Brian Williams is stepping aside at NBC Nightly News, for now

Brian Williams is taking a time-out

In a memo to NBC News staff on Saturday, Brian Williams said that he is stepping away from the NBC Nightly News desk anchor desk for "several days," after he admitted to erroneously putting himself on a helicopter hit by a rocket-propelled grenade while covering the Iraq War in 2003. Weekend anchor Lester Holt will fill in for Williams during his absence.

"In the midst of a career spent covering and consuming news, it has become painfully apparent to me that I am presently too much a part of the news, due to my actions," Williams told his NBC News colleagues in his memo. "Upon my return, I will continue my career-long effort to be worthy of the trust of those who place their trust in us."

The New York Times cobbled together Williams' shifting story of his harrowing helicopter ride, from what appears to be an accurate report after it happened to gradually placing himself in the Chinook hit by an RPG, rather than one following behind:

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Williams "can't be gone too long," Al Tompkins at the Poynter Institute tells The Associated Press. "The timing will be critical - too short and it won't seem like he has taken himself out of the game long enough, and too long and he looks like damaged goods." New York Times media critic David Carr argues that "American public won't abide someone putting himself into the naughty corner and setting the conditions for staying there," and that Williams needs to make "a full-throated, unmodulated apology." At the same time, Carr doesn't think Williams should be fired: "His transgressions were not a fundamental part of his primary responsibilities." NBC is conducting an internal investigation.

Continue reading for free

We hope you're enjoying The Week's refreshingly open-minded journalism.

Subscribed to The Week? Register your account with the same email as your subscription.