After NBC announced that disgraced Nightly News anchor Brian Williams will be demoted to handling breaking news at MSNBC in August after serving a six month suspension, Meet the Press moderator Chuck Todd applauded his network for how it dealt with the entire ordeal.
Speaking to Michael Smerconish on SiriusXM, Todd maintained that he was “proud of how this network dealt with this. Took it seriously. Took issues of credibility and integrity seriously. And made Brian pay a heavy price.”
Click here to listen to Chuck Todd's full comments on Brian Williams.
The NBC News Political Director stressed the value of working at NBC because it “provides an opportunity to earn back trust and earn back a second chance. And I think our leadership threaded that needle in a way that makes me comfortable working here, makes me comfortable – I’ve heard from Brian on this.”
After Williams told Matt Lauer last week that his “ego” caused him to lie about his reporting, Todd gave his colleague “kudos” for “dealing with issues he didn’t know he needed to deal with” before he detailed the “strength” Williams will bring to MSNBC:
His unique gift and talent on television is live events. That’s his strength. That’s what Andy Lack has said is his strength and I agree with him. It is absolutely Brian’s strength. So this is something that MSNBC needs — a strong person who can sort of deftly handle covering a live event as it’s unfolding. This is something MSNBC needs, this is something that Brian is very good at, let’s see if he can earn back the credibility and trust with the viewers to make this marriage work.
HT: TVNewser
