NEW YORK (1010 WINS) — Brian Williams will step down from his anchor role for “NBC Nightly News” and leave the network entirely at the end of the year, he announced Tuesday night.
Williams, 62, who had revived his career at NBC News after being marred in an Iraq war reporting scandal, said in a statement he decided to step down with his contract expiring at the end of the year.
“Following much reflection, and after 28 years with the company, I have decided to leave NBC upon the completion of my current contract in December,” Williams said. “I have been truly blessed. I have been allowed to spend almost half of my life with one company. NBC is a part of me and always will be.”
It doesn’t appear that Williams plans to retire, though a career step wasn’t immediately clear.
“This is the end of a chapter and the beginning of another,” he said. “There are many things I want to do, and I’ll pop up again somewhere.”
An unnamed source told the New York Times that Williams hoped to return to television and was open to other media platforms.
MSNBC president Rashida Jones expressed “deep gratitude for 28 years of devoted service to our viewers.”
“Brian’s time at NBC has been marked by breaking countless major stories, attracting leading journalists and guests to his programs, and most especially, great resiliency,” she said.
NBC News had suspended Williams in 2015 after it became clear he had fabricated a story on a Nightly News broadcast where he stated he was riding in a military helicopter that had been "forced down after being hit by an RPG.”
Military personnel said Williams was actually on a different helicopter traveling about 30 minutes ahead of the targetted chopper. Williams had apologized for the misrepresentation.
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