Andrew Lack publicly addressed the Brian Williams suspension and potential resolution at a private meeting following NBC’s upfront Monday.
The Daily Beast reported Lack told affiliate representatives that the controversy surrounding Williams’ exaggerations about past reporting and subsequent suspension has caused NBC News to be “playing hurt,” and that a decision on the anchor’s future with the network would come “soon.”
“He said the end is in sight,” an attendee of the meeting recounted, noting Lack wouldn’t go further than the term soon.
Williams is currently in the fourth month of a six-month suspension for exaggerating about his Iraq War experience, where he erroneously said he was on a helicopter that was shot down by RPG fire.
Once that story was shown to be untrue, NBC News suspended Williams and opened an internal investigation. Reports indicate other inconsistencies in Williams’ reporting have been found, including his reporting from the Arab Spring, covering the Israel/Hezbollah conflict and more.
In his absence, NBC’s “Nightly News’” five-year reign as the total viewers champion was snapped by “World News Tonight” with David Muir. Muir won for four weeks in a row over substitute host Lester Holt before Holt retook the lead last week.
At the meeting with affiliate representatives, Lack and NBC News president Deborah Turness heaped praise on Holt, and also pointed to the fact that NBC News has been producing great work amid the Williams scandal.