The conventional wisdom on Brian Williams is that the disgraced NBC News anchor will either return to the anchor chair or be let go entirely after his six-month suspension. But CNN’s Brian Stelter says the network is looking to keep Williams on -- albeit in a different role.
“My sources are pointing to a third option, a new role for Williams -- not necessarily at 'Nightly News,' but somewhere else at NBC," Stelter said on "Reliable Sources" Sunday. “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.”
Stelter pointed out that this proposal would presumably keep Lester Holt, who has been filling Williams’ seat on a temporary basis, in the "NBC Nightly News" anchor chair. Holt, who is popular among NBC staff, has managed to keep the program’s ratings stable despite the scandal.
Stelter also had Vanity Fair correspondent Bryan Burrough, who wrote a blockbuster piece on the turmoil at NBC, to comment on Williams’ fate.
“There's not a lot of support for having Brian come back and there is a lot of support for Lester Holt, who remains terribly popular with NBC and whose ratings are holding up,” Burrough said. “Lester Holt is no one's idea of a buzzy star, but he's a workman-like professional, [a] popular newsman who brings the credibility to that news desk that NBC badly needs.”
Watch the full segment on CNN above.
