With Brian Williams set to make his return to television news on MSNBC, NBC News chairman Andrew Lack is prepared to let the former “Nightly News” anchor settle into his new network role.
“This is a long game that is not measured in tomorrow’s coverage or this week’s coverage or this month’s coverage,” Lack said in an interview with the New York Times. “He looks forward to finding himself in this role.”
In fact, Lack believes Williams’ return to the struggling cable news network will help give MSNBC the boost it needs. “His passion fit exactly with one of our biggest needs,” Lack said. “Brian will be such an important contribution to MSNBC’s page turn here.”
However, Lack cautioned that the network is bigger than just one journalist. “The news is the star,” he said. “We are building a network that has as its core value delivering breaking news better than anyone else. It is not about the anchor who happens to be delivering the news.”
Williams appeared on MSNBC before transitioning to his role on “Nightly News,” which led Williams to joke that he was going “Back to the future” during a meeting with Lack, the chairman said.
Over the summer, Lack canceled MSNBC’s 3-5 p.m. ET block featuring “The Cycle,” “Now with Alex Wagner” and the “Ed Show,” replacing it with straight news. It’s not yet known who will fill that time slot (Williams will definitely anchor breaking news during that span) and Chuck Todd debuts at 5 p.m. in the coming weeks.
Williams will return to MSNBC on Sept. 22. After his six-month suspension, he is set to anchor breaking news coverage of Pope Francis’ U.S. visit.
Williams was suspended in February for exaggerating claims of his reporting during the Iraq War. He had previously repeated accounts of being on an Iraqi helicopter that was shot down by RPG fire.
His stories were later challenged by veterans groups, forcing Williams to apologize for the error on air. The media firestorm that ensued was too much for NBC and Williams to manage, leading the network to suspend him and ultimately replace him on the evening flagship news broadcast with Lester Holt.