This article is from the source 'independent' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.

You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/brian-williams-nbc-anchorman-suspended-for-six-months-over-iraq-war-claims-10037601.html

The article has changed 2 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.

Version 0 Version 1
Brian Williams: NBC anchorman suspended for six months over Iraq War claims Brian Williams: NBC anchorman suspended for six months over Iraq War claims
(about 1 hour later)
NBC has announced that it is suspending Brian Williams as Nightly News anchor and managing editor for six months without pay for misleading the public about his experiences covering the Iraq War. Until barely two weeks ago one of the most respected faces of television news in America, Brian Williams of NBC on Tuesday night found himself summarily suspended without pay by his network for six months - a harsh punishment for misleading the public about his experiences covering the Iraq War.
NBC chief executive Steve Burke said Williams' actions were inexcusable and jeopardised the trust he has built up with viewers during his decade as the network's lead anchor. But he said Williams deserved a second chance. Williams apologised last week for saying he was in a helicopter that was hit by a grenade while covering the Iraq War in 2003. Instead, he was in a group of helicopters and another was hit, and some veterans involved in the mission called him out on it. "Brian misrepresented events which occurred while he was covering the Iraq War in 2003," NBC News President Deborah Turness said in a memo. "It then became clear that on other occasions Brian had done the same while telling that story in other venues. This was wrong and completely inappropriate for someone in Brian's position." Turness said Lester Hold would continue to substitute for Williams as anchor. She also said the network's probe into Williams' statements is continuing. Shortly after it happened during a reporting trip to Iraq in 2003, Williams explained on NBC that one of a group of helicopters he had been flying with had been hit by a rocket-propelled grenade. When he appeared on The Late Show with David Letterman a decade later, the story changed to where his helicopter had been hit, which Williams now admits is false. It wasn't until he told the same story on Nightly News last month and veterans who had been there complained that the embellishment emerged. In Israel in 2006, Williams explained to his news viewers that he had been on an Israeli helicopter and saw a trail of smoke and dust where Hezbollah rockets had landed in the Israeli countryside, and described seeing rockets being launched six miles from his location. The story became more dramatic when he appeared on The Daily Show a month later. "Here's a view of rockets I have never seen, passing underneath us, 1,500 feet beneath us," Williams said. "And we've got the gunner doors on this thing, and I'm saying to the general, some four-star, 'It wouldn't take much for them to adjust the aim and try to do a ring toss right through our open doors, would it?"' An Israeli army official who traveled with Williams that day, Jacob Dallal, called the anchor's account "generally reasonable." He said it was fair to assume rockets flew beneath their helicopter. The announcement was made first in a memo to staff at New York headquarters by the President of NBC News, Deborah Turness, who arrived in the post from Britain 18 months ago and in the last several days has been grappling with the biggest – but not the only – crisis of her short tenure.
AP On the evening news of 30 January, Mr Williams, she said, had “misrepresented events” that occurred when he was flying over Iraq in 2003 and had similarly erred in relating the same events on other occasions outside of  NBC.  “This was wrong and completely inappropriate for someone in Brian’s position,” Mr Turness continued.
The offending segment saw Mr Williams appearing at a special tribute at ice hockey game for a retired military officer, who, he attested, had helped save his life when a Chinook helicopter he was traveling in was hit by a rocket propelled grenade and forced down. But the Stars and Stripes newspaper later cited witnesses saying while one helicopter was forced down that day, Mr Williams was not in it.
And instant furore was ignited and last Saturday Mr Williams announced he was suspending himself from his news reading duties for the next “several days” presumably in the hope it would die down.  That was then derided by commentators who asked why the sinner got to choose the manner of his punishment.
That in turn put Mr Turness, formally a news editor at what was then ITN News, under tremendous pressure as well as the corporate owners of NBC, Comcast, and its CEO, Stephen Burke.  It intensified as other reports of Mr Williams exaggerating personal encounters while reporting, including during the Katrina Hurricane tragedy, also began to surface, something Ms Turness also referenced.
“In addition, we have concerns about comments that occurred outside NBC News while Brian was talking about his experiences in the field,” she wrote, going on: “Brian has a responsibility to be truthful and to uphold the high standards of the news division at all times.”
The affair especially irked Comcast, which has seen NBC lose its top slots both in the breakfast show category and in the Sunday morning political programme ratings. Backsliding by the network that has cost it millions in revenue.
“By his actions, Brian has jeopardized the trust millions of Americans place in NBC News,” Mr Burke offered in his own statement. “His actions are inexcusable and this suspension is severe and appropriate.”
For now, it seems the door is open for the anchor to return in half a year from now, but many in the industry will be left wondering if that will ever happen. He had only signed a new five-year contract with his network last December. It was worth $10 million a year.