...MSNBC.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/...
Lean In after the squiggle for details.
Brian Williams will not return to anchoring the NBC Nightly News. Lester Holt will continue on as anchor. Williams, however, will continue to work as a 'journalist' on NBC's ratings-challenged cable network MSNBC.
http://www.latimes.com/...
MSNBC has experienced double-digit-percent ratings declines this year. Although tarnished, Williams will bring some star power and new attention to the channel, which has tried in recent months to broaden beyond the progressive-leaning, opinion-driven talk it features throughout most of the day.
Star Power and New Attention: the Roger Ailes Gold Standard for Excellence in Journalism. Credibility doesn't seem to be a concern with the execs at NBC News. His five-year, $50mil contract with the network does seem to be of some small concern, however. Business executives making bottom line decisions regarding who delivers the news.
Form the same LA Times article:
The turn of events for Williams is stunning as just two months before his suspension, he signed a new five-year contract with the network.
While Williams had pondered over hosting an entertainment program, he wanted his new deal to demonstrate his commitment to news.
“It's probably time I admit that I am a one-trick pony,” he told The Times in December. “I am, I think, designed and put on this Earth to do what I'm doing now — and that is to eat, sleep and breathe nonfiction and the news going on in the world.”
I think it's probably time for Mr. Williams to admit something else: that he really isn't ethically inclined to be trusted with non-fiction. How could ANYONE at MSNBC be pleased with this decision? I wonder what the chummy hand-off the MSNBC show hosts usually engage in is going to sound like when the lucky host who precedes Williams' show passes the next hour over to Brian. Where is Paddy Chayefsky when we need him?