NBC News Staffers Don't Want BriWi Back

NBC staffers that FTVLive has talked to tell us that they do not think Brian Williams should return to the anchor chair at NBC Nightly News.

They tell FTVLive that bringing BriLie back will hinder the news operation and deeply hurt its credibility. 

The Washington Post says that the same sentiments are being expressed by the NBC News staff in the DC bureau.

The Pos writes, Journalists in NBC News’s powerful Washington bureau expressed strong opposition to the potential return of suspended anchorman Brian Williams during a contentious meeting with the head of the network’s news division in February.

In a sometimes angry series of comments, the journalists told NBC News President Deborah Turness in the private meeting in Washington that Williams’s embellished statements about his reporting exploits had damaged NBC’s credibility and that he should not be permitted to return to the anchor chair, according to several people who attended the session.

The meeting — details of which haven’t been made public before — was called in the wake of Williams’s six-month suspension from anchoring “NBC Nightly News,” the network’s signature newscast. Turness met with the division’s employees in New York and Washington to answer questions about the suspension and to get their feedback on the crisis enveloping the company.

One person who attended the Washington meeting described the overall tone as a “bloodbath” for Williams. But another news employee tempered that characterization, describing the atmosphere merely as “very raw” and colleagues as “shocked.” The individuals spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.

In any case, the bureau staff offered a strong rebuke of Williams, whose troubles were still fresh in the news at the time. Among those who spoke against him were two of the network’s on-air correspondents, attendees said.

An NBC News spokesperson declined to comment.