Brian Williams Apologizes in First Post-Suspension Interview: “I Said Things That”

Brian Williams said the past five months have been “torture” in his first interview since getting suspended from NBC “Nightly News“. In a press release sent on Thursday, the company wrote, “The extensive review found that Williams made a number of inaccurate statements about his own role and experiences covering events in the field”. “Looking back, it has been absolutely necessary”, he said. In public, however, he acknowledged being “sloppier” in his word choice and “said things that weren’t true”. He spent his suspension sifting through 20 years of public utterances, or as he refers to it, the “black box recordings of my career”.

NBC News’ disgraced anchor Brian Williams, now off the air, sounded more like a weaseling politician than a serious newscaster during his Friday morning interview with NBC’s Matt Lauer.

“I used a double standard”, he said, blaming his ego for feeling the need to be “sharper, quicker, funnier” than others. “My new role will allow me to focus on important issues and events in our country and around the world, and I look forward to it”.

In a follow-up question Lauer tried again to pry some ownership out of Williams. “I let down my NBC colleagues and our viewers, and I’m determined to earn back their trust”, he said. I told stories that were wrong.

Amazingly, even in the Today interview, he still got facts wrong. Williams sat down for his first interview with Matt Lauer of the Today show. “The ratings have remained steady and I suspect the worst is over for NBC News“. I was feeding my ego.

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Williams’ suspension ends in August. It got turned around in my mind.’’.

He was suspended for six months while the network carried out the investigation.

But while Williams refused to acknowledge how many other false or exaggerated stories he told over the course of his career – “One is too much”.

Asked to write the headline of his own story, Williams came up with: “A chastened and grateful man, mindful of his blessings, mindful of his mistakes, returns hoping for forgiveness and acceptance”. I was reading these newspaper stories, not liking the person I was reading about… these statements I made, I own this.

“Brian now has the chance to earn back everyone’s trust,” said Andrew Lack, the chairman of NBC News and MSNBC. He admits the kind of fabrications in his reporting had no place in his work or for the network he works for – therefore, he takes complete responsibility for his actions. I’m very fortunate to be able to go back to NBC.

It was “incredibly emotional”, and some people choked back tears, said an attendee, one of two people familiar with the meetings who described them on condition of anonymity.