday offered mocking coverage of their competitor's downfall. New York Times reporter David Carr appeared on CBS This Morning to deride: "...Everyone, including Brian, thought he was maybe too big to fail...Turns out, he's not the most important thing." 

On Wednesday's CNN Newsroom, Mark Feldstein channeled Michael Moore's take on the Brian Williams scandal. The former CNN journalist acknowledged that Williams likely wouldn't recover the "traditional credibility that he had as a news anchor," but later fell into the same Bush bashing as Moore: "Is it as bad a scandal as telling lies about the Iraq War to get us into it, as the Bush administration…

Tara Parker-Pope attempted a defense of disgraced NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams in an item ("Was Brian Williams a Victim of False Memory?") posted at the New York Times "Well" blog — late Monday afternoon. It even made Tuesday's New York version of the Old Gray Lady's print edition. Parker-Pope's premise, similar to that used by Marison Bello at USA Today three days earlier — even using…

On Tuesday night, David Letterman presented the Top Ten “Things Brian Williams Said that May or May Not Be True.” After reading #2, “I’ve never been to a strip club,” viewers saw video of Williams walking into Flash Dancers, “a gentlemen’s club” across the street from the Ed Sullivan Theater – where the Late Show is produced – on Broadway in New York City.

After six days of limiting its coverage of the scandal engulfing NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams to a few cryptic briefs only seconds long, NBC News finally provided full coverage of the controversy on Tuesday's Today show. Co-host Matt Lauer introduced the report: "And now we turn to a story that hits very close to home for all of us who work at NBC News. Brian Williams, who's anchored…

New York magazine pundit Rich admits the anchor badly mishandled the flap over his Iraq-war tall tale but dismisses much conservative criticism of Williams: “They view him as Exhibit A of a lying left-wing mainstream media conspiracy…But neither in public nor private have I ever seen or heard Brian Williams express any partisan political opinion.”

Unlike the near silence from NBC and most of MSNBC, Morning Joe's hosts actually covered the Brian Williams scandal. Despite the six month suspension for the Nightly News anchor, Joe Scarborough and Willie Geist aren't sure that the journalist will ever return to his old job. 

Joe Scarborough is shocked by the outpouring of "sheer hatred, snarkiness and snideness" directed at Brian Williams.  On today's Morning Joe, Scarborough drew a contrast between himself, who as an opinion person has to expect much criticism, and Williams, who he claimed reported the news in a "straight" way.  But as Newsbusters and our parent MRC has carefully documented, Williams has been…