Press Release

PRESS RELEASE

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

BRIAN WILLIAMS SUSPENDED FOR 6 MONTHS

NEW YORK, February 11, 2015. Brian Williams, who is currently an anchor and managing editor for NBC has been suspended for six months. This unpaid leave is due to the exaggerations and fabrication of several reports.

After some investigation, it has become clear that a major event, which was misrepresented, was from the 2003 Iraq coverage. Williams inflated a story from a helicopter ride that supposedly got hit by a grenade. This of course, was brought to light when veterans spoke out about what really happened.

Another similar occurrence happened during Williams’ report on Hurricane Katrina. Williams falsely claimed that he saw a dead body float past him in the water.

“This was wrong and completely inappropriate for someone in Brian’s position,” Deborah Turness, the president of NBC News said in a recent memo released.

The actions of NBC are not to stain his career, but rather to do what was right and best for the network at this time. The situation has not been an expected one, considering the 5-year contract offered to Williams recently.

NBC expects all its anchors to represent a truthful and accurate coverage of any event assigned to the reporter. Due to a breach in the morality clause, the only option was to automatically suspend Williams.

The NBC News staff received a message from Williams on Saturday: “In the midst of a career spent covering and consuming news, it has become painfully apparent to me that I am presently too much a part of the news, due to my actions.

As Managing Editor of NBC Nightly News, I have decided to take myself off of my daily broadcast for the next several days, and Lester Holt has kindly agreed to sit in for me to allow us to adequately deal with this issue....