Brian Williams to leave NBC after 28 years: Former Nightly News anchor who was demoted for telling false war story calls it 'the end of a chapter and the beginning of another'
Brian Williams, who remade his career as an MSNBC host after losing his job as NBC Nightly News anchor for making false claims about a wartime story, is leaving the network after 28 years.
Williams said in a note to colleagues that 'following much reflection,' he had decided to exit when his contract ends in December.
'This is the end of a chapter and the beginning of another,' Williams wrote. 'There are many things I want to do, and I'll pop up again somewhere.'
Willliams, 62, said he will take a few months off to spend time with his family.
Brian Williams, who remade his career as an MSNBC host after losing his job as NBC Nightly News anchor for making false claims about a wartime story, is leaving the network
Brian Williams is seen in 2005 marking his first anniversary in the anchor chair at NBC Nightly News after taking over for Tom Brokaw
Williams replaced legendary NBC News anchor Tom Brokaw in 2004 and held the coveted position until 2015 - when he was suspended for falsely claiming that he had been in a helicopter hit by enemy fire during the Iraq War.
A subsequent investigation found that he had made other inaccurate statements about his experiences covering events, and he lost the job.
He was later given the 11pm hour at MSNBC, which he turned into a fast-moving, entertaining newscast summing up the day's news.
'For the next few months, I’ll be with my family, the people I love most and the people who enabled my career to happen. I will reflect on the kindness people have shown me, and I will pay it forward,' Williams said in the statement.
Williams and his wife Jane have two adult children, including actress Alison Howell Williams, who gained acclaim on the HBO series Girls.
Brian Williams began broadcasting his current show, The 11th Hour, shortly before the 2016 presidential election. His current contract expires at the end of 2021.
Williams got his start in broadcast journalism at KOAM-TV in Kansas, and worked his way up to bigger markets before landing a job at New York's WCBS in 1997.
Williams began broadcasting his current show, The 11th Hour, shortly before the 2016 presidential election. His current contract will lapse at the end of 2021
Brian Williams and wife, Jane, are seen arriving at the Obama White House in 2009 for a State Dinner for Prime Minister Manmohan Singh
The newsman joined NBC News in 1993 as chief White House correspondent, also anchoring the weekend nightly news.
Following Tom Brokaw's retirement in 2004, Williams took over the top job at NBC News, anchoring the weekday national news broadcast.
He won praise early on for his coverage of Hurricane Katrina, including harsh criticism of the Bush administration over failures in the government's response.
Under Williams, NBC Nightly News consistently led in the ratings, beating rival broadcasts from ABC and CBS. Williams was showered in plaudits, including 12 Emmy Awards.
Over the years, however, there were numerous incidents in which Williams was accused of embellishing or fabricating details of certain events.
In 2008, for example, conflicting accounts called into question his statement that he was at the Brandenburg Gate of the Berlin Wall 'the night the wall came down.'
Brian Williams prepares for the nightly news broadcast in 2005. He won praise early on for his coverage of Hurricane Katrina, including harsh criticism of the Bush administration
Williams is seen interviewing then-Vice President Joe Biden during his tenure as anchor of NBC Nightly NewsHe also once claimed to have flown into Baghdad with SEAL Team Six, which was contradicted by a Special Operations official who said that the SEALs do not embed journalists.
These and similar questionable incidents flew under the radar for the most part, until Williams in 2015 was forced to apologize and recant for telling a disproven story about his experiences in the Iraq War.
He had claimed on a Nightly News broadcast that he was on a military helicopter in Iraq that was 'forced down after being hit by an RPG'.
Tape of the original reporting from the incident in 2003 showed Williams saying that the helicopter traveling ahead of him had been targeted by an RPG and forced to make an emergency landing.
The story evolved over the years in multiple retellings, but soldiers aboard the helicopter Williams was traveling in said that no rocket-propelled grenades had been fired at that specific aircraft.
In a public statement announcing Williams' suspension, then NBCUniversal Chairman Steve Burke said: 'By his actions, Brian has jeopardized the trust millions of Americans place in NBC News. His actions are inexcusable and this suspension is severe and appropriate.'
Lester Holt took over for Williams as Nightly News anchor, and remains in that position to this day.
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