NBC Waits for Brian Williams to Say Sorry

The guessing game of whether NBC will or will not bring back Brian Williams goes on.

But, according to a report on TheStreet.com, in order for BriLie to come back, he must make a public apology.

They write that Williams will need to make a public apology for alleged fabrications in his reporting before the Comcast owned network would consider reinstating him, according to a person with knowledge of the situation. The public apology is one of several "things Brian has to do before we'd let him back on the air," according to this person. 

Williams was suspended in February for six months for exaggerating his reporting during the Iraqi invasion and Hurricane Katrina's 2005 strike on New Orleans and the Gulf Coast.

NBC News Chairman Andrew Lack is expected to make a decision by August, although if the network decides to jettison Williams a decision could be made as soon as the network's May 11 "upfront" presentation to advertisers, an annual gathering aimed at selling airtime for the upcoming fall and winter season. 

"The best decision for NBC News would be to part ways with Brian Williams," said Bernard Gershon, a former ABC News radio vice-president and former general manager of ABCNews.com. "It helps restore credibility to a tarnished news organization and allows them to rebuild. For the moment, Williams is a punch line."

"They would be better off looking to their bench or poaching talent from elsewhere," said former NBC entertainment chief Garth Ancier. "I can't think of a correspondent of anchor who has fudged the truth about his journalistic experience and returned to the sacred trust of an anchor chair. I interpreted the 6-month hiatus as a goodbye gesture in television time."