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WHAT HAPPENED TO BRIAN WILLIAMS

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Brian Williams

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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaFor other people named Brian Williams, see Brian Williams (disambiguation).

Brian Williams
Williams in 2011
BornBrian Douglas Williams
May 5, 1959 (age 63)
Ridgewood, New Jersey, U.S.
Years active1981–2021
Employer(s)CBS (1981–1993)
NBC (1993–2021)
TelevisionCBS News reporter (1981–1993)
NBC News reporter (1993–2004)
NBC Nightly News weekend anchor (1993–1999)
NBC Nightly News anchor (2004–2015)
MSNBC anchor (1996–2002, 2015–2021)
The 11th Hour with Brian Williams anchor (2016–2021)
SpouseJane Gillan Stoddard​​(m. 1986)​
Children2, including Allison
Awards12 News & Documentary Emmy Awards
George Polk Award
duPont-Columbia University Award
Walter Cronkite Award for Excellence in Journalism

Brian Douglas Williams (born May 5, 1959) is an American journalist and television news anchor. He was a reporter for NBC Nightly News starting in 1993, before his promotion to anchor and managing editor of the broadcast in 2004.[1]

In February 2015, Williams was suspended for six months by NBC for “misrepresent[ing] events which occurred while he was covering the Iraq War in 2003“.[2] Four months after the incident came to light, the network removed him from NBC Nightly News and reassigned him as the breaking news anchor for MSNBC.[3] In September 2016, he became the host of MSNBC’s political news show, The 11th Hour.[4][5] Williams announced in November 2021 that he would be leaving MSNBC and NBC News at the completion of his contract the following month, when he hosted his final episode of The 11th Hour.

Early life[edit]

Born on May 5, 1959, in Ridgewood, New Jersey,[6] Williams was raised in a “boisterous” Catholic home of largely Irish descent.[7] He is the son of Dorothy May (née Pampel) and Gordon Lewis Williams, who was an executive vice president of the National Retail Merchants Association, in New York.[8][9] His mother was an amateur stage actress.[7] Williams is the youngest of four siblings.[10]

He lived in Elmira, New York, for nine years before moving to Middletown Township, New Jersey, when he was in junior high school.[11]

Williams graduated from Mater Dei High School, a Roman Catholic high school in the New Monmouth section of Middletown.[12] While in high school, he was a volunteer firefighter for three years at the Middletown Township Fire Department. Also while in high school, he was the editorial editor for the school newspaper.[13] He suffered an accident during a football game that left him with a crooked nose.[14] His first job was as a busboy at Perkins Restaurant & Bakery.[15]

Following high school, Williams attended Brookdale Community College before transferring to the Catholic University of America and then George Washington University.[11] He did not earn a degree, ultimately interning with the administration of President Jimmy Carter. He later called leaving college one of his “great regrets”.[16]

Career[edit]

Early broadcast career[edit]

Williams first worked in broadcasting in 1981 at KOAM-TV in Pittsburg, Kansas. The following year he covered news in the Washington, D.C., area at then-independent station WTTG, then worked in Philadelphia for WCAU, then owned and operated by CBS.[17] Beginning in 1987 he broadcast in New York City at WCBS.

Williams joined NBC News in 1993, where he anchored the national Weekend Nightly News and was chief White House correspondent.[18] In the summer of 1996 he began serving as anchor and managing editor of The News with Brian Williams, broadcast on MSNBC and CNBC.[19] Williams also served as primary substitute anchor on The NBC Nightly News with Tom Brokaw, and its weekend anchor. He reported the accident and death of Diana, Princess of Wales.[20]

Rise and ouster at NBC Nightly News[edit]

Williams became anchor of NBC Nightly News on December 2, 2004, replacing the retiring Tom Brokaw. In December 2004, when Williams took the helm, he had to apologize for saying there are “bigger problems” than newsroom diversity. NBC News President Neal Shapiro vowed to redouble the company’s minority hiring efforts.[21]

He still was allowed to continue and his coverage of Hurricane Katrina was widely praised, particularly “for venting his anger and frustration over the government’s failure to act quickly to help the victims.”[22] The network was awarded a Peabody, the committee concluding that “Williams, and the entire staff of NBC Nightly News exemplified the highest levels of journalistic excellence.”[23] Williams accepted the award on behalf of the organization.[23] NBC Nightly News also earned the George Polk Award[24] and the duPont-Columbia University Award for its Katrina coverage.[25] Vanity Fair called Williams’ work on Katrina “Murrow-worthy” and reported that during the hurricane, he became “a nation’s anchor”. The New York Times characterized Williams’ reporting of the hurricane as “a defining moment”.[26]

In 2007, Time magazine named Williams one of the 100 most influential people in the world.[27]

In 2009, Williams was awarded the Walter Cronkite Award for Excellence in Journalism by Arizona State University.[28] At the announcement of the award, Cronkite said he was one of Williams’ “ardent admirers” and described him as a “fastidious newsman” who brought credit to the television news reporting profession.[28]Williams interviewing presidential candidate Mitt Romney, July 25, 2012

While anchoring the Nightly News, Williams received 12 News & Documentary Emmy Awards. For “outstanding” work as anchor and managing editor of the Nightly News, he received one Emmy in 2006 (for Nightly News coverage of the 2005 Hurricane Katrina),[29] two in 2007,[30] one in 2009,[31] two in 2010,[32] one in 2011,[33] one in 2013,[34] and one in 2014.[35] The 2014 Emmy was awarded Nightly News for its coverage of a deadly series of tornadoes in Oklahoma, for which it also received the duPont-Columbia University Award.[36]

Williams also received a 2012 Emmy for his interview program Rock Center[37] and a 2013 Emmy for being one of the executive producers and editors of a documentary on the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum.[34] He also shared a 2014 Emmy awarded for an NBC News Special on the Boston Marathon bombing.[35]

Based on the Nielsen ratings, from late 2008 Williams’ news broadcast consistently had more viewers than its two main rivals, ABC‘s World News Tonight and CBS Evening News.[38] In fact, from late 2008 to late 2014, NBC Nightly News beat the other two network programs in the Nielsen ratings all but one week.[38]

In February 2015, Williams was suspended for six months from the broadcast for misrepresenting his experience in the 2003 invasion of Iraq.[2] At the time, his salary was $10 million a year,[39] with a five-year contract signed in December 2014.[40]

Rock Center with Brian Williams[edit]

Main article: Rock Center with Brian Williams

On October 4, 2011, it was announced that Williams would be the host of Rock Center with Brian Williams, a news magazine program premiering on October 31, 2011, at 10:00 pm Eastern, replacing the canceled drama series The Playboy Club.[41]

Named after the nickname of Rockefeller Center, the New York City landmark where NBC Radio City Studios are located, the program would become the first new NBC News program to launch in primetime in nearly two decades.[42]

NBC cancelled Rock Center on May 10, 2013, due to low ratings; the network was also having trouble finding a permanent time slot for the program. The last show aired on June 21, 2013.[43]

Williams reportedly felt “insulted” by the program’s cancellation.[44]

Iraq War helicopter fabrication[edit]

Williams aboard the amphibious assault ship USS Tarawa in the Persian Gulf, March 13, 2003

On February 4, 2015, Williams apologized for and recanted his disproven Iraq War story, which he had told on a Nightly News broadcast on January 30, 2015. He claimed that a military helicopter he was traveling in had been “forced down after being hit by an RPG“.[45][46] Soon after it aired, Williams’ story was criticized by Lance Reynolds, a flight engineer on board one of the three Chinook helicopters that had been attacked.[47] Reynolds and other crew members said Williams had been aboard one of a separate group of helicopters from the helicopter that had been fired upon, which was flying about half an hour behind and was forced to make an emergency landing because of a sandstorm rather than an attack.[46][48] Additional soldiers soon came forward to confirm that Williams was not in the group of helicopters that had come under fire and that Williams had inserted himself into the event.[49]

In his original on-air reporting of the incident on March 26, 2003, for Dateline NBC, Williams had said only that “the Chinook ahead of us was almost blown out of the sky … by an RPG” and made an emergency landing. Introducing the piece, NBC News anchor Tom Brokaw described Williams as having “got [him]self into … a close call in the skies over Iraq”,[50] and the story was headlined, “Target Iraq: Helicopter NBC’s Brian Williams Was Riding In Comes Under Fire”.[46]

A book published by NBC in 2003 said that “Army Chinook helicopters [were] forced to make a desert landing after being attacked by Iraqi Fedayeen”, with Williams aboard.[51]

In a 2007 retelling, Williams did not state that his craft had been hit, but said, “I looked down the tube of an RPG that had been fired at us, and it hit the chopper in front of us.” This contradicted the statements by the crew of the craft that was hit, that it was at least 30 minutes ahead of Williams’ helicopter. However, the soldiers who piloted Williams’ helicopter in Iraq said no rocket-propelled grenades had been fired at the aircraft, a fact that Williams did not dispute and apologized for.[52] In a 2013 account, Williams said his helicopter had been “hit … and landed very quickly”.[53]

In a February 5, 2015, interview with CNN, the pilot of the Chinook in which Williams was traveling said that while the aircraft did not sustain RPG fire, it did indeed sustain small-arms fire and the door gunners returned fire.[54]

On February 10, 2015, NBC News President Deborah Turness suspended Williams without pay for six months from his position as Managing Editor and Anchor of the Nightly News for having misrepresented the Iraq incident.[2] On June 18, 2015, he was demoted to breaking news anchor for MSNBC.[3]

Journalist Malcolm Gladwell reexamined the story in a podcast episode entitled “Free Brian Williams” from his Revisionist History podcast. Gladwell argued that the evolving versions of Williams’ story over many years matched the normal pattern of how human memory works. Over time, people conflate and combine different memories, shift times and locations, and misremember details large and small.[55]

Return to MSNBC[edit]

In September 2015, Williams returned to the air as MSNBC‘s chief anchor.[4] News events that Williams has since covered for MSNBC include Pope Francis’s trip to the United States; the Umpqua Community College shooting; and terrorist attacks in Paris, San Bernardino, Brussels, and Nice. In January 2016, Williams also added the role of chief elections anchor for MSNBC and subsequently debuted in the new role during coverage of the 2016 Iowa caucuses.[56]

As part of his chief anchor duties, Williams anchored The 11th Hour with Brian Williams a nightly news and politics wrap-up show. The New York Post labeled the program a “legit hit” in February 2019, noting the show had been “beating [competitors] CNN and Fox News for three months straight.”[57] Williams, alongside co-anchors Rachel Maddow & Joy Reid and lead analyst Nicolle Wallace, led the network’s coverage of the 2020 United States presidential election.[57]

Williams announced on the November 9, 2021, episode of The 11th Hour with Brian Williams that he would be leaving NBC News and MSNBC at the expiration of his contract the following month, after five years hosting the show and 28 years with the networks.[58][59] His final night hosting the show was December 9, 2021.[60]

Other activities[edit]

Williams frequently appeared on The Daily Show as a celebrity guest interviewed by Jon Stewart and in 2007, made regular cameos as a giant head sidekick looking on Jon Stewart and helping out with pronunciations of foreign names and occasionally other foreign affairs all beginning at the premiere of the new Daily Show set. He appeared on the Weekend Update segment of the season 32 premiere of Saturday Night Live, hosted by Dane Cook. He then hosted a season 33 episode on November 3, 2007, becoming the first, and still only, sitting network news anchor to host the show.[61]

Williams appeared on Sesame Street in a 2007 episode, announcing the word of the day, “squid”, in a special broadcast. Williams appeared on Sesame Street again in a 2008 episode, reporting for Sesame Street Nightly News about the “mine-itis” outbreak, becoming a victim. He was also the host of the 2009 Annual Sesame Workshop Benefit Gala.

On February 22, 2010, while covering the Winter Olympics, Williams did a skit with Brian Williams, the Canadian sportscaster of CTV Sports, on the CTV Olympic set.[62] Some in the media dubbed this the new “Battle of the Brians“, as NBC’s Williams compared his own modest set to CTV’s expensive Olympic studio.[63]

Williams regularly appeared on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, where he slow jams the news of the previous week as Fallon sings and reiterates what Williams says, with The Roots providing the musical backing. A mash-up video created by Fallon, where Williams appears to rap to hip-hop instrumentals, became popular within a few hours.[64] Williams has also made numerous appearances on Late Show with David Letterman. During an appearance on July 26, 2011, he demonstrated a skilled vocal impersonation of TV personality Regis Philbin. He has also appeared on Late Night with Conan O’Brien, where he took part in numerous skits and interviews.

And then I pull off my mask, and I’m a lizard person, too. Blackout. End of episode.

—Williams on 30 Rock, proposing a new NBC show to Jack Donaghy[65]

Williams made frequent guest appearances on NBC’s television comedy 30 Rock, as a caricatured version of himself. In the episode “The Ones“, he is seen at home receiving proposition calls meant for Tracy Jordan. In “Audition Day“, he auditions to be a new TGS cast member. He also is seen once on the show taunting Tina Fey’s character, Liz Lemon. In April 2012, on the West Coast installment of the 30 Rock season 6 live show, Williams portrayed a news anchor covering the Apollo 13 story.[66]

Williams was the commencement speaker at Bates College in May 2005,[67] The Catholic University of America in May 2004,[68] Ohio State University in June 2008,[69] and at the University of Notre Dame in 2010.[70] In May 2012, he spoke at the George Washington University commencement on the National Mall.[71] He was the commencement speaker for Elon University‘s graduating class of 2013, which included his son Douglas.[72]

Williams also collaborated on the Encyclopedia of World History from Backpack Books published in 2003.

Williams has written for publications including The New York Times[73] and Time magazine.[74]

Controversies[edit]

Unbalanced scales.svgThis section may lend undue weight to certain ideas, incidents, or controversies. Please help to create a more balanced presentation. Discuss and resolve this issue before removing this message. (February 2015)
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Williams’ statements about Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath were received with scrutiny.[75][76] For example, Williams referred inconsistently to a suicide inside the New Orleans Superdome after Katrina.[77] CNN reported in a 2005 television documentary that Williams said he was not a witness to the suicide: “We heard the story of a man killing himself, falling from the upper deck.”[78][79]

Appearing on The Daily Show in August 2006, he told host Jon Stewart that he was nearly hit the previous month by Katyusha rockets fired from Lebanon by Hezbollah while flying in an Israeli Air Force (IAF) Black Hawk helicopter: “Here’s a view of rockets I have never seen, passing underneath us, 1,500 feet beneath us. And we’ve got the gunner doors on this thing, and I’m saying to the general, some four-star: ‘It wouldn’t take much for them to adjust the aim and try to do a ring toss right through our open doors, would it?’ Anytime you want to cross over to the other side, baby, travel with me.”[80]

In another version of the same story, Williams claimed that the rockets passed “just underneath the helicopter I was riding in.”[81] The claim was drawn into question since there are no four-star generals in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), Israeli helicopter doors are routinely closed during flights and the IAF’s Black Hawks do not carry gunners.[82] An IDF spokesman who was on the helicopter in question did confirm afterwards that there was Katyusha fire and, although the helicopter was not in danger, the “trajectory of the rockets was beneath us.”[83]

A reference to the fall of the Berlin Wall also received scrutiny. In 2008, Williams said he was “at the Brandenburg Gate the night the wall came down”, while CBS and other sources report that he did not arrive until the next day.[84][85]

Another statement by Williams, this one regarding the Navy SEALs, also received attention. Williams said he flew into Baghdad with SEAL Team Six, but Special Operations Command spokesman Ken McGraw stated the SEALs do not embed journalists.[86]

On April 7, 2017, Williams referred to the 2017 Shayrat missile strike footage of missiles being fired from a US warship as “beautiful pictures” after quoting Leonard Cohen‘s “First We Take Manhattan“. This brought widespread criticism from news organizations and social media.[87][88][89]

Personal life[edit]

With his wife, Jane, in 2009

Williams married Jane Gillan Stoddard, at the First Presbyterian Church of New Canaan, Connecticut, on June 7, 1986.[90] They have two children: Allison, an actress, and Doug, the late-night anchor of Geico SportsNite on SportsNet New York.[91] Williams and his wife live in New Canaan,[92] and own a beach house in Bay Head, New Jersey[93] and a pied-à-terre in Midtown Manhattan.[94]

From 2006 to 2015, Williams was a member of the board of directors of the Medal of Honor Foundation; he resigned days after his suspension from NBC.[95]

Honorary degrees[edit]

SchoolDateLocationDegreeRef.
Catholic University of America15 May 2004District of ColumbiaDoctor of Humane Letters[96]
Bates College30 May 2005MaineDoctor of Humane Letters[97]
Ohio State University8 June 2008OhioDoctor of Journalism[98]
University of Notre Dame16 May 2010IndianaDoctor of Laws[99]
Fordham University21 May 2011New YorkDoctor of Humane Letters[100]
George Washington University2012District of ColumbiaDoctor of Humane Letters[101]
This list is incomplete; you can help by adding missing items. (February 2018)

Television[edit]

YearTitleRoleFirst episodeNotes
2007Saturday Night LiveHimselfHost
2009–1230 RockHimselfThe Ones
2013Family GuyHimself“Space Cadet“Voice only
2013The SoupHimselfHimself

Career timeline[edit]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ “Brian Williams”. msnbc.com. September 16, 2016. Archived from the original on January 7, 2010. Retrieved December 10, 2021.
  2. ^ Jump up to:a b c “A Note from Deborah Turness”. NBC News. February 10, 2015. Retrieved February 11, 2015.
  3. ^ Jump up to:a b “Brian Williams demoted to MSNBC’s breaking news anchor”. Star Tribune. June 15, 2015. Retrieved April 19, 2019.
  4. ^ Jump up to:a b Farhi, Paul (September 21, 2015). “At long last, Brian Williams is back — humbled and demoted to MSNBC”. The Washington Post.
  5. ^ “Brian Williams’ new program, ‘The 11th Hour,’ debuts Tuesday on MSNBC”. Los Angeles Times. September 2016. Retrieved September 5, 2016.
  6. ^ Hamilton, Nolan. “Brian Williams, Please Tell Us About Your ‘Grindlingly Middle Class’ Upbringing Again”. Archived from the original on February 7, 2016. Retrieved February 6, 2016.
  7. ^ Jump up to:a b Albiniak, Page (November 30, 1999). “Questions for Brian Williams”. New York Post. Retrieved December 10, 2021. I come from a loud Irish-Catholic family.
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  11. ^ Jump up to:a b Strauss, Robert (October 27, 2002). “In Person – The Life Of Brian, Annotated”. The New York Times. Retrieved June 13, 2011. Mr. Williams grew up in Mom-apple-pie-and-TV-trays style in Middletown, Monmouth County, a town of true middle class. … Mr. Williams, who was in junior high when the family moved there from Elmira, N.Y., was an average student who had his eyes on fast cars, fun summer jobs and hanging out at the local fire station, where he became a volunteer firefighter.
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  51. ^ Operation Iraqi Freedom: The Inside Story|date=September 1, 2003
  52. ^ Paul Farhi (February 7, 2014). “NBC’s Brian Williams steps away from anchor chair amid probe”. The Washington Post. Retrieved February 8, 2014.
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  67. ^ “Commencement 2005: Brian Williams – Commencement 2015 – Bates College”. bates.edu. Retrieved February 23, 2015.
  68. ^ “NBC News Anchor to Speak at CUA Commencement – The Catholic University of America”. cua.edu. Retrieved August 20, 2016.
  69. ^ “Alphabetical Listing of Speakers”. osu.edu. Ohio State University. Archived from the original on October 22, 2015. Retrieved June 3, 2016.
  70. ^ “Speakers”. nd.edu. Archived from the original on February 23, 2015. Retrieved February 23, 2015.
  71. ^ “Commencement 2012 – GW Commencement – The George Washington University”. gwu.edu. Archived from the original on February 15, 2015. Retrieved February 22, 2015.
  72. ^ “NBC anchor Brian Williams speaks to Elon grads, his son”. News-Record.com. Retrieved February 22, 2015.
  73. ^ “L.B.J.’s Political Hurricane”. The New York Times. September 24, 2005.
  74. ^ Williams, Brian (May 8, 2006). “Stephen Colbert – The 2006 Time 100”. Time. Retrieved February 24, 2015.
  75. ^ Simerman, John (February 6, 2015). “NBC News anchor Brian Williams’ comments about dead bodies, Hurricane Katrina starting to gain attention, draw scrutiny”. The New Orleans Advocate. New Orleans. Retrieved February 6, 2015.
  76. ^ Calamur, Krishnadev (February 6, 2015). “More Questions Emerge About Brian Williams’ Comments”. National Public Radio. Washington, D.C. Retrieved February 6, 2015.
  77. ^ Kludt, Tom (February 7, 2015). “Brian Williams’ reporting on Katrina: What we know”. CNN Money. Retrieved February 8, 2015.
  78. ^ “Brian Williams: We were witnesses”. NBC News. August 28, 2006.
  79. ^ “The duPont Talks: Tom Brokaw & Brian Williams on Covering Katrina pt1 of 3”. YouTube. June 26, 2014. Archived from the original on November 8, 2021.
  80. ^ Hartmann, Margaret (February 9, 2015). “Brian Williams May Have Exaggerated Another Helicopter Story”. New York. Retrieved August 21, 2017.
  81. ^ “Debate brews over whether NBC’s Brian Williams can survive controversy”. Chicago Tribune. February 9, 2015. Retrieved August 21, 2017.
  82. ^ “The Brian Williams Bandwagon”. Chameleon Associates. February 17, 2015. Retrieved August 21, 2017.
  83. ^ “Israeli Officer: Brian Williams’ Lebanon War Reportage ‘Accurate'”. Haaretz. February 10, 2015. Retrieved August 21, 2017.
  84. ^ “Questions Emerge Over Statement Brian Williams Made In Southland”. KCBS-TV. February 12, 2015. Retrieved February 14, 2015.
  85. ^ Tom Kludt (February 12, 2015). “What else has NBC News dug up on Brian Williams?”. CNNMoney. Retrieved February 22, 2015.
  86. ^ Peter Bergen, CNN National Security Analyst (February 13, 2015). “Did Brian Williams embed with SEAL Team 6? – CNN.com”. CNN. Retrieved February 15, 2015. {{cite news}}: |author= has generic name (help)
  87. ^ “Brian Williams criticized for calling missile-launch photos ‘beautiful'”. USA Today. Retrieved December 15, 2017.
  88. ^ Hawkins, Derek (April 7, 2017). “Brian Williams is ‘guided by the beauty of our weapons’ in Syria strikes”. The Washington Post. Retrieved December 15, 2017 – via www.washingtonpost.com.
  89. ^ “Brian Williams: Images of US airstrikes on Syria are ‘beautiful'”. Fox News. April 7, 2017. Retrieved December 10, 2021.
  90. ^ “Brian Williams Weds Jane Stoddard, TV Producer”. The New York Times. June 8, 1986. Retrieved October 26, 2012.
  91. ^ Koblin, John (July 21, 2017). “Another Williams Takes His Turn Before the Camera, at SNY”. The New York Times. Retrieved July 27, 2017.
  92. ^ “Brian Williams”. TVGuide.com.
  93. ^ “Brian Williams at Stop & Shop”. March 28, 2011.
  94. ^ “Brian Williams Opens up About His Unexpected Re-Invention”. Vanity Fair. October 24, 2017.
  95. ^ “More fallout from Brian Williams reporting scandal”. cbsnews.com. February 20, 2015. Retrieved February 22, 2015.
  96. ^ “Archived copy” (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on March 3, 2016. Retrieved February 14, 2018.
  97. ^ “List of Honorary Degree Recipients – Office of the President – Bates College”. www.bates.edu.
  98. ^ “Honorary Degree – University Awards & Recognition – The Ohio State University”. www.osu.edu.
  99. ^ “Archived copy” (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on April 21, 2017. Retrieved February 14, 2018.
  100. ^ “Eight Notables to Receive Honorary Degrees From Fordham”. fordham.edu. May 21, 2011.
  101. ^ “Honorary Degree Recipients – Office of the Provost – The George Washington University”. provost.gwu.edu.

External links[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Brian Williams.

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1994–1996		Succeeded byDavid Bloom
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Brian Williams

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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaFor other people named Brian Williams, see Brian Williams (disambiguation).

Brian Williams
Williams in 2011
BornBrian Douglas Williams
May 5, 1959 (age 63)
Ridgewood, New Jersey, U.S.
Years active1981–2021
Employer(s)CBS (1981–1993)
NBC (1993–2021)
TelevisionCBS News reporter (1981–1993)
NBC News reporter (1993–2004)
NBC Nightly News weekend anchor (1993–1999)
NBC Nightly News anchor (2004–2015)
MSNBC anchor (1996–2002, 2015–2021)
The 11th Hour with Brian Williams anchor (2016–2021)
SpouseJane Gillan Stoddard​​(m. 1986)​
Children2, including Allison
Awards12 News & Documentary Emmy Awards
George Polk Award
duPont-Columbia University Award
Walter Cronkite Award for Excellence in Journalism

Brian Douglas Williams (born May 5, 1959) is an American journalist and television news anchor. He was a reporter for NBC Nightly News starting in 1993, before his promotion to anchor and managing editor of the broadcast in 2004.[1]

In February 2015, Williams was suspended for six months by NBC for “misrepresent[ing] events which occurred while he was covering the Iraq War in 2003“.[2] Four months after the incident came to light, the network removed him from NBC Nightly News and reassigned him as the breaking news anchor for MSNBC.[3] In September 2016, he became the host of MSNBC’s political news show, The 11th Hour.[4][5] Williams announced in November 2021 that he would be leaving MSNBC and NBC News at the completion of his contract the following month, when he hosted his final episode of The 11th Hour.

Early life[edit]

Born on May 5, 1959, in Ridgewood, New Jersey,[6] Williams was raised in a “boisterous” Catholic home of largely Irish descent.[7] He is the son of Dorothy May (née Pampel) and Gordon Lewis Williams, who was an executive vice president of the National Retail Merchants Association, in New York.[8][9] His mother was an amateur stage actress.[7] Williams is the youngest of four siblings.[10]

He lived in Elmira, New York, for nine years before moving to Middletown Township, New Jersey, when he was in junior high school.[11]

Williams graduated from Mater Dei High School, a Roman Catholic high school in the New Monmouth section of Middletown.[12] While in high school, he was a volunteer firefighter for three years at the Middletown Township Fire Department. Also while in high school, he was the editorial editor for the school newspaper.[13] He suffered an accident during a football game that left him with a crooked nose.[14] His first job was as a busboy at Perkins Restaurant & Bakery.[15]

Following high school, Williams attended Brookdale Community College before transferring to the Catholic University of America and then George Washington University.[11] He did not earn a degree, ultimately interning with the administration of President Jimmy Carter. He later called leaving college one of his “great regrets”.[16]

Career[edit]

Early broadcast career[edit]

Williams first worked in broadcasting in 1981 at KOAM-TV in Pittsburg, Kansas. The following year he covered news in the Washington, D.C., area at then-independent station WTTG, then worked in Philadelphia for WCAU, then owned and operated by CBS.[17] Beginning in 1987 he broadcast in New York City at WCBS.

Williams joined NBC News in 1993, where he anchored the national Weekend Nightly News and was chief White House correspondent.[18] In the summer of 1996 he began serving as anchor and managing editor of The News with Brian Williams, broadcast on MSNBC and CNBC.[19] Williams also served as primary substitute anchor on The NBC Nightly News with Tom Brokaw, and its weekend anchor. He reported the accident and death of Diana, Princess of Wales.[20]

Rise and ouster at NBC Nightly News[edit]

Williams became anchor of NBC Nightly News on December 2, 2004, replacing the retiring Tom Brokaw. In December 2004, when Williams took the helm, he had to apologize for saying there are “bigger problems” than newsroom diversity. NBC News President Neal Shapiro vowed to redouble the company’s minority hiring efforts.[21]

He still was allowed to continue and his coverage of Hurricane Katrina was widely praised, particularly “for venting his anger and frustration over the government’s failure to act quickly to help the victims.”[22] The network was awarded a Peabody, the committee concluding that “Williams, and the entire staff of NBC Nightly News exemplified the highest levels of journalistic excellence.”[23] Williams accepted the award on behalf of the organization.[23] NBC Nightly News also earned the George Polk Award[24] and the duPont-Columbia University Award for its Katrina coverage.[25] Vanity Fair called Williams’ work on Katrina “Murrow-worthy” and reported that during the hurricane, he became “a nation’s anchor”. The New York Times characterized Williams’ reporting of the hurricane as “a defining moment”.[26]

In 2007, Time magazine named Williams one of the 100 most influential people in the world.[27]

In 2009, Williams was awarded the Walter Cronkite Award for Excellence in Journalism by Arizona State University.[28] At the announcement of the award, Cronkite said he was one of Williams’ “ardent admirers” and described him as a “fastidious newsman” who brought credit to the television news reporting profession.[28]Williams interviewing presidential candidate Mitt Romney, July 25, 2012

While anchoring the Nightly News, Williams received 12 News & Documentary Emmy Awards. For “outstanding” work as anchor and managing editor of the Nightly News, he received one Emmy in 2006 (for Nightly News coverage of the 2005 Hurricane Katrina),[29] two in 2007,[30] one in 2009,[31] two in 2010,[32] one in 2011,[33] one in 2013,[34] and one in 2014.[35] The 2014 Emmy was awarded Nightly News for its coverage of a deadly series of tornadoes in Oklahoma, for which it also received the duPont-Columbia University Award.[36]

Williams also received a 2012 Emmy for his interview program Rock Center[37] and a 2013 Emmy for being one of the executive producers and editors of a documentary on the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum.[34] He also shared a 2014 Emmy awarded for an NBC News Special on the Boston Marathon bombing.[35]

Based on the Nielsen ratings, from late 2008 Williams’ news broadcast consistently had more viewers than its two main rivals, ABC‘s World News Tonight and CBS Evening News.[38] In fact, from late 2008 to late 2014, NBC Nightly News beat the other two network programs in the Nielsen ratings all but one week.[38]

In February 2015, Williams was suspended for six months from the broadcast for misrepresenting his experience in the 2003 invasion of Iraq.[2] At the time, his salary was $10 million a year,[39] with a five-year contract signed in December 2014.[40]

Rock Center with Brian Williams[edit]

Main article: Rock Center with Brian Williams

On October 4, 2011, it was announced that Williams would be the host of Rock Center with Brian Williams, a news magazine program premiering on October 31, 2011, at 10:00 pm Eastern, replacing the canceled drama series The Playboy Club.[41]

Named after the nickname of Rockefeller Center, the New York City landmark where NBC Radio City Studios are located, the program would become the first new NBC News program to launch in primetime in nearly two decades.[42]

NBC cancelled Rock Center on May 10, 2013, due to low ratings; the network was also having trouble finding a permanent time slot for the program. The last show aired on June 21, 2013.[43]

Williams reportedly felt “insulted” by the program’s cancellation.[44]

Iraq War helicopter fabrication[edit]

Williams aboard the amphibious assault ship USS Tarawa in the Persian Gulf, March 13, 2003

On February 4, 2015, Williams apologized for and recanted his disproven Iraq War story, which he had told on a Nightly News broadcast on January 30, 2015. He claimed that a military helicopter he was traveling in had been “forced down after being hit by an RPG“.[45][46] Soon after it aired, Williams’ story was criticized by Lance Reynolds, a flight engineer on board one of the three Chinook helicopters that had been attacked.[47] Reynolds and other crew members said Williams had been aboard one of a separate group of helicopters from the helicopter that had been fired upon, which was flying about half an hour behind and was forced to make an emergency landing because of a sandstorm rather than an attack.[46][48] Additional soldiers soon came forward to confirm that Williams was not in the group of helicopters that had come under fire and that Williams had inserted himself into the event.[49]

In his original on-air reporting of the incident on March 26, 2003, for Dateline NBC, Williams had said only that “the Chinook ahead of us was almost blown out of the sky … by an RPG” and made an emergency landing. Introducing the piece, NBC News anchor Tom Brokaw described Williams as having “got [him]self into … a close call in the skies over Iraq”,[50] and the story was headlined, “Target Iraq: Helicopter NBC’s Brian Williams Was Riding In Comes Under Fire”.[46]

A book published by NBC in 2003 said that “Army Chinook helicopters [were] forced to make a desert landing after being attacked by Iraqi Fedayeen”, with Williams aboard.[51]

In a 2007 retelling, Williams did not state that his craft had been hit, but said, “I looked down the tube of an RPG that had been fired at us, and it hit the chopper in front of us.” This contradicted the statements by the crew of the craft that was hit, that it was at least 30 minutes ahead of Williams’ helicopter. However, the soldiers who piloted Williams’ helicopter in Iraq said no rocket-propelled grenades had been fired at the aircraft, a fact that Williams did not dispute and apologized for.[52] In a 2013 account, Williams said his helicopter had been “hit … and landed very quickly”.[53]

In a February 5, 2015, interview with CNN, the pilot of the Chinook in which Williams was traveling said that while the aircraft did not sustain RPG fire, it did indeed sustain small-arms fire and the door gunners returned fire.[54]

On February 10, 2015, NBC News President Deborah Turness suspended Williams without pay for six months from his position as Managing Editor and Anchor of the Nightly News for having misrepresented the Iraq incident.[2] On June 18, 2015, he was demoted to breaking news anchor for MSNBC.[3]

Journalist Malcolm Gladwell reexamined the story in a podcast episode entitled “Free Brian Williams” from his Revisionist History podcast. Gladwell argued that the evolving versions of Williams’ story over many years matched the normal pattern of how human memory works. Over time, people conflate and combine different memories, shift times and locations, and misremember details large and small.[55]

Return to MSNBC[edit]

In September 2015, Williams returned to the air as MSNBC‘s chief anchor.[4] News events that Williams has since covered for MSNBC include Pope Francis’s trip to the United States; the Umpqua Community College shooting; and terrorist attacks in Paris, San Bernardino, Brussels, and Nice. In January 2016, Williams also added the role of chief elections anchor for MSNBC and subsequently debuted in the new role during coverage of the 2016 Iowa caucuses.[56]

As part of his chief anchor duties, Williams anchored The 11th Hour with Brian Williams a nightly news and politics wrap-up show. The New York Post labeled the program a “legit hit” in February 2019, noting the show had been “beating [competitors] CNN and Fox News for three months straight.”[57] Williams, alongside co-anchors Rachel Maddow & Joy Reid and lead analyst Nicolle Wallace, led the network’s coverage of the 2020 United States presidential election.[57]

Williams announced on the November 9, 2021, episode of The 11th Hour with Brian Williams that he would be leaving NBC News and MSNBC at the expiration of his contract the following month, after five years hosting the show and 28 years with the networks.[58][59] His final night hosting the show was December 9, 2021.[60]

Other activities[edit]

Williams frequently appeared on The Daily Show as a celebrity guest interviewed by Jon Stewart and in 2007, made regular cameos as a giant head sidekick looking on Jon Stewart and helping out with pronunciations of foreign names and occasionally other foreign affairs all beginning at the premiere of the new Daily Show set. He appeared on the Weekend Update segment of the season 32 premiere of Saturday Night Live, hosted by Dane Cook. He then hosted a season 33 episode on November 3, 2007, becoming the first, and still only, sitting network news anchor to host the show.[61]

Williams appeared on Sesame Street in a 2007 episode, announcing the word of the day, “squid”, in a special broadcast. Williams appeared on Sesame Street again in a 2008 episode, reporting for Sesame Street Nightly News about the “mine-itis” outbreak, becoming a victim. He was also the host of the 2009 Annual Sesame Workshop Benefit Gala.

On February 22, 2010, while covering the Winter Olympics, Williams did a skit with Brian Williams, the Canadian sportscaster of CTV Sports, on the CTV Olympic set.[62] Some in the media dubbed this the new “Battle of the Brians“, as NBC’s Williams compared his own modest set to CTV’s expensive Olympic studio.[63]

Williams regularly appeared on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, where he slow jams the news of the previous week as Fallon sings and reiterates what Williams says, with The Roots providing the musical backing. A mash-up video created by Fallon, where Williams appears to rap to hip-hop instrumentals, became popular within a few hours.[64] Williams has also made numerous appearances on Late Show with David Letterman. During an appearance on July 26, 2011, he demonstrated a skilled vocal impersonation of TV personality Regis Philbin. He has also appeared on Late Night with Conan O’Brien, where he took part in numerous skits and interviews.

And then I pull off my mask, and I’m a lizard person, too. Blackout. End of episode.

—Williams on 30 Rock, proposing a new NBC show to Jack Donaghy[65]

Williams made frequent guest appearances on NBC’s television comedy 30 Rock, as a caricatured version of himself. In the episode “The Ones“, he is seen at home receiving proposition calls meant for Tracy Jordan. In “Audition Day“, he auditions to be a new TGS cast member. He also is seen once on the show taunting Tina Fey’s character, Liz Lemon. In April 2012, on the West Coast installment of the 30 Rock season 6 live show, Williams portrayed a news anchor covering the Apollo 13 story.[66]

Williams was the commencement speaker at Bates College in May 2005,[67] The Catholic University of America in May 2004,[68] Ohio State University in June 2008,[69] and at the University of Notre Dame in 2010.[70] In May 2012, he spoke at the George Washington University commencement on the National Mall.[71] He was the commencement speaker for Elon University‘s graduating class of 2013, which included his son Douglas.[72]

Williams also collaborated on the Encyclopedia of World History from Backpack Books published in 2003.

Williams has written for publications including The New York Times[73] and Time magazine.[74]

Controversies[edit]

Unbalanced scales.svgThis section may lend undue weight to certain ideas, incidents, or controversies. Please help to create a more balanced presentation. Discuss and resolve this issue before removing this message. (February 2015)
Unbalanced scales.svgThis article’s Criticism or Controversy section may compromise the article’s neutrality by separating out potentially negative information. Please integrate the section’s contents into the article as a whole, or rewrite the material. (March 2021)

Williams’ statements about Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath were received with scrutiny.[75][76] For example, Williams referred inconsistently to a suicide inside the New Orleans Superdome after Katrina.[77] CNN reported in a 2005 television documentary that Williams said he was not a witness to the suicide: “We heard the story of a man killing himself, falling from the upper deck.”[78][79]

Appearing on The Daily Show in August 2006, he told host Jon Stewart that he was nearly hit the previous month by Katyusha rockets fired from Lebanon by Hezbollah while flying in an Israeli Air Force (IAF) Black Hawk helicopter: “Here’s a view of rockets I have never seen, passing underneath us, 1,500 feet beneath us. And we’ve got the gunner doors on this thing, and I’m saying to the general, some four-star: ‘It wouldn’t take much for them to adjust the aim and try to do a ring toss right through our open doors, would it?’ Anytime you want to cross over to the other side, baby, travel with me.”[80]

In another version of the same story, Williams claimed that the rockets passed “just underneath the helicopter I was riding in.”[81] The claim was drawn into question since there are no four-star generals in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), Israeli helicopter doors are routinely closed during flights and the IAF’s Black Hawks do not carry gunners.[82] An IDF spokesman who was on the helicopter in question did confirm afterwards that there was Katyusha fire and, although the helicopter was not in danger, the “trajectory of the rockets was beneath us.”[83]

A reference to the fall of the Berlin Wall also received scrutiny. In 2008, Williams said he was “at the Brandenburg Gate the night the wall came down”, while CBS and other sources report that he did not arrive until the next day.[84][85]

Another statement by Williams, this one regarding the Navy SEALs, also received attention. Williams said he flew into Baghdad with SEAL Team Six, but Special Operations Command spokesman Ken McGraw stated the SEALs do not embed journalists.[86]

On April 7, 2017, Williams referred to the 2017 Shayrat missile strike footage of missiles being fired from a US warship as “beautiful pictures” after quoting Leonard Cohen‘s “First We Take Manhattan“. This brought widespread criticism from news organizations and social media.[87][88][89]

Personal life[edit]

With his wife, Jane, in 2009

Williams married Jane Gillan Stoddard, at the First Presbyterian Church of New Canaan, Connecticut, on June 7, 1986.[90] They have two children: Allison, an actress, and Doug, the late-night anchor of Geico SportsNite on SportsNet New York.[91] Williams and his wife live in New Canaan,[92] and own a beach house in Bay Head, New Jersey[93] and a pied-à-terre in Midtown Manhattan.[94]

From 2006 to 2015, Williams was a member of the board of directors of the Medal of Honor Foundation; he resigned days after his suspension from NBC.[95]

Honorary degrees[edit]

SchoolDateLocationDegreeRef.
Catholic University of America15 May 2004District of ColumbiaDoctor of Humane Letters[96]
Bates College30 May 2005MaineDoctor of Humane Letters[97]
Ohio State University8 June 2008OhioDoctor of Journalism[98]
University of Notre Dame16 May 2010IndianaDoctor of Laws[99]
Fordham University21 May 2011New YorkDoctor of Humane Letters[100]
George Washington University2012District of ColumbiaDoctor of Humane Letters[101]
This list is incomplete; you can help by adding missing items. (February 2018)

Television[edit]

YearTitleRoleFirst episodeNotes
2007Saturday Night LiveHimselfHost
2009–1230 RockHimselfThe Ones
2013Family GuyHimself“Space Cadet“Voice only
2013The SoupHimselfHimself

Career timeline[edit]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ “Brian Williams”. msnbc.com. September 16, 2016. Archived from the original on January 7, 2010. Retrieved December 10, 2021.
  2. ^ Jump up to:a b c “A Note from Deborah Turness”. NBC News. February 10, 2015. Retrieved February 11, 2015.
  3. ^ Jump up to:a b “Brian Williams demoted to MSNBC’s breaking news anchor”. Star Tribune. June 15, 2015. Retrieved April 19, 2019.
  4. ^ Jump up to:a b Farhi, Paul (September 21, 2015). “At long last, Brian Williams is back — humbled and demoted to MSNBC”. The Washington Post.
  5. ^ “Brian Williams’ new program, ‘The 11th Hour,’ debuts Tuesday on MSNBC”. Los Angeles Times. September 2016. Retrieved September 5, 2016.
  6. ^ Hamilton, Nolan. “Brian Williams, Please Tell Us About Your ‘Grindlingly Middle Class’ Upbringing Again”. Archived from the original on February 7, 2016. Retrieved February 6, 2016.
  7. ^ Jump up to:a b Albiniak, Page (November 30, 1999). “Questions for Brian Williams”. New York Post. Retrieved December 10, 2021. I come from a loud Irish-Catholic family.
  8. ^ “Brian Williams Weds Jane Stoddard, TV Producer”. The New York Times. June 8, 1986.
  9. ^ “Address by Brian Williams – Commencement 2015 – Bates College”. bates.edu. April 29, 2010. Retrieved February 6, 2015.
  10. ^ Mullen, Shannon (January 10, 2005). “Brian Williams is living his dream as “Nightly News” anchor”. The Seattle Times. Retrieved December 10, 2021.
  11. ^ Jump up to:a b Strauss, Robert (October 27, 2002). “In Person – The Life Of Brian, Annotated”. The New York Times. Retrieved June 13, 2011. Mr. Williams grew up in Mom-apple-pie-and-TV-trays style in Middletown, Monmouth County, a town of true middle class. … Mr. Williams, who was in junior high when the family moved there from Elmira, N.Y., was an average student who had his eyes on fast cars, fun summer jobs and hanging out at the local fire station, where he became a volunteer firefighter.
  12. ^ “Brian Williams”. NOPAC Talent. Archived from the original on October 20, 2007. Retrieved October 14, 2007. Graduated from Mater Dei, a Roman Catholic High School in New Monmouth, N.J.
  13. ^ “See Brian Williams Through The Years”. Time. Retrieved February 24, 2015.
  14. ^ “Liberties – Send in the Clones”. The New York Times. December 10, 1995. Retrieved February 22, 2015.
  15. ^ The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, May 22, 2009.
  16. ^ “Remarks by Brian Williams. Tulane University Commencement”. May 19, 2007.
  17. ^ “His Heart Belongs to Jersey”. New Jersey Monthly. Retrieved February 6, 2015.
  18. ^ “Brian Williams”. NBC News. Retrieved February 6, 2015.
  19. ^ “American Journalism Review”. ajrarchive.org. Retrieved February 21, 2015.
  20. ^ “Life of Brian”. American Journalism Review. Retrieved February 21, 2015.
  21. ^ “maynardije.org”. Archived from the original on May 15, 2008. Retrieved January 4, 2022.
  22. ^ “With Little Fanfare, an Anchor Says Goodbye”. The New York Times. November 22, 2005.
  23. ^ Jump up to:a b “The Peabody Awards – NBC News: Coverage of Hurricane Katrina”. peabodyawards.com. Retrieved February 14, 2015.
  24. ^ Kurtz, Howard. Reality Show: Inside the Last Great Television News War. New York: Free Press, 2007. Print.
  25. ^ “NBC wins duPont-Columbia University award”. today.com. Archived from the original on February 9, 2015. Retrieved December 10, 2021.
  26. ^ “Brian Williams”. NBC News. Retrieved December 10, 2021.
  27. ^ “Complete List – The 2007 Time 100”. Time. Retrieved February 23, 2015.
  28. ^ Jump up to:a b “NBC News Anchor Brian Williams Next Cronkite Award Recipient”. Arizona State University. April 6, 2009.
  29. ^ “National Television Academy Presents 27th Annual News & Documentary Emmy Awards” (PDF). emmyonline.com. Retrieved February 11, 2015.
  30. ^ “28th Annual News & Documentary Awards Announces Winners at New York City Gala”. emmyonline.com. Archived from the original on May 29, 2013. Retrieved February 11, 2015.
  31. ^ “30th Annual News & Documentary Emmy Awars Winners Announced at New York City Gala, Lifetime Achievement Award Presented to Barbara Walters, Presidents Award Presented to CNN Doc Unit, Special Tributes to Walter Cronkite and Don Hewitt”. emmyonline.com. Archived from the original on September 27, 2020. Retrieved February 11, 2015.
  32. ^ “The Emmy Awards – 31st Annual News & Documentary Emmy Awards nominations”. emmyonline.org. Retrieved February 11, 2015.
  33. ^ “32nd Annual News & Documentary Emmy® Awards Winners”. emmyonline.com. Retrieved February 11, 2015.
  34. ^ Jump up to:a b “Winners Announced for the 34th Annual News & Documentary Emmy® Awards”. emmyonline.com. Archived from the original on March 31, 2015. Retrieved February 11, 2015.
  35. ^ Jump up to:a b “Winners Announced for the 35th Annual News & Documentary Emmy Awards”. emmyonline.com. Archived from the original on May 25, 2019. Retrieved February 11, 2015.
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  38. ^ Jump up to:a b Bauder, Steven (October 7, 2014). “ABC’s ‘World News’ breaks a ratings streak”. Associated Press. Retrieved February 11, 2015.
  39. ^ “Brian Williams’ $10-million salary should buy some honesty”. Los Angeles Times. February 10, 2015. Retrieved February 12, 2015.
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  43. ^ Bauder, David (May 10, 2013). “NBC cancels Williams’ newsmagazine ‘Rock Center'”. Associated Press. Retrieved October 5, 2013.
  44. ^ Stelter, Brian (June 21, 2013). “Disappointing Fall for ‘Rock Center,’ a News Program With Big Ambitions”. The New York Times.
  45. ^ Joshua Barajas (February 4, 2015). “NBC’s Brian Williams apologizes for false Iraq war story”. Public Broadcasting System. Retrieved February 6, 2015.
  46. ^ Jump up to:a b c Tritten, Travis J. (February 4, 2015). “NBC’s Brian Williams recants Iraq story after soldiers protest”. Stars and Stripes. Retrieved February 5, 2015.
  47. ^ Jonathan Mahler; Ravi Somaiya; Emily Steel (February 5, 2015). “With an Apology, Brian Williams Digs Himself Deeper in Copter Tale”. The New York Times. Retrieved February 6, 2015.
  48. ^ Tritten, Travis J. (February 5, 2015). “Brian Williams’ apology draws mixed reviews from mission vets”. Stars and Stripes. Retrieved February 6, 2015.
  49. ^ Tritten, Travis J (February 6, 2015). “Soldiers offer eyewitness accounts of the Brian Williams Chinook story”. Stars and Stripes. Retrieved April 19, 2019.
  50. ^ “How Brian Williams’s Iraq Story Changed”. The New York Times. Archived from the original on November 8, 2021. Retrieved September 20, 2018.
  51. ^ Operation Iraqi Freedom: The Inside Story|date=September 1, 2003
  52. ^ Paul Farhi (February 7, 2014). “NBC’s Brian Williams steps away from anchor chair amid probe”. The Washington Post. Retrieved February 8, 2014.
  53. ^ “Full Show: Brian Williams Told Iraqi Helicopter Story on Letterman in 2013”. YouTube. Archived from the original on February 8, 2015. Retrieved February 19, 2015.
  54. ^ “Pilot says Brian Williams’s chopper sustained small-arms fire, not RPG fire”. The Washington Post. February 5, 2015. Retrieved July 26, 2016.
  55. ^ Gladwell, Malcolm. “Free Brian Williams”. Revisionist History. podcast season 3. Retrieved January 19, 2020.
  56. ^ “Brian Williams is returning to primetime news for the Iowa caucus”. Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved December 15, 2017.
  57. ^ Jump up to:a b Coleman, Oli; Nathan, Sara; Greer, Carlos (March 1, 2019). “Brian Williams may score top time slot after late-night ratings success”. Page Six. Retrieved March 4, 2019.
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  59. ^ “Brian Williams to leave NBC News at year’s end”. Politico.
  60. ^ Yasharoff, Hannah; Trepany, Charles; Brisco, Elise (December 10, 2021). “Brian Williams signs off from MSNBC’s ’11th Hour’ for the last time: ‘I’ll show myself out'”. USA TODAY. Retrieved December 10, 2021.
  61. ^ “Brian Williams Hosts Saturday Night Live Tonight”. WOAI. November 3, 2007. Archived from the original on June 13, 2011. Retrieved September 1, 2010.
  62. ^ “Williams skit lights up dull morning show”. Toronto Sun. torontosun.com. February 22, 2010.
  63. ^ Vlessing, Etan (February 22, 2010). “Olympics has new Battle of the Brians”. The Hollywood Reporter.
  64. ^ Maresca, Rachael. “Brian Williams raps to ‘Rapper’s Delight’ on Jimmy Fallon’s ‘Tonight Show'”. www.nydailynews.com. Retrieved June 20, 2014.
  65. ^ Hubbard, Matt (writer); Riggi, John (director) (February 3, 2011). “¡Qué Sorpresa!“. 30 Rock. Season 5. NBC.
  66. ^ Bershad, Jon (April 27, 2012). “The West Coast Audience Of 30 Rock’s Live Show Got Brian Williams As A Sexist Anchor”. Mediaite. Retrieved December 10, 2021.
  67. ^ “Commencement 2005: Brian Williams – Commencement 2015 – Bates College”. bates.edu. Retrieved February 23, 2015.
  68. ^ “NBC News Anchor to Speak at CUA Commencement – The Catholic University of America”. cua.edu. Retrieved August 20, 2016.
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  72. ^ “NBC anchor Brian Williams speaks to Elon grads, his son”. News-Record.com. Retrieved February 22, 2015.
  73. ^ “L.B.J.’s Political Hurricane”. The New York Times. September 24, 2005.
  74. ^ Williams, Brian (May 8, 2006). “Stephen Colbert – The 2006 Time 100”. Time. Retrieved February 24, 2015.
  75. ^ Simerman, John (February 6, 2015). “NBC News anchor Brian Williams’ comments about dead bodies, Hurricane Katrina starting to gain attention, draw scrutiny”. The New Orleans Advocate. New Orleans. Retrieved February 6, 2015.
  76. ^ Calamur, Krishnadev (February 6, 2015). “More Questions Emerge About Brian Williams’ Comments”. National Public Radio. Washington, D.C. Retrieved February 6, 2015.
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External links[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Brian Williams.

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Brian Williams

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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaFor other people named Brian Williams, see Brian Williams (disambiguation).

Brian Williams
Williams in 2011
BornBrian Douglas Williams
May 5, 1959 (age 63)
Ridgewood, New Jersey, U.S.
Years active1981–2021
Employer(s)CBS (1981–1993)
NBC (1993–2021)
TelevisionCBS News reporter (1981–1993)
NBC News reporter (1993–2004)
NBC Nightly News weekend anchor (1993–1999)
NBC Nightly News anchor (2004–2015)
MSNBC anchor (1996–2002, 2015–2021)
The 11th Hour with Brian Williams anchor (2016–2021)
SpouseJane Gillan Stoddard​​(m. 1986)​
Children2, including Allison
Awards12 News & Documentary Emmy Awards
George Polk Award
duPont-Columbia University Award
Walter Cronkite Award for Excellence in Journalism

Brian Douglas Williams (born May 5, 1959) is an American journalist and television news anchor. He was a reporter for NBC Nightly News starting in 1993, before his promotion to anchor and managing editor of the broadcast in 2004.[1]

In February 2015, Williams was suspended for six months by NBC for “misrepresent[ing] events which occurred while he was covering the Iraq War in 2003“.[2] Four months after the incident came to light, the network removed him from NBC Nightly News and reassigned him as the breaking news anchor for MSNBC.[3] In September 2016, he became the host of MSNBC’s political news show, The 11th Hour.[4][5] Williams announced in November 2021 that he would be leaving MSNBC and NBC News at the completion of his contract the following month, when he hosted his final episode of The 11th Hour.

Early life[edit]

Born on May 5, 1959, in Ridgewood, New Jersey,[6] Williams was raised in a “boisterous” Catholic home of largely Irish descent.[7] He is the son of Dorothy May (née Pampel) and Gordon Lewis Williams, who was an executive vice president of the National Retail Merchants Association, in New York.[8][9] His mother was an amateur stage actress.[7] Williams is the youngest of four siblings.[10]

He lived in Elmira, New York, for nine years before moving to Middletown Township, New Jersey, when he was in junior high school.[11]

Williams graduated from Mater Dei High School, a Roman Catholic high school in the New Monmouth section of Middletown.[12] While in high school, he was a volunteer firefighter for three years at the Middletown Township Fire Department. Also while in high school, he was the editorial editor for the school newspaper.[13] He suffered an accident during a football game that left him with a crooked nose.[14] His first job was as a busboy at Perkins Restaurant & Bakery.[15]

Following high school, Williams attended Brookdale Community College before transferring to the Catholic University of America and then George Washington University.[11] He did not earn a degree, ultimately interning with the administration of President Jimmy Carter. He later called leaving college one of his “great regrets”.[16]

Career[edit]

Early broadcast career[edit]

Williams first worked in broadcasting in 1981 at KOAM-TV in Pittsburg, Kansas. The following year he covered news in the Washington, D.C., area at then-independent station WTTG, then worked in Philadelphia for WCAU, then owned and operated by CBS.[17] Beginning in 1987 he broadcast in New York City at WCBS.

Williams joined NBC News in 1993, where he anchored the national Weekend Nightly News and was chief White House correspondent.[18] In the summer of 1996 he began serving as anchor and managing editor of The News with Brian Williams, broadcast on MSNBC and CNBC.[19] Williams also served as primary substitute anchor on The NBC Nightly News with Tom Brokaw, and its weekend anchor. He reported the accident and death of Diana, Princess of Wales.[20]

Rise and ouster at NBC Nightly News[edit]

Williams became anchor of NBC Nightly News on December 2, 2004, replacing the retiring Tom Brokaw. In December 2004, when Williams took the helm, he had to apologize for saying there are “bigger problems” than newsroom diversity. NBC News President Neal Shapiro vowed to redouble the company’s minority hiring efforts.[21]

He still was allowed to continue and his coverage of Hurricane Katrina was widely praised, particularly “for venting his anger and frustration over the government’s failure to act quickly to help the victims.”[22] The network was awarded a Peabody, the committee concluding that “Williams, and the entire staff of NBC Nightly News exemplified the highest levels of journalistic excellence.”[23] Williams accepted the award on behalf of the organization.[23] NBC Nightly News also earned the George Polk Award[24] and the duPont-Columbia University Award for its Katrina coverage.[25] Vanity Fair called Williams’ work on Katrina “Murrow-worthy” and reported that during the hurricane, he became “a nation’s anchor”. The New York Times characterized Williams’ reporting of the hurricane as “a defining moment”.[26]

In 2007, Time magazine named Williams one of the 100 most influential people in the world.[27]

In 2009, Williams was awarded the Walter Cronkite Award for Excellence in Journalism by Arizona State University.[28] At the announcement of the award, Cronkite said he was one of Williams’ “ardent admirers” and described him as a “fastidious newsman” who brought credit to the television news reporting profession.[28]Williams interviewing presidential candidate Mitt Romney, July 25, 2012

While anchoring the Nightly News, Williams received 12 News & Documentary Emmy Awards. For “outstanding” work as anchor and managing editor of the Nightly News, he received one Emmy in 2006 (for Nightly News coverage of the 2005 Hurricane Katrina),[29] two in 2007,[30] one in 2009,[31] two in 2010,[32] one in 2011,[33] one in 2013,[34] and one in 2014.[35] The 2014 Emmy was awarded Nightly News for its coverage of a deadly series of tornadoes in Oklahoma, for which it also received the duPont-Columbia University Award.[36]

Williams also received a 2012 Emmy for his interview program Rock Center[37] and a 2013 Emmy for being one of the executive producers and editors of a documentary on the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum.[34] He also shared a 2014 Emmy awarded for an NBC News Special on the Boston Marathon bombing.[35]

Based on the Nielsen ratings, from late 2008 Williams’ news broadcast consistently had more viewers than its two main rivals, ABC‘s World News Tonight and CBS Evening News.[38] In fact, from late 2008 to late 2014, NBC Nightly News beat the other two network programs in the Nielsen ratings all but one week.[38]

In February 2015, Williams was suspended for six months from the broadcast for misrepresenting his experience in the 2003 invasion of Iraq.[2] At the time, his salary was $10 million a year,[39] with a five-year contract signed in December 2014.[40]

Rock Center with Brian Williams[edit]

Main article: Rock Center with Brian Williams

On October 4, 2011, it was announced that Williams would be the host of Rock Center with Brian Williams, a news magazine program premiering on October 31, 2011, at 10:00 pm Eastern, replacing the canceled drama series The Playboy Club.[41]

Named after the nickname of Rockefeller Center, the New York City landmark where NBC Radio City Studios are located, the program would become the first new NBC News program to launch in primetime in nearly two decades.[42]

NBC cancelled Rock Center on May 10, 2013, due to low ratings; the network was also having trouble finding a permanent time slot for the program. The last show aired on June 21, 2013.[43]

Williams reportedly felt “insulted” by the program’s cancellation.[44]

Iraq War helicopter fabrication[edit]

Williams aboard the amphibious assault ship USS Tarawa in the Persian Gulf, March 13, 2003

On February 4, 2015, Williams apologized for and recanted his disproven Iraq War story, which he had told on a Nightly News broadcast on January 30, 2015. He claimed that a military helicopter he was traveling in had been “forced down after being hit by an RPG“.[45][46] Soon after it aired, Williams’ story was criticized by Lance Reynolds, a flight engineer on board one of the three Chinook helicopters that had been attacked.[47] Reynolds and other crew members said Williams had been aboard one of a separate group of helicopters from the helicopter that had been fired upon, which was flying about half an hour behind and was forced to make an emergency landing because of a sandstorm rather than an attack.[46][48] Additional soldiers soon came forward to confirm that Williams was not in the group of helicopters that had come under fire and that Williams had inserted himself into the event.[49]

In his original on-air reporting of the incident on March 26, 2003, for Dateline NBC, Williams had said only that “the Chinook ahead of us was almost blown out of the sky … by an RPG” and made an emergency landing. Introducing the piece, NBC News anchor Tom Brokaw described Williams as having “got [him]self into … a close call in the skies over Iraq”,[50] and the story was headlined, “Target Iraq: Helicopter NBC’s Brian Williams Was Riding In Comes Under Fire”.[46]

A book published by NBC in 2003 said that “Army Chinook helicopters [were] forced to make a desert landing after being attacked by Iraqi Fedayeen”, with Williams aboard.[51]

In a 2007 retelling, Williams did not state that his craft had been hit, but said, “I looked down the tube of an RPG that had been fired at us, and it hit the chopper in front of us.” This contradicted the statements by the crew of the craft that was hit, that it was at least 30 minutes ahead of Williams’ helicopter. However, the soldiers who piloted Williams’ helicopter in Iraq said no rocket-propelled grenades had been fired at the aircraft, a fact that Williams did not dispute and apologized for.[52] In a 2013 account, Williams said his helicopter had been “hit … and landed very quickly”.[53]

In a February 5, 2015, interview with CNN, the pilot of the Chinook in which Williams was traveling said that while the aircraft did not sustain RPG fire, it did indeed sustain small-arms fire and the door gunners returned fire.[54]

On February 10, 2015, NBC News President Deborah Turness suspended Williams without pay for six months from his position as Managing Editor and Anchor of the Nightly News for having misrepresented the Iraq incident.[2] On June 18, 2015, he was demoted to breaking news anchor for MSNBC.[3]

Journalist Malcolm Gladwell reexamined the story in a podcast episode entitled “Free Brian Williams” from his Revisionist History podcast. Gladwell argued that the evolving versions of Williams’ story over many years matched the normal pattern of how human memory works. Over time, people conflate and combine different memories, shift times and locations, and misremember details large and small.[55]

Return to MSNBC[edit]

In September 2015, Williams returned to the air as MSNBC‘s chief anchor.[4] News events that Williams has since covered for MSNBC include Pope Francis’s trip to the United States; the Umpqua Community College shooting; and terrorist attacks in Paris, San Bernardino, Brussels, and Nice. In January 2016, Williams also added the role of chief elections anchor for MSNBC and subsequently debuted in the new role during coverage of the 2016 Iowa caucuses.[56]

As part of his chief anchor duties, Williams anchored The 11th Hour with Brian Williams a nightly news and politics wrap-up show. The New York Post labeled the program a “legit hit” in February 2019, noting the show had been “beating [competitors] CNN and Fox News for three months straight.”[57] Williams, alongside co-anchors Rachel Maddow & Joy Reid and lead analyst Nicolle Wallace, led the network’s coverage of the 2020 United States presidential election.[57]

Williams announced on the November 9, 2021, episode of The 11th Hour with Brian Williams that he would be leaving NBC News and MSNBC at the expiration of his contract the following month, after five years hosting the show and 28 years with the networks.[58][59] His final night hosting the show was December 9, 2021.[60]

Other activities[edit]

Williams frequently appeared on The Daily Show as a celebrity guest interviewed by Jon Stewart and in 2007, made regular cameos as a giant head sidekick looking on Jon Stewart and helping out with pronunciations of foreign names and occasionally other foreign affairs all beginning at the premiere of the new Daily Show set. He appeared on the Weekend Update segment of the season 32 premiere of Saturday Night Live, hosted by Dane Cook. He then hosted a season 33 episode on November 3, 2007, becoming the first, and still only, sitting network news anchor to host the show.[61]

Williams appeared on Sesame Street in a 2007 episode, announcing the word of the day, “squid”, in a special broadcast. Williams appeared on Sesame Street again in a 2008 episode, reporting for Sesame Street Nightly News about the “mine-itis” outbreak, becoming a victim. He was also the host of the 2009 Annual Sesame Workshop Benefit Gala.

On February 22, 2010, while covering the Winter Olympics, Williams did a skit with Brian Williams, the Canadian sportscaster of CTV Sports, on the CTV Olympic set.[62] Some in the media dubbed this the new “Battle of the Brians“, as NBC’s Williams compared his own modest set to CTV’s expensive Olympic studio.[63]

Williams regularly appeared on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, where he slow jams the news of the previous week as Fallon sings and reiterates what Williams says, with The Roots providing the musical backing. A mash-up video created by Fallon, where Williams appears to rap to hip-hop instrumentals, became popular within a few hours.[64] Williams has also made numerous appearances on Late Show with David Letterman. During an appearance on July 26, 2011, he demonstrated a skilled vocal impersonation of TV personality Regis Philbin. He has also appeared on Late Night with Conan O’Brien, where he took part in numerous skits and interviews.

And then I pull off my mask, and I’m a lizard person, too. Blackout. End of episode.

—Williams on 30 Rock, proposing a new NBC show to Jack Donaghy[65]

Williams made frequent guest appearances on NBC’s television comedy 30 Rock, as a caricatured version of himself. In the episode “The Ones“, he is seen at home receiving proposition calls meant for Tracy Jordan. In “Audition Day“, he auditions to be a new TGS cast member. He also is seen once on the show taunting Tina Fey’s character, Liz Lemon. In April 2012, on the West Coast installment of the 30 Rock season 6 live show, Williams portrayed a news anchor covering the Apollo 13 story.[66]

Williams was the commencement speaker at Bates College in May 2005,[67] The Catholic University of America in May 2004,[68] Ohio State University in June 2008,[69] and at the University of Notre Dame in 2010.[70] In May 2012, he spoke at the George Washington University commencement on the National Mall.[71] He was the commencement speaker for Elon University‘s graduating class of 2013, which included his son Douglas.[72]

Williams also collaborated on the Encyclopedia of World History from Backpack Books published in 2003.

Williams has written for publications including The New York Times[73] and Time magazine.[74]

Controversies[edit]

Unbalanced scales.svgThis section may lend undue weight to certain ideas, incidents, or controversies. Please help to create a more balanced presentation. Discuss and resolve this issue before removing this message. (February 2015)
Unbalanced scales.svgThis article’s Criticism or Controversy section may compromise the article’s neutrality by separating out potentially negative information. Please integrate the section’s contents into the article as a whole, or rewrite the material. (March 2021)

Williams’ statements about Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath were received with scrutiny.[75][76] For example, Williams referred inconsistently to a suicide inside the New Orleans Superdome after Katrina.[77] CNN reported in a 2005 television documentary that Williams said he was not a witness to the suicide: “We heard the story of a man killing himself, falling from the upper deck.”[78][79]

Appearing on The Daily Show in August 2006, he told host Jon Stewart that he was nearly hit the previous month by Katyusha rockets fired from Lebanon by Hezbollah while flying in an Israeli Air Force (IAF) Black Hawk helicopter: “Here’s a view of rockets I have never seen, passing underneath us, 1,500 feet beneath us. And we’ve got the gunner doors on this thing, and I’m saying to the general, some four-star: ‘It wouldn’t take much for them to adjust the aim and try to do a ring toss right through our open doors, would it?’ Anytime you want to cross over to the other side, baby, travel with me.”[80]

In another version of the same story, Williams claimed that the rockets passed “just underneath the helicopter I was riding in.”[81] The claim was drawn into question since there are no four-star generals in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), Israeli helicopter doors are routinely closed during flights and the IAF’s Black Hawks do not carry gunners.[82] An IDF spokesman who was on the helicopter in question did confirm afterwards that there was Katyusha fire and, although the helicopter was not in danger, the “trajectory of the rockets was beneath us.”[83]

A reference to the fall of the Berlin Wall also received scrutiny. In 2008, Williams said he was “at the Brandenburg Gate the night the wall came down”, while CBS and other sources report that he did not arrive until the next day.[84][85]

Another statement by Williams, this one regarding the Navy SEALs, also received attention. Williams said he flew into Baghdad with SEAL Team Six, but Special Operations Command spokesman Ken McGraw stated the SEALs do not embed journalists.[86]

On April 7, 2017, Williams referred to the 2017 Shayrat missile strike footage of missiles being fired from a US warship as “beautiful pictures” after quoting Leonard Cohen‘s “First We Take Manhattan“. This brought widespread criticism from news organizations and social media.[87][88][89]

Personal life[edit]

With his wife, Jane, in 2009

Williams married Jane Gillan Stoddard, at the First Presbyterian Church of New Canaan, Connecticut, on June 7, 1986.[90] They have two children: Allison, an actress, and Doug, the late-night anchor of Geico SportsNite on SportsNet New York.[91] Williams and his wife live in New Canaan,[92] and own a beach house in Bay Head, New Jersey[93] and a pied-à-terre in Midtown Manhattan.[94]

From 2006 to 2015, Williams was a member of the board of directors of the Medal of Honor Foundation; he resigned days after his suspension from NBC.[95]

Honorary degrees[edit]

SchoolDateLocationDegreeRef.
Catholic University of America15 May 2004District of ColumbiaDoctor of Humane Letters[96]
Bates College30 May 2005MaineDoctor of Humane Letters[97]
Ohio State University8 June 2008OhioDoctor of Journalism[98]
University of Notre Dame16 May 2010IndianaDoctor of Laws[99]
Fordham University21 May 2011New YorkDoctor of Humane Letters[100]
George Washington University2012District of ColumbiaDoctor of Humane Letters[101]
This list is incomplete; you can help by adding missing items. (February 2018)

Television[edit]

YearTitleRoleFirst episodeNotes
2007Saturday Night LiveHimselfHost
2009–1230 RockHimselfThe Ones
2013Family GuyHimself“Space Cadet“Voice only
2013The SoupHimselfHimself

Career timeline[edit]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ “Brian Williams”. msnbc.com. September 16, 2016. Archived from the original on January 7, 2010. Retrieved December 10, 2021.
  2. ^ Jump up to:a b c “A Note from Deborah Turness”. NBC News. February 10, 2015. Retrieved February 11, 2015.
  3. ^ Jump up to:a b “Brian Williams demoted to MSNBC’s breaking news anchor”. Star Tribune. June 15, 2015. Retrieved April 19, 2019.
  4. ^ Jump up to:a b Farhi, Paul (September 21, 2015). “At long last, Brian Williams is back — humbled and demoted to MSNBC”. The Washington Post.
  5. ^ “Brian Williams’ new program, ‘The 11th Hour,’ debuts Tuesday on MSNBC”. Los Angeles Times. September 2016. Retrieved September 5, 2016.
  6. ^ Hamilton, Nolan. “Brian Williams, Please Tell Us About Your ‘Grindlingly Middle Class’ Upbringing Again”. Archived from the original on February 7, 2016. Retrieved February 6, 2016.
  7. ^ Jump up to:a b Albiniak, Page (November 30, 1999). “Questions for Brian Williams”. New York Post. Retrieved December 10, 2021. I come from a loud Irish-Catholic family.
  8. ^ “Brian Williams Weds Jane Stoddard, TV Producer”. The New York Times. June 8, 1986.
  9. ^ “Address by Brian Williams – Commencement 2015 – Bates College”. bates.edu. April 29, 2010. Retrieved February 6, 2015.
  10. ^ Mullen, Shannon (January 10, 2005). “Brian Williams is living his dream as “Nightly News” anchor”. The Seattle Times. Retrieved December 10, 2021.
  11. ^ Jump up to:a b Strauss, Robert (October 27, 2002). “In Person – The Life Of Brian, Annotated”. The New York Times. Retrieved June 13, 2011. Mr. Williams grew up in Mom-apple-pie-and-TV-trays style in Middletown, Monmouth County, a town of true middle class. … Mr. Williams, who was in junior high when the family moved there from Elmira, N.Y., was an average student who had his eyes on fast cars, fun summer jobs and hanging out at the local fire station, where he became a volunteer firefighter.
  12. ^ “Brian Williams”. NOPAC Talent. Archived from the original on October 20, 2007. Retrieved October 14, 2007. Graduated from Mater Dei, a Roman Catholic High School in New Monmouth, N.J.
  13. ^ “See Brian Williams Through The Years”. Time. Retrieved February 24, 2015.
  14. ^ “Liberties – Send in the Clones”. The New York Times. December 10, 1995. Retrieved February 22, 2015.
  15. ^ The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, May 22, 2009.
  16. ^ “Remarks by Brian Williams. Tulane University Commencement”. May 19, 2007.
  17. ^ “His Heart Belongs to Jersey”. New Jersey Monthly. Retrieved February 6, 2015.
  18. ^ “Brian Williams”. NBC News. Retrieved February 6, 2015.
  19. ^ “American Journalism Review”. ajrarchive.org. Retrieved February 21, 2015.
  20. ^ “Life of Brian”. American Journalism Review. Retrieved February 21, 2015.
  21. ^ “maynardije.org”. Archived from the original on May 15, 2008. Retrieved January 4, 2022.
  22. ^ “With Little Fanfare, an Anchor Says Goodbye”. The New York Times. November 22, 2005.
  23. ^ Jump up to:a b “The Peabody Awards – NBC News: Coverage of Hurricane Katrina”. peabodyawards.com. Retrieved February 14, 2015.
  24. ^ Kurtz, Howard. Reality Show: Inside the Last Great Television News War. New York: Free Press, 2007. Print.
  25. ^ “NBC wins duPont-Columbia University award”. today.com. Archived from the original on February 9, 2015. Retrieved December 10, 2021.
  26. ^ “Brian Williams”. NBC News. Retrieved December 10, 2021.
  27. ^ “Complete List – The 2007 Time 100”. Time. Retrieved February 23, 2015.
  28. ^ Jump up to:a b “NBC News Anchor Brian Williams Next Cronkite Award Recipient”. Arizona State University. April 6, 2009.
  29. ^ “National Television Academy Presents 27th Annual News & Documentary Emmy Awards” (PDF). emmyonline.com. Retrieved February 11, 2015.
  30. ^ “28th Annual News & Documentary Awards Announces Winners at New York City Gala”. emmyonline.com. Archived from the original on May 29, 2013. Retrieved February 11, 2015.
  31. ^ “30th Annual News & Documentary Emmy Awars Winners Announced at New York City Gala, Lifetime Achievement Award Presented to Barbara Walters, Presidents Award Presented to CNN Doc Unit, Special Tributes to Walter Cronkite and Don Hewitt”. emmyonline.com. Archived from the original on September 27, 2020. Retrieved February 11, 2015.
  32. ^ “The Emmy Awards – 31st Annual News & Documentary Emmy Awards nominations”. emmyonline.org. Retrieved February 11, 2015.
  33. ^ “32nd Annual News & Documentary Emmy® Awards Winners”. emmyonline.com. Retrieved February 11, 2015.
  34. ^ Jump up to:a b “Winners Announced for the 34th Annual News & Documentary Emmy® Awards”. emmyonline.com. Archived from the original on March 31, 2015. Retrieved February 11, 2015.
  35. ^ Jump up to:a b “Winners Announced for the 35th Annual News & Documentary Emmy Awards”. emmyonline.com. Archived from the original on May 25, 2019. Retrieved February 11, 2015.
  36. ^ “2014 Alfred I. duPont-Columbia Award Winners Announced — CBS and NBC Honored for Breaking News Coverage; CIR Wins Two Awards and ESPN Wins for the First Time for Investigative Reporting – TVWeek”. tvweek.com. Retrieved February 24, 2015.
  37. ^ “Winners Announced for the 33rd Annual News & Documentary Emmy® Awards”. emmyonline.com. Archived from the original on September 29, 2020. Retrieved February 11, 2015.
  38. ^ Jump up to:a b Bauder, Steven (October 7, 2014). “ABC’s ‘World News’ breaks a ratings streak”. Associated Press. Retrieved February 11, 2015.
  39. ^ “Brian Williams’ $10-million salary should buy some honesty”. Los Angeles Times. February 10, 2015. Retrieved February 12, 2015.
  40. ^ “NBC’s Brian Williams, in stunning fall from grace, gets six month suspension”. Los Angeles Times. February 10, 2015. Retrieved February 22, 2015.
  41. ^ Goldberg, Lesley (October 4, 2011). “NBC Cancels ‘The Playboy Club'”. The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved October 4, 2011.
  42. ^ “NBC cancels ‘Playboy Club,’ schedules ‘Rock Center'”. Uproxx. October 4, 2011. Retrieved October 4, 2011.
  43. ^ Bauder, David (May 10, 2013). “NBC cancels Williams’ newsmagazine ‘Rock Center'”. Associated Press. Retrieved October 5, 2013.
  44. ^ Stelter, Brian (June 21, 2013). “Disappointing Fall for ‘Rock Center,’ a News Program With Big Ambitions”. The New York Times.
  45. ^ Joshua Barajas (February 4, 2015). “NBC’s Brian Williams apologizes for false Iraq war story”. Public Broadcasting System. Retrieved February 6, 2015.
  46. ^ Jump up to:a b c Tritten, Travis J. (February 4, 2015). “NBC’s Brian Williams recants Iraq story after soldiers protest”. Stars and Stripes. Retrieved February 5, 2015.
  47. ^ Jonathan Mahler; Ravi Somaiya; Emily Steel (February 5, 2015). “With an Apology, Brian Williams Digs Himself Deeper in Copter Tale”. The New York Times. Retrieved February 6, 2015.
  48. ^ Tritten, Travis J. (February 5, 2015). “Brian Williams’ apology draws mixed reviews from mission vets”. Stars and Stripes. Retrieved February 6, 2015.
  49. ^ Tritten, Travis J (February 6, 2015). “Soldiers offer eyewitness accounts of the Brian Williams Chinook story”. Stars and Stripes. Retrieved April 19, 2019.
  50. ^ “How Brian Williams’s Iraq Story Changed”. The New York Times. Archived from the original on November 8, 2021. Retrieved September 20, 2018.
  51. ^ Operation Iraqi Freedom: The Inside Story|date=September 1, 2003
  52. ^ Paul Farhi (February 7, 2014). “NBC’s Brian Williams steps away from anchor chair amid probe”. The Washington Post. Retrieved February 8, 2014.
  53. ^ “Full Show: Brian Williams Told Iraqi Helicopter Story on Letterman in 2013”. YouTube. Archived from the original on February 8, 2015. Retrieved February 19, 2015.
  54. ^ “Pilot says Brian Williams’s chopper sustained small-arms fire, not RPG fire”. The Washington Post. February 5, 2015. Retrieved July 26, 2016.
  55. ^ Gladwell, Malcolm. “Free Brian Williams”. Revisionist History. podcast season 3. Retrieved January 19, 2020.
  56. ^ “Brian Williams is returning to primetime news for the Iowa caucus”. Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved December 15, 2017.
  57. ^ Jump up to:a b Coleman, Oli; Nathan, Sara; Greer, Carlos (March 1, 2019). “Brian Williams may score top time slot after late-night ratings success”. Page Six. Retrieved March 4, 2019.
  58. ^ Stelter, Brian (November 10, 2021). “Anchor Brian Williams is leaving MSNBC and NBC News”. CNN. Retrieved November 22, 2021.
  59. ^ “Brian Williams to leave NBC News at year’s end”. Politico.
  60. ^ Yasharoff, Hannah; Trepany, Charles; Brisco, Elise (December 10, 2021). “Brian Williams signs off from MSNBC’s ’11th Hour’ for the last time: ‘I’ll show myself out'”. USA TODAY. Retrieved December 10, 2021.
  61. ^ “Brian Williams Hosts Saturday Night Live Tonight”. WOAI. November 3, 2007. Archived from the original on June 13, 2011. Retrieved September 1, 2010.
  62. ^ “Williams skit lights up dull morning show”. Toronto Sun. torontosun.com. February 22, 2010.
  63. ^ Vlessing, Etan (February 22, 2010). “Olympics has new Battle of the Brians”. The Hollywood Reporter.
  64. ^ Maresca, Rachael. “Brian Williams raps to ‘Rapper’s Delight’ on Jimmy Fallon’s ‘Tonight Show'”. www.nydailynews.com. Retrieved June 20, 2014.
  65. ^ Hubbard, Matt (writer); Riggi, John (director) (February 3, 2011). “¡Qué Sorpresa!“. 30 Rock. Season 5. NBC.
  66. ^ Bershad, Jon (April 27, 2012). “The West Coast Audience Of 30 Rock’s Live Show Got Brian Williams As A Sexist Anchor”. Mediaite. Retrieved December 10, 2021.
  67. ^ “Commencement 2005: Brian Williams – Commencement 2015 – Bates College”. bates.edu. Retrieved February 23, 2015.
  68. ^ “NBC News Anchor to Speak at CUA Commencement – The Catholic University of America”. cua.edu. Retrieved August 20, 2016.
  69. ^ “Alphabetical Listing of Speakers”. osu.edu. Ohio State University. Archived from the original on October 22, 2015. Retrieved June 3, 2016.
  70. ^ “Speakers”. nd.edu. Archived from the original on February 23, 2015. Retrieved February 23, 2015.
  71. ^ “Commencement 2012 – GW Commencement – The George Washington University”. gwu.edu. Archived from the original on February 15, 2015. Retrieved February 22, 2015.
  72. ^ “NBC anchor Brian Williams speaks to Elon grads, his son”. News-Record.com. Retrieved February 22, 2015.
  73. ^ “L.B.J.’s Political Hurricane”. The New York Times. September 24, 2005.
  74. ^ Williams, Brian (May 8, 2006). “Stephen Colbert – The 2006 Time 100”. Time. Retrieved February 24, 2015.
  75. ^ Simerman, John (February 6, 2015). “NBC News anchor Brian Williams’ comments about dead bodies, Hurricane Katrina starting to gain attention, draw scrutiny”. The New Orleans Advocate. New Orleans. Retrieved February 6, 2015.
  76. ^ Calamur, Krishnadev (February 6, 2015). “More Questions Emerge About Brian Williams’ Comments”. National Public Radio. Washington, D.C. Retrieved February 6, 2015.
  77. ^ Kludt, Tom (February 7, 2015). “Brian Williams’ reporting on Katrina: What we know”. CNN Money. Retrieved February 8, 2015.
  78. ^ “Brian Williams: We were witnesses”. NBC News. August 28, 2006.
  79. ^ “The duPont Talks: Tom Brokaw & Brian Williams on Covering Katrina pt1 of 3”. YouTube. June 26, 2014. Archived from the original on November 8, 2021.
  80. ^ Hartmann, Margaret (February 9, 2015). “Brian Williams May Have Exaggerated Another Helicopter Story”. New York. Retrieved August 21, 2017.
  81. ^ “Debate brews over whether NBC’s Brian Williams can survive controversy”. Chicago Tribune. February 9, 2015. Retrieved August 21, 2017.
  82. ^ “The Brian Williams Bandwagon”. Chameleon Associates. February 17, 2015. Retrieved August 21, 2017.
  83. ^ “Israeli Officer: Brian Williams’ Lebanon War Reportage ‘Accurate'”. Haaretz. February 10, 2015. Retrieved August 21, 2017.
  84. ^ “Questions Emerge Over Statement Brian Williams Made In Southland”. KCBS-TV. February 12, 2015. Retrieved February 14, 2015.
  85. ^ Tom Kludt (February 12, 2015). “What else has NBC News dug up on Brian Williams?”. CNNMoney. Retrieved February 22, 2015.
  86. ^ Peter Bergen, CNN National Security Analyst (February 13, 2015). “Did Brian Williams embed with SEAL Team 6? – CNN.com”. CNN. Retrieved February 15, 2015. {{cite news}}: |author= has generic name (help)
  87. ^ “Brian Williams criticized for calling missile-launch photos ‘beautiful'”. USA Today. Retrieved December 15, 2017.
  88. ^ Hawkins, Derek (April 7, 2017). “Brian Williams is ‘guided by the beauty of our weapons’ in Syria strikes”. The Washington Post. Retrieved December 15, 2017 – via www.washingtonpost.com.
  89. ^ “Brian Williams: Images of US airstrikes on Syria are ‘beautiful'”. Fox News. April 7, 2017. Retrieved December 10, 2021.
  90. ^ “Brian Williams Weds Jane Stoddard, TV Producer”. The New York Times. June 8, 1986. Retrieved October 26, 2012.
  91. ^ Koblin, John (July 21, 2017). “Another Williams Takes His Turn Before the Camera, at SNY”. The New York Times. Retrieved July 27, 2017.
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External links[edit]

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Brian Williams

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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaFor other people named Brian Williams, see Brian Williams (disambiguation).

Brian Williams
Williams in 2011
BornBrian Douglas Williams
May 5, 1959 (age 63)
Ridgewood, New Jersey, U.S.
Years active1981–2021
Employer(s)CBS (1981–1993)
NBC (1993–2021)
TelevisionCBS News reporter (1981–1993)
NBC News reporter (1993–2004)
NBC Nightly News weekend anchor (1993–1999)
NBC Nightly News anchor (2004–2015)
MSNBC anchor (1996–2002, 2015–2021)
The 11th Hour with Brian Williams anchor (2016–2021)
SpouseJane Gillan Stoddard​​(m. 1986)​
Children2, including Allison
Awards12 News & Documentary Emmy Awards
George Polk Award
duPont-Columbia University Award
Walter Cronkite Award for Excellence in Journalism

Brian Douglas Williams (born May 5, 1959) is an American journalist and television news anchor. He was a reporter for NBC Nightly News starting in 1993, before his promotion to anchor and managing editor of the broadcast in 2004.[1]

In February 2015, Williams was suspended for six months by NBC for “misrepresent[ing] events which occurred while he was covering the Iraq War in 2003“.[2] Four months after the incident came to light, the network removed him from NBC Nightly News and reassigned him as the breaking news anchor for MSNBC.[3] In September 2016, he became the host of MSNBC’s political news show, The 11th Hour.[4][5] Williams announced in November 2021 that he would be leaving MSNBC and NBC News at the completion of his contract the following month, when he hosted his final episode of The 11th Hour.

Early life[edit]

Born on May 5, 1959, in Ridgewood, New Jersey,[6] Williams was raised in a “boisterous” Catholic home of largely Irish descent.[7] He is the son of Dorothy May (née Pampel) and Gordon Lewis Williams, who was an executive vice president of the National Retail Merchants Association, in New York.[8][9] His mother was an amateur stage actress.[7] Williams is the youngest of four siblings.[10]

He lived in Elmira, New York, for nine years before moving to Middletown Township, New Jersey, when he was in junior high school.[11]

Williams graduated from Mater Dei High School, a Roman Catholic high school in the New Monmouth section of Middletown.[12] While in high school, he was a volunteer firefighter for three years at the Middletown Township Fire Department. Also while in high school, he was the editorial editor for the school newspaper.[13] He suffered an accident during a football game that left him with a crooked nose.[14] His first job was as a busboy at Perkins Restaurant & Bakery.[15]

Following high school, Williams attended Brookdale Community College before transferring to the Catholic University of America and then George Washington University.[11] He did not earn a degree, ultimately interning with the administration of President Jimmy Carter. He later called leaving college one of his “great regrets”.[16]

Career[edit]

Early broadcast career[edit]

Williams first worked in broadcasting in 1981 at KOAM-TV in Pittsburg, Kansas. The following year he covered news in the Washington, D.C., area at then-independent station WTTG, then worked in Philadelphia for WCAU, then owned and operated by CBS.[17] Beginning in 1987 he broadcast in New York City at WCBS.

Williams joined NBC News in 1993, where he anchored the national Weekend Nightly News and was chief White House correspondent.[18] In the summer of 1996 he began serving as anchor and managing editor of The News with Brian Williams, broadcast on MSNBC and CNBC.[19] Williams also served as primary substitute anchor on The NBC Nightly News with Tom Brokaw, and its weekend anchor. He reported the accident and death of Diana, Princess of Wales.[20]

Rise and ouster at NBC Nightly News[edit]

Williams became anchor of NBC Nightly News on December 2, 2004, replacing the retiring Tom Brokaw. In December 2004, when Williams took the helm, he had to apologize for saying there are “bigger problems” than newsroom diversity. NBC News President Neal Shapiro vowed to redouble the company’s minority hiring efforts.[21]

He still was allowed to continue and his coverage of Hurricane Katrina was widely praised, particularly “for venting his anger and frustration over the government’s failure to act quickly to help the victims.”[22] The network was awarded a Peabody, the committee concluding that “Williams, and the entire staff of NBC Nightly News exemplified the highest levels of journalistic excellence.”[23] Williams accepted the award on behalf of the organization.[23] NBC Nightly News also earned the George Polk Award[24] and the duPont-Columbia University Award for its Katrina coverage.[25] Vanity Fair called Williams’ work on Katrina “Murrow-worthy” and reported that during the hurricane, he became “a nation’s anchor”. The New York Times characterized Williams’ reporting of the hurricane as “a defining moment”.[26]

In 2007, Time magazine named Williams one of the 100 most influential people in the world.[27]

In 2009, Williams was awarded the Walter Cronkite Award for Excellence in Journalism by Arizona State University.[28] At the announcement of the award, Cronkite said he was one of Williams’ “ardent admirers” and described him as a “fastidious newsman” who brought credit to the television news reporting profession.[28]Williams interviewing presidential candidate Mitt Romney, July 25, 2012

While anchoring the Nightly News, Williams received 12 News & Documentary Emmy Awards. For “outstanding” work as anchor and managing editor of the Nightly News, he received one Emmy in 2006 (for Nightly News coverage of the 2005 Hurricane Katrina),[29] two in 2007,[30] one in 2009,[31] two in 2010,[32] one in 2011,[33] one in 2013,[34] and one in 2014.[35] The 2014 Emmy was awarded Nightly News for its coverage of a deadly series of tornadoes in Oklahoma, for which it also received the duPont-Columbia University Award.[36]

Williams also received a 2012 Emmy for his interview program Rock Center[37] and a 2013 Emmy for being one of the executive producers and editors of a documentary on the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum.[34] He also shared a 2014 Emmy awarded for an NBC News Special on the Boston Marathon bombing.[35]

Based on the Nielsen ratings, from late 2008 Williams’ news broadcast consistently had more viewers than its two main rivals, ABC‘s World News Tonight and CBS Evening News.[38] In fact, from late 2008 to late 2014, NBC Nightly News beat the other two network programs in the Nielsen ratings all but one week.[38]

In February 2015, Williams was suspended for six months from the broadcast for misrepresenting his experience in the 2003 invasion of Iraq.[2] At the time, his salary was $10 million a year,[39] with a five-year contract signed in December 2014.[40]

Rock Center with Brian Williams[edit]

Main article: Rock Center with Brian Williams

On October 4, 2011, it was announced that Williams would be the host of Rock Center with Brian Williams, a news magazine program premiering on October 31, 2011, at 10:00 pm Eastern, replacing the canceled drama series The Playboy Club.[41]

Named after the nickname of Rockefeller Center, the New York City landmark where NBC Radio City Studios are located, the program would become the first new NBC News program to launch in primetime in nearly two decades.[42]

NBC cancelled Rock Center on May 10, 2013, due to low ratings; the network was also having trouble finding a permanent time slot for the program. The last show aired on June 21, 2013.[43]

Williams reportedly felt “insulted” by the program’s cancellation.[44]

Iraq War helicopter fabrication[edit]

Williams aboard the amphibious assault ship USS Tarawa in the Persian Gulf, March 13, 2003

On February 4, 2015, Williams apologized for and recanted his disproven Iraq War story, which he had told on a Nightly News broadcast on January 30, 2015. He claimed that a military helicopter he was traveling in had been “forced down after being hit by an RPG“.[45][46] Soon after it aired, Williams’ story was criticized by Lance Reynolds, a flight engineer on board one of the three Chinook helicopters that had been attacked.[47] Reynolds and other crew members said Williams had been aboard one of a separate group of helicopters from the helicopter that had been fired upon, which was flying about half an hour behind and was forced to make an emergency landing because of a sandstorm rather than an attack.[46][48] Additional soldiers soon came forward to confirm that Williams was not in the group of helicopters that had come under fire and that Williams had inserted himself into the event.[49]

In his original on-air reporting of the incident on March 26, 2003, for Dateline NBC, Williams had said only that “the Chinook ahead of us was almost blown out of the sky … by an RPG” and made an emergency landing. Introducing the piece, NBC News anchor Tom Brokaw described Williams as having “got [him]self into … a close call in the skies over Iraq”,[50] and the story was headlined, “Target Iraq: Helicopter NBC’s Brian Williams Was Riding In Comes Under Fire”.[46]

A book published by NBC in 2003 said that “Army Chinook helicopters [were] forced to make a desert landing after being attacked by Iraqi Fedayeen”, with Williams aboard.[51]

In a 2007 retelling, Williams did not state that his craft had been hit, but said, “I looked down the tube of an RPG that had been fired at us, and it hit the chopper in front of us.” This contradicted the statements by the crew of the craft that was hit, that it was at least 30 minutes ahead of Williams’ helicopter. However, the soldiers who piloted Williams’ helicopter in Iraq said no rocket-propelled grenades had been fired at the aircraft, a fact that Williams did not dispute and apologized for.[52] In a 2013 account, Williams said his helicopter had been “hit … and landed very quickly”.[53]

In a February 5, 2015, interview with CNN, the pilot of the Chinook in which Williams was traveling said that while the aircraft did not sustain RPG fire, it did indeed sustain small-arms fire and the door gunners returned fire.[54]

On February 10, 2015, NBC News President Deborah Turness suspended Williams without pay for six months from his position as Managing Editor and Anchor of the Nightly News for having misrepresented the Iraq incident.[2] On June 18, 2015, he was demoted to breaking news anchor for MSNBC.[3]

Journalist Malcolm Gladwell reexamined the story in a podcast episode entitled “Free Brian Williams” from his Revisionist History podcast. Gladwell argued that the evolving versions of Williams’ story over many years matched the normal pattern of how human memory works. Over time, people conflate and combine different memories, shift times and locations, and misremember details large and small.[55]

Return to MSNBC[edit]

In September 2015, Williams returned to the air as MSNBC‘s chief anchor.[4] News events that Williams has since covered for MSNBC include Pope Francis’s trip to the United States; the Umpqua Community College shooting; and terrorist attacks in Paris, San Bernardino, Brussels, and Nice. In January 2016, Williams also added the role of chief elections anchor for MSNBC and subsequently debuted in the new role during coverage of the 2016 Iowa caucuses.[56]

As part of his chief anchor duties, Williams anchored The 11th Hour with Brian Williams a nightly news and politics wrap-up show. The New York Post labeled the program a “legit hit” in February 2019, noting the show had been “beating [competitors] CNN and Fox News for three months straight.”[57] Williams, alongside co-anchors Rachel Maddow & Joy Reid and lead analyst Nicolle Wallace, led the network’s coverage of the 2020 United States presidential election.[57]

Williams announced on the November 9, 2021, episode of The 11th Hour with Brian Williams that he would be leaving NBC News and MSNBC at the expiration of his contract the following month, after five years hosting the show and 28 years with the networks.[58][59] His final night hosting the show was December 9, 2021.[60]

Other activities[edit]

Williams frequently appeared on The Daily Show as a celebrity guest interviewed by Jon Stewart and in 2007, made regular cameos as a giant head sidekick looking on Jon Stewart and helping out with pronunciations of foreign names and occasionally other foreign affairs all beginning at the premiere of the new Daily Show set. He appeared on the Weekend Update segment of the season 32 premiere of Saturday Night Live, hosted by Dane Cook. He then hosted a season 33 episode on November 3, 2007, becoming the first, and still only, sitting network news anchor to host the show.[61]

Williams appeared on Sesame Street in a 2007 episode, announcing the word of the day, “squid”, in a special broadcast. Williams appeared on Sesame Street again in a 2008 episode, reporting for Sesame Street Nightly News about the “mine-itis” outbreak, becoming a victim. He was also the host of the 2009 Annual Sesame Workshop Benefit Gala.

On February 22, 2010, while covering the Winter Olympics, Williams did a skit with Brian Williams, the Canadian sportscaster of CTV Sports, on the CTV Olympic set.[62] Some in the media dubbed this the new “Battle of the Brians“, as NBC’s Williams compared his own modest set to CTV’s expensive Olympic studio.[63]

Williams regularly appeared on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, where he slow jams the news of the previous week as Fallon sings and reiterates what Williams says, with The Roots providing the musical backing. A mash-up video created by Fallon, where Williams appears to rap to hip-hop instrumentals, became popular within a few hours.[64] Williams has also made numerous appearances on Late Show with David Letterman. During an appearance on July 26, 2011, he demonstrated a skilled vocal impersonation of TV personality Regis Philbin. He has also appeared on Late Night with Conan O’Brien, where he took part in numerous skits and interviews.

And then I pull off my mask, and I’m a lizard person, too. Blackout. End of episode.

—Williams on 30 Rock, proposing a new NBC show to Jack Donaghy[65]

Williams made frequent guest appearances on NBC’s television comedy 30 Rock, as a caricatured version of himself. In the episode “The Ones“, he is seen at home receiving proposition calls meant for Tracy Jordan. In “Audition Day“, he auditions to be a new TGS cast member. He also is seen once on the show taunting Tina Fey’s character, Liz Lemon. In April 2012, on the West Coast installment of the 30 Rock season 6 live show, Williams portrayed a news anchor covering the Apollo 13 story.[66]

Williams was the commencement speaker at Bates College in May 2005,[67] The Catholic University of America in May 2004,[68] Ohio State University in June 2008,[69] and at the University of Notre Dame in 2010.[70] In May 2012, he spoke at the George Washington University commencement on the National Mall.[71] He was the commencement speaker for Elon University‘s graduating class of 2013, which included his son Douglas.[72]

Williams also collaborated on the Encyclopedia of World History from Backpack Books published in 2003.

Williams has written for publications including The New York Times[73] and Time magazine.[74]

Controversies[edit]

Unbalanced scales.svgThis section may lend undue weight to certain ideas, incidents, or controversies. Please help to create a more balanced presentation. Discuss and resolve this issue before removing this message. (February 2015)
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Williams’ statements about Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath were received with scrutiny.[75][76] For example, Williams referred inconsistently to a suicide inside the New Orleans Superdome after Katrina.[77] CNN reported in a 2005 television documentary that Williams said he was not a witness to the suicide: “We heard the story of a man killing himself, falling from the upper deck.”[78][79]

Appearing on The Daily Show in August 2006, he told host Jon Stewart that he was nearly hit the previous month by Katyusha rockets fired from Lebanon by Hezbollah while flying in an Israeli Air Force (IAF) Black Hawk helicopter: “Here’s a view of rockets I have never seen, passing underneath us, 1,500 feet beneath us. And we’ve got the gunner doors on this thing, and I’m saying to the general, some four-star: ‘It wouldn’t take much for them to adjust the aim and try to do a ring toss right through our open doors, would it?’ Anytime you want to cross over to the other side, baby, travel with me.”[80]

In another version of the same story, Williams claimed that the rockets passed “just underneath the helicopter I was riding in.”[81] The claim was drawn into question since there are no four-star generals in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), Israeli helicopter doors are routinely closed during flights and the IAF’s Black Hawks do not carry gunners.[82] An IDF spokesman who was on the helicopter in question did confirm afterwards that there was Katyusha fire and, although the helicopter was not in danger, the “trajectory of the rockets was beneath us.”[83]

A reference to the fall of the Berlin Wall also received scrutiny. In 2008, Williams said he was “at the Brandenburg Gate the night the wall came down”, while CBS and other sources report that he did not arrive until the next day.[84][85]

Another statement by Williams, this one regarding the Navy SEALs, also received attention. Williams said he flew into Baghdad with SEAL Team Six, but Special Operations Command spokesman Ken McGraw stated the SEALs do not embed journalists.[86]

On April 7, 2017, Williams referred to the 2017 Shayrat missile strike footage of missiles being fired from a US warship as “beautiful pictures” after quoting Leonard Cohen‘s “First We Take Manhattan“. This brought widespread criticism from news organizations and social media.[87][88][89]

Personal life[edit]

With his wife, Jane, in 2009

Williams married Jane Gillan Stoddard, at the First Presbyterian Church of New Canaan, Connecticut, on June 7, 1986.[90] They have two children: Allison, an actress, and Doug, the late-night anchor of Geico SportsNite on SportsNet New York.[91] Williams and his wife live in New Canaan,[92] and own a beach house in Bay Head, New Jersey[93] and a pied-à-terre in Midtown Manhattan.[94]

From 2006 to 2015, Williams was a member of the board of directors of the Medal of Honor Foundation; he resigned days after his suspension from NBC.[95]

Honorary degrees[edit]

SchoolDateLocationDegreeRef.
Catholic University of America15 May 2004District of ColumbiaDoctor of Humane Letters[96]
Bates College30 May 2005MaineDoctor of Humane Letters[97]
Ohio State University8 June 2008OhioDoctor of Journalism[98]
University of Notre Dame16 May 2010IndianaDoctor of Laws[99]
Fordham University21 May 2011New YorkDoctor of Humane Letters[100]
George Washington University2012District of ColumbiaDoctor of Humane Letters[101]
This list is incomplete; you can help by adding missing items. (February 2018)

Television[edit]

YearTitleRoleFirst episodeNotes
2007Saturday Night LiveHimselfHost
2009–1230 RockHimselfThe Ones
2013Family GuyHimself“Space Cadet“Voice only
2013The SoupHimselfHimself

Career timeline[edit]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ “Brian Williams”. msnbc.com. September 16, 2016. Archived from the original on January 7, 2010. Retrieved December 10, 2021.
  2. ^ Jump up to:a b c “A Note from Deborah Turness”. NBC News. February 10, 2015. Retrieved February 11, 2015.
  3. ^ Jump up to:a b “Brian Williams demoted to MSNBC’s breaking news anchor”. Star Tribune. June 15, 2015. Retrieved April 19, 2019.
  4. ^ Jump up to:a b Farhi, Paul (September 21, 2015). “At long last, Brian Williams is back — humbled and demoted to MSNBC”. The Washington Post.
  5. ^ “Brian Williams’ new program, ‘The 11th Hour,’ debuts Tuesday on MSNBC”. Los Angeles Times. September 2016. Retrieved September 5, 2016.
  6. ^ Hamilton, Nolan. “Brian Williams, Please Tell Us About Your ‘Grindlingly Middle Class’ Upbringing Again”. Archived from the original on February 7, 2016. Retrieved February 6, 2016.
  7. ^ Jump up to:a b Albiniak, Page (November 30, 1999). “Questions for Brian Williams”. New York Post. Retrieved December 10, 2021. I come from a loud Irish-Catholic family.
  8. ^ “Brian Williams Weds Jane Stoddard, TV Producer”. The New York Times. June 8, 1986.
  9. ^ “Address by Brian Williams – Commencement 2015 – Bates College”. bates.edu. April 29, 2010. Retrieved February 6, 2015.
  10. ^ Mullen, Shannon (January 10, 2005). “Brian Williams is living his dream as “Nightly News” anchor”. The Seattle Times. Retrieved December 10, 2021.
  11. ^ Jump up to:a b Strauss, Robert (October 27, 2002). “In Person – The Life Of Brian, Annotated”. The New York Times. Retrieved June 13, 2011. Mr. Williams grew up in Mom-apple-pie-and-TV-trays style in Middletown, Monmouth County, a town of true middle class. … Mr. Williams, who was in junior high when the family moved there from Elmira, N.Y., was an average student who had his eyes on fast cars, fun summer jobs and hanging out at the local fire station, where he became a volunteer firefighter.
  12. ^ “Brian Williams”. NOPAC Talent. Archived from the original on October 20, 2007. Retrieved October 14, 2007. Graduated from Mater Dei, a Roman Catholic High School in New Monmouth, N.J.
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  14. ^ “Liberties – Send in the Clones”. The New York Times. December 10, 1995. Retrieved February 22, 2015.
  15. ^ The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, May 22, 2009.
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  21. ^ “maynardije.org”. Archived from the original on May 15, 2008. Retrieved January 4, 2022.
  22. ^ “With Little Fanfare, an Anchor Says Goodbye”. The New York Times. November 22, 2005.
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  24. ^ Kurtz, Howard. Reality Show: Inside the Last Great Television News War. New York: Free Press, 2007. Print.
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  26. ^ “Brian Williams”. NBC News. Retrieved December 10, 2021.
  27. ^ “Complete List – The 2007 Time 100”. Time. Retrieved February 23, 2015.
  28. ^ Jump up to:a b “NBC News Anchor Brian Williams Next Cronkite Award Recipient”. Arizona State University. April 6, 2009.
  29. ^ “National Television Academy Presents 27th Annual News & Documentary Emmy Awards” (PDF). emmyonline.com. Retrieved February 11, 2015.
  30. ^ “28th Annual News & Documentary Awards Announces Winners at New York City Gala”. emmyonline.com. Archived from the original on May 29, 2013. Retrieved February 11, 2015.
  31. ^ “30th Annual News & Documentary Emmy Awars Winners Announced at New York City Gala, Lifetime Achievement Award Presented to Barbara Walters, Presidents Award Presented to CNN Doc Unit, Special Tributes to Walter Cronkite and Don Hewitt”. emmyonline.com. Archived from the original on September 27, 2020. Retrieved February 11, 2015.
  32. ^ “The Emmy Awards – 31st Annual News & Documentary Emmy Awards nominations”. emmyonline.org. Retrieved February 11, 2015.
  33. ^ “32nd Annual News & Documentary Emmy® Awards Winners”. emmyonline.com. Retrieved February 11, 2015.
  34. ^ Jump up to:a b “Winners Announced for the 34th Annual News & Documentary Emmy® Awards”. emmyonline.com. Archived from the original on March 31, 2015. Retrieved February 11, 2015.
  35. ^ Jump up to:a b “Winners Announced for the 35th Annual News & Documentary Emmy Awards”. emmyonline.com. Archived from the original on May 25, 2019. Retrieved February 11, 2015.
  36. ^ “2014 Alfred I. duPont-Columbia Award Winners Announced — CBS and NBC Honored for Breaking News Coverage; CIR Wins Two Awards and ESPN Wins for the First Time for Investigative Reporting – TVWeek”. tvweek.com. Retrieved February 24, 2015.
  37. ^ “Winners Announced for the 33rd Annual News & Documentary Emmy® Awards”. emmyonline.com. Archived from the original on September 29, 2020. Retrieved February 11, 2015.
  38. ^ Jump up to:a b Bauder, Steven (October 7, 2014). “ABC’s ‘World News’ breaks a ratings streak”. Associated Press. Retrieved February 11, 2015.
  39. ^ “Brian Williams’ $10-million salary should buy some honesty”. Los Angeles Times. February 10, 2015. Retrieved February 12, 2015.
  40. ^ “NBC’s Brian Williams, in stunning fall from grace, gets six month suspension”. Los Angeles Times. February 10, 2015. Retrieved February 22, 2015.
  41. ^ Goldberg, Lesley (October 4, 2011). “NBC Cancels ‘The Playboy Club'”. The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved October 4, 2011.
  42. ^ “NBC cancels ‘Playboy Club,’ schedules ‘Rock Center'”. Uproxx. October 4, 2011. Retrieved October 4, 2011.
  43. ^ Bauder, David (May 10, 2013). “NBC cancels Williams’ newsmagazine ‘Rock Center'”. Associated Press. Retrieved October 5, 2013.
  44. ^ Stelter, Brian (June 21, 2013). “Disappointing Fall for ‘Rock Center,’ a News Program With Big Ambitions”. The New York Times.
  45. ^ Joshua Barajas (February 4, 2015). “NBC’s Brian Williams apologizes for false Iraq war story”. Public Broadcasting System. Retrieved February 6, 2015.
  46. ^ Jump up to:a b c Tritten, Travis J. (February 4, 2015). “NBC’s Brian Williams recants Iraq story after soldiers protest”. Stars and Stripes. Retrieved February 5, 2015.
  47. ^ Jonathan Mahler; Ravi Somaiya; Emily Steel (February 5, 2015). “With an Apology, Brian Williams Digs Himself Deeper in Copter Tale”. The New York Times. Retrieved February 6, 2015.
  48. ^ Tritten, Travis J. (February 5, 2015). “Brian Williams’ apology draws mixed reviews from mission vets”. Stars and Stripes. Retrieved February 6, 2015.
  49. ^ Tritten, Travis J (February 6, 2015). “Soldiers offer eyewitness accounts of the Brian Williams Chinook story”. Stars and Stripes. Retrieved April 19, 2019.
  50. ^ “How Brian Williams’s Iraq Story Changed”. The New York Times. Archived from the original on November 8, 2021. Retrieved September 20, 2018.
  51. ^ Operation Iraqi Freedom: The Inside Story|date=September 1, 2003
  52. ^ Paul Farhi (February 7, 2014). “NBC’s Brian Williams steps away from anchor chair amid probe”. The Washington Post. Retrieved February 8, 2014.
  53. ^ “Full Show: Brian Williams Told Iraqi Helicopter Story on Letterman in 2013”. YouTube. Archived from the original on February 8, 2015. Retrieved February 19, 2015.
  54. ^ “Pilot says Brian Williams’s chopper sustained small-arms fire, not RPG fire”. The Washington Post. February 5, 2015. Retrieved July 26, 2016.
  55. ^ Gladwell, Malcolm. “Free Brian Williams”. Revisionist History. podcast season 3. Retrieved January 19, 2020.
  56. ^ “Brian Williams is returning to primetime news for the Iowa caucus”. Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved December 15, 2017.
  57. ^ Jump up to:a b Coleman, Oli; Nathan, Sara; Greer, Carlos (March 1, 2019). “Brian Williams may score top time slot after late-night ratings success”. Page Six. Retrieved March 4, 2019.
  58. ^ Stelter, Brian (November 10, 2021). “Anchor Brian Williams is leaving MSNBC and NBC News”. CNN. Retrieved November 22, 2021.
  59. ^ “Brian Williams to leave NBC News at year’s end”. Politico.
  60. ^ Yasharoff, Hannah; Trepany, Charles; Brisco, Elise (December 10, 2021). “Brian Williams signs off from MSNBC’s ’11th Hour’ for the last time: ‘I’ll show myself out'”. USA TODAY. Retrieved December 10, 2021.
  61. ^ “Brian Williams Hosts Saturday Night Live Tonight”. WOAI. November 3, 2007. Archived from the original on June 13, 2011. Retrieved September 1, 2010.
  62. ^ “Williams skit lights up dull morning show”. Toronto Sun. torontosun.com. February 22, 2010.
  63. ^ Vlessing, Etan (February 22, 2010). “Olympics has new Battle of the Brians”. The Hollywood Reporter.
  64. ^ Maresca, Rachael. “Brian Williams raps to ‘Rapper’s Delight’ on Jimmy Fallon’s ‘Tonight Show'”. www.nydailynews.com. Retrieved June 20, 2014.
  65. ^ Hubbard, Matt (writer); Riggi, John (director) (February 3, 2011). “¡Qué Sorpresa!“. 30 Rock. Season 5. NBC.
  66. ^ Bershad, Jon (April 27, 2012). “The West Coast Audience Of 30 Rock’s Live Show Got Brian Williams As A Sexist Anchor”. Mediaite. Retrieved December 10, 2021.
  67. ^ “Commencement 2005: Brian Williams – Commencement 2015 – Bates College”. bates.edu. Retrieved February 23, 2015.
  68. ^ “NBC News Anchor to Speak at CUA Commencement – The Catholic University of America”. cua.edu. Retrieved August 20, 2016.
  69. ^ “Alphabetical Listing of Speakers”. osu.edu. Ohio State University. Archived from the original on October 22, 2015. Retrieved June 3, 2016.
  70. ^ “Speakers”. nd.edu. Archived from the original on February 23, 2015. Retrieved February 23, 2015.
  71. ^ “Commencement 2012 – GW Commencement – The George Washington University”. gwu.edu. Archived from the original on February 15, 2015. Retrieved February 22, 2015.
  72. ^ “NBC anchor Brian Williams speaks to Elon grads, his son”. News-Record.com. Retrieved February 22, 2015.
  73. ^ “L.B.J.’s Political Hurricane”. The New York Times. September 24, 2005.
  74. ^ Williams, Brian (May 8, 2006). “Stephen Colbert – The 2006 Time 100”. Time. Retrieved February 24, 2015.
  75. ^ Simerman, John (February 6, 2015). “NBC News anchor Brian Williams’ comments about dead bodies, Hurricane Katrina starting to gain attention, draw scrutiny”. The New Orleans Advocate. New Orleans. Retrieved February 6, 2015.
  76. ^ Calamur, Krishnadev (February 6, 2015). “More Questions Emerge About Brian Williams’ Comments”. National Public Radio. Washington, D.C. Retrieved February 6, 2015.
  77. ^ Kludt, Tom (February 7, 2015). “Brian Williams’ reporting on Katrina: What we know”. CNN Money. Retrieved February 8, 2015.
  78. ^ “Brian Williams: We were witnesses”. NBC News. August 28, 2006.
  79. ^ “The duPont Talks: Tom Brokaw & Brian Williams on Covering Katrina pt1 of 3”. YouTube. June 26, 2014. Archived from the original on November 8, 2021.
  80. ^ Hartmann, Margaret (February 9, 2015). “Brian Williams May Have Exaggerated Another Helicopter Story”. New York. Retrieved August 21, 2017.
  81. ^ “Debate brews over whether NBC’s Brian Williams can survive controversy”. Chicago Tribune. February 9, 2015. Retrieved August 21, 2017.
  82. ^ “The Brian Williams Bandwagon”. Chameleon Associates. February 17, 2015. Retrieved August 21, 2017.
  83. ^ “Israeli Officer: Brian Williams’ Lebanon War Reportage ‘Accurate'”. Haaretz. February 10, 2015. Retrieved August 21, 2017.
  84. ^ “Questions Emerge Over Statement Brian Williams Made In Southland”. KCBS-TV. February 12, 2015. Retrieved February 14, 2015.
  85. ^ Tom Kludt (February 12, 2015). “What else has NBC News dug up on Brian Williams?”. CNNMoney. Retrieved February 22, 2015.
  86. ^ Peter Bergen, CNN National Security Analyst (February 13, 2015). “Did Brian Williams embed with SEAL Team 6? – CNN.com”. CNN. Retrieved February 15, 2015. {{cite news}}: |author= has generic name (help)
  87. ^ “Brian Williams criticized for calling missile-launch photos ‘beautiful'”. USA Today. Retrieved December 15, 2017.
  88. ^ Hawkins, Derek (April 7, 2017). “Brian Williams is ‘guided by the beauty of our weapons’ in Syria strikes”. The Washington Post. Retrieved December 15, 2017 – via www.washingtonpost.com.
  89. ^ “Brian Williams: Images of US airstrikes on Syria are ‘beautiful'”. Fox News. April 7, 2017. Retrieved December 10, 2021.
  90. ^ “Brian Williams Weds Jane Stoddard, TV Producer”. The New York Times. June 8, 1986. Retrieved October 26, 2012.
  91. ^ Koblin, John (July 21, 2017). “Another Williams Takes His Turn Before the Camera, at SNY”. The New York Times. Retrieved July 27, 2017.
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External links[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Brian Williams.

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1994–1996		Succeeded byDavid Bloom
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Brian Williams

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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaFor other people named Brian Williams, see Brian Williams (disambiguation).

Brian Williams
Williams in 2011
BornBrian Douglas Williams
May 5, 1959 (age 63)
Ridgewood, New Jersey, U.S.
Years active1981–2021
Employer(s)CBS (1981–1993)
NBC (1993–2021)
TelevisionCBS News reporter (1981–1993)
NBC News reporter (1993–2004)
NBC Nightly News weekend anchor (1993–1999)
NBC Nightly News anchor (2004–2015)
MSNBC anchor (1996–2002, 2015–2021)
The 11th Hour with Brian Williams anchor (2016–2021)
SpouseJane Gillan Stoddard​​(m. 1986)​
Children2, including Allison
Awards12 News & Documentary Emmy Awards
George Polk Award
duPont-Columbia University Award
Walter Cronkite Award for Excellence in Journalism

Brian Douglas Williams (born May 5, 1959) is an American journalist and television news anchor. He was a reporter for NBC Nightly News starting in 1993, before his promotion to anchor and managing editor of the broadcast in 2004.[1]

In February 2015, Williams was suspended for six months by NBC for “misrepresent[ing] events which occurred while he was covering the Iraq War in 2003“.[2] Four months after the incident came to light, the network removed him from NBC Nightly News and reassigned him as the breaking news anchor for MSNBC.[3] In September 2016, he became the host of MSNBC’s political news show, The 11th Hour.[4][5] Williams announced in November 2021 that he would be leaving MSNBC and NBC News at the completion of his contract the following month, when he hosted his final episode of The 11th Hour.

Early life[edit]

Born on May 5, 1959, in Ridgewood, New Jersey,[6] Williams was raised in a “boisterous” Catholic home of largely Irish descent.[7] He is the son of Dorothy May (née Pampel) and Gordon Lewis Williams, who was an executive vice president of the National Retail Merchants Association, in New York.[8][9] His mother was an amateur stage actress.[7] Williams is the youngest of four siblings.[10]

He lived in Elmira, New York, for nine years before moving to Middletown Township, New Jersey, when he was in junior high school.[11]

Williams graduated from Mater Dei High School, a Roman Catholic high school in the New Monmouth section of Middletown.[12] While in high school, he was a volunteer firefighter for three years at the Middletown Township Fire Department. Also while in high school, he was the editorial editor for the school newspaper.[13] He suffered an accident during a football game that left him with a crooked nose.[14] His first job was as a busboy at Perkins Restaurant & Bakery.[15]

Following high school, Williams attended Brookdale Community College before transferring to the Catholic University of America and then George Washington University.[11] He did not earn a degree, ultimately interning with the administration of President Jimmy Carter. He later called leaving college one of his “great regrets”.[16]

Career[edit]

Early broadcast career[edit]

Williams first worked in broadcasting in 1981 at KOAM-TV in Pittsburg, Kansas. The following year he covered news in the Washington, D.C., area at then-independent station WTTG, then worked in Philadelphia for WCAU, then owned and operated by CBS.[17] Beginning in 1987 he broadcast in New York City at WCBS.

Williams joined NBC News in 1993, where he anchored the national Weekend Nightly News and was chief White House correspondent.[18] In the summer of 1996 he began serving as anchor and managing editor of The News with Brian Williams, broadcast on MSNBC and CNBC.[19] Williams also served as primary substitute anchor on The NBC Nightly News with Tom Brokaw, and its weekend anchor. He reported the accident and death of Diana, Princess of Wales.[20]

Rise and ouster at NBC Nightly News[edit]

Williams became anchor of NBC Nightly News on December 2, 2004, replacing the retiring Tom Brokaw. In December 2004, when Williams took the helm, he had to apologize for saying there are “bigger problems” than newsroom diversity. NBC News President Neal Shapiro vowed to redouble the company’s minority hiring efforts.[21]

He still was allowed to continue and his coverage of Hurricane Katrina was widely praised, particularly “for venting his anger and frustration over the government’s failure to act quickly to help the victims.”[22] The network was awarded a Peabody, the committee concluding that “Williams, and the entire staff of NBC Nightly News exemplified the highest levels of journalistic excellence.”[23] Williams accepted the award on behalf of the organization.[23] NBC Nightly News also earned the George Polk Award[24] and the duPont-Columbia University Award for its Katrina coverage.[25] Vanity Fair called Williams’ work on Katrina “Murrow-worthy” and reported that during the hurricane, he became “a nation’s anchor”. The New York Times characterized Williams’ reporting of the hurricane as “a defining moment”.[26]

In 2007, Time magazine named Williams one of the 100 most influential people in the world.[27]

In 2009, Williams was awarded the Walter Cronkite Award for Excellence in Journalism by Arizona State University.[28] At the announcement of the award, Cronkite said he was one of Williams’ “ardent admirers” and described him as a “fastidious newsman” who brought credit to the television news reporting profession.[28]Williams interviewing presidential candidate Mitt Romney, July 25, 2012

While anchoring the Nightly News, Williams received 12 News & Documentary Emmy Awards. For “outstanding” work as anchor and managing editor of the Nightly News, he received one Emmy in 2006 (for Nightly News coverage of the 2005 Hurricane Katrina),[29] two in 2007,[30] one in 2009,[31] two in 2010,[32] one in 2011,[33] one in 2013,[34] and one in 2014.[35] The 2014 Emmy was awarded Nightly News for its coverage of a deadly series of tornadoes in Oklahoma, for which it also received the duPont-Columbia University Award.[36]

Williams also received a 2012 Emmy for his interview program Rock Center[37] and a 2013 Emmy for being one of the executive producers and editors of a documentary on the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum.[34] He also shared a 2014 Emmy awarded for an NBC News Special on the Boston Marathon bombing.[35]

Based on the Nielsen ratings, from late 2008 Williams’ news broadcast consistently had more viewers than its two main rivals, ABC‘s World News Tonight and CBS Evening News.[38] In fact, from late 2008 to late 2014, NBC Nightly News beat the other two network programs in the Nielsen ratings all but one week.[38]

In February 2015, Williams was suspended for six months from the broadcast for misrepresenting his experience in the 2003 invasion of Iraq.[2] At the time, his salary was $10 million a year,[39] with a five-year contract signed in December 2014.[40]

Rock Center with Brian Williams[edit]

Main article: Rock Center with Brian Williams

On October 4, 2011, it was announced that Williams would be the host of Rock Center with Brian Williams, a news magazine program premiering on October 31, 2011, at 10:00 pm Eastern, replacing the canceled drama series The Playboy Club.[41]

Named after the nickname of Rockefeller Center, the New York City landmark where NBC Radio City Studios are located, the program would become the first new NBC News program to launch in primetime in nearly two decades.[42]

NBC cancelled Rock Center on May 10, 2013, due to low ratings; the network was also having trouble finding a permanent time slot for the program. The last show aired on June 21, 2013.[43]

Williams reportedly felt “insulted” by the program’s cancellation.[44]

Iraq War helicopter fabrication[edit]

Williams aboard the amphibious assault ship USS Tarawa in the Persian Gulf, March 13, 2003

On February 4, 2015, Williams apologized for and recanted his disproven Iraq War story, which he had told on a Nightly News broadcast on January 30, 2015. He claimed that a military helicopter he was traveling in had been “forced down after being hit by an RPG“.[45][46] Soon after it aired, Williams’ story was criticized by Lance Reynolds, a flight engineer on board one of the three Chinook helicopters that had been attacked.[47] Reynolds and other crew members said Williams had been aboard one of a separate group of helicopters from the helicopter that had been fired upon, which was flying about half an hour behind and was forced to make an emergency landing because of a sandstorm rather than an attack.[46][48] Additional soldiers soon came forward to confirm that Williams was not in the group of helicopters that had come under fire and that Williams had inserted himself into the event.[49]

In his original on-air reporting of the incident on March 26, 2003, for Dateline NBC, Williams had said only that “the Chinook ahead of us was almost blown out of the sky … by an RPG” and made an emergency landing. Introducing the piece, NBC News anchor Tom Brokaw described Williams as having “got [him]self into … a close call in the skies over Iraq”,[50] and the story was headlined, “Target Iraq: Helicopter NBC’s Brian Williams Was Riding In Comes Under Fire”.[46]

A book published by NBC in 2003 said that “Army Chinook helicopters [were] forced to make a desert landing after being attacked by Iraqi Fedayeen”, with Williams aboard.[51]

In a 2007 retelling, Williams did not state that his craft had been hit, but said, “I looked down the tube of an RPG that had been fired at us, and it hit the chopper in front of us.” This contradicted the statements by the crew of the craft that was hit, that it was at least 30 minutes ahead of Williams’ helicopter. However, the soldiers who piloted Williams’ helicopter in Iraq said no rocket-propelled grenades had been fired at the aircraft, a fact that Williams did not dispute and apologized for.[52] In a 2013 account, Williams said his helicopter had been “hit … and landed very quickly”.[53]

In a February 5, 2015, interview with CNN, the pilot of the Chinook in which Williams was traveling said that while the aircraft did not sustain RPG fire, it did indeed sustain small-arms fire and the door gunners returned fire.[54]

On February 10, 2015, NBC News President Deborah Turness suspended Williams without pay for six months from his position as Managing Editor and Anchor of the Nightly News for having misrepresented the Iraq incident.[2] On June 18, 2015, he was demoted to breaking news anchor for MSNBC.[3]

Journalist Malcolm Gladwell reexamined the story in a podcast episode entitled “Free Brian Williams” from his Revisionist History podcast. Gladwell argued that the evolving versions of Williams’ story over many years matched the normal pattern of how human memory works. Over time, people conflate and combine different memories, shift times and locations, and misremember details large and small.[55]

Return to MSNBC[edit]

In September 2015, Williams returned to the air as MSNBC‘s chief anchor.[4] News events that Williams has since covered for MSNBC include Pope Francis’s trip to the United States; the Umpqua Community College shooting; and terrorist attacks in Paris, San Bernardino, Brussels, and Nice. In January 2016, Williams also added the role of chief elections anchor for MSNBC and subsequently debuted in the new role during coverage of the 2016 Iowa caucuses.[56]

As part of his chief anchor duties, Williams anchored The 11th Hour with Brian Williams a nightly news and politics wrap-up show. The New York Post labeled the program a “legit hit” in February 2019, noting the show had been “beating [competitors] CNN and Fox News for three months straight.”[57] Williams, alongside co-anchors Rachel Maddow & Joy Reid and lead analyst Nicolle Wallace, led the network’s coverage of the 2020 United States presidential election.[57]

Williams announced on the November 9, 2021, episode of The 11th Hour with Brian Williams that he would be leaving NBC News and MSNBC at the expiration of his contract the following month, after five years hosting the show and 28 years with the networks.[58][59] His final night hosting the show was December 9, 2021.[60]

Other activities[edit]

Williams frequently appeared on The Daily Show as a celebrity guest interviewed by Jon Stewart and in 2007, made regular cameos as a giant head sidekick looking on Jon Stewart and helping out with pronunciations of foreign names and occasionally other foreign affairs all beginning at the premiere of the new Daily Show set. He appeared on the Weekend Update segment of the season 32 premiere of Saturday Night Live, hosted by Dane Cook. He then hosted a season 33 episode on November 3, 2007, becoming the first, and still only, sitting network news anchor to host the show.[61]

Williams appeared on Sesame Street in a 2007 episode, announcing the word of the day, “squid”, in a special broadcast. Williams appeared on Sesame Street again in a 2008 episode, reporting for Sesame Street Nightly News about the “mine-itis” outbreak, becoming a victim. He was also the host of the 2009 Annual Sesame Workshop Benefit Gala.

On February 22, 2010, while covering the Winter Olympics, Williams did a skit with Brian Williams, the Canadian sportscaster of CTV Sports, on the CTV Olympic set.[62] Some in the media dubbed this the new “Battle of the Brians“, as NBC’s Williams compared his own modest set to CTV’s expensive Olympic studio.[63]

Williams regularly appeared on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, where he slow jams the news of the previous week as Fallon sings and reiterates what Williams says, with The Roots providing the musical backing. A mash-up video created by Fallon, where Williams appears to rap to hip-hop instrumentals, became popular within a few hours.[64] Williams has also made numerous appearances on Late Show with David Letterman. During an appearance on July 26, 2011, he demonstrated a skilled vocal impersonation of TV personality Regis Philbin. He has also appeared on Late Night with Conan O’Brien, where he took part in numerous skits and interviews.

And then I pull off my mask, and I’m a lizard person, too. Blackout. End of episode.

—Williams on 30 Rock, proposing a new NBC show to Jack Donaghy[65]

Williams made frequent guest appearances on NBC’s television comedy 30 Rock, as a caricatured version of himself. In the episode “The Ones“, he is seen at home receiving proposition calls meant for Tracy Jordan. In “Audition Day“, he auditions to be a new TGS cast member. He also is seen once on the show taunting Tina Fey’s character, Liz Lemon. In April 2012, on the West Coast installment of the 30 Rock season 6 live show, Williams portrayed a news anchor covering the Apollo 13 story.[66]

Williams was the commencement speaker at Bates College in May 2005,[67] The Catholic University of America in May 2004,[68] Ohio State University in June 2008,[69] and at the University of Notre Dame in 2010.[70] In May 2012, he spoke at the George Washington University commencement on the National Mall.[71] He was the commencement speaker for Elon University‘s graduating class of 2013, which included his son Douglas.[72]

Williams also collaborated on the Encyclopedia of World History from Backpack Books published in 2003.

Williams has written for publications including The New York Times[73] and Time magazine.[74]

Controversies[edit]

Unbalanced scales.svgThis section may lend undue weight to certain ideas, incidents, or controversies. Please help to create a more balanced presentation. Discuss and resolve this issue before removing this message. (February 2015)
Unbalanced scales.svgThis article’s Criticism or Controversy section may compromise the article’s neutrality by separating out potentially negative information. Please integrate the section’s contents into the article as a whole, or rewrite the material. (March 2021)

Williams’ statements about Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath were received with scrutiny.[75][76] For example, Williams referred inconsistently to a suicide inside the New Orleans Superdome after Katrina.[77] CNN reported in a 2005 television documentary that Williams said he was not a witness to the suicide: “We heard the story of a man killing himself, falling from the upper deck.”[78][79]

Appearing on The Daily Show in August 2006, he told host Jon Stewart that he was nearly hit the previous month by Katyusha rockets fired from Lebanon by Hezbollah while flying in an Israeli Air Force (IAF) Black Hawk helicopter: “Here’s a view of rockets I have never seen, passing underneath us, 1,500 feet beneath us. And we’ve got the gunner doors on this thing, and I’m saying to the general, some four-star: ‘It wouldn’t take much for them to adjust the aim and try to do a ring toss right through our open doors, would it?’ Anytime you want to cross over to the other side, baby, travel with me.”[80]

In another version of the same story, Williams claimed that the rockets passed “just underneath the helicopter I was riding in.”[81] The claim was drawn into question since there are no four-star generals in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), Israeli helicopter doors are routinely closed during flights and the IAF’s Black Hawks do not carry gunners.[82] An IDF spokesman who was on the helicopter in question did confirm afterwards that there was Katyusha fire and, although the helicopter was not in danger, the “trajectory of the rockets was beneath us.”[83]

A reference to the fall of the Berlin Wall also received scrutiny. In 2008, Williams said he was “at the Brandenburg Gate the night the wall came down”, while CBS and other sources report that he did not arrive until the next day.[84][85]

Another statement by Williams, this one regarding the Navy SEALs, also received attention. Williams said he flew into Baghdad with SEAL Team Six, but Special Operations Command spokesman Ken McGraw stated the SEALs do not embed journalists.[86]

On April 7, 2017, Williams referred to the 2017 Shayrat missile strike footage of missiles being fired from a US warship as “beautiful pictures” after quoting Leonard Cohen‘s “First We Take Manhattan“. This brought widespread criticism from news organizations and social media.[87][88][89]

Personal life[edit]

With his wife, Jane, in 2009

Williams married Jane Gillan Stoddard, at the First Presbyterian Church of New Canaan, Connecticut, on June 7, 1986.[90] They have two children: Allison, an actress, and Doug, the late-night anchor of Geico SportsNite on SportsNet New York.[91] Williams and his wife live in New Canaan,[92] and own a beach house in Bay Head, New Jersey[93] and a pied-à-terre in Midtown Manhattan.[94]

From 2006 to 2015, Williams was a member of the board of directors of the Medal of Honor Foundation; he resigned days after his suspension from NBC.[95]

Honorary degrees[edit]

SchoolDateLocationDegreeRef.
Catholic University of America15 May 2004District of ColumbiaDoctor of Humane Letters[96]
Bates College30 May 2005MaineDoctor of Humane Letters[97]
Ohio State University8 June 2008OhioDoctor of Journalism[98]
University of Notre Dame16 May 2010IndianaDoctor of Laws[99]
Fordham University21 May 2011New YorkDoctor of Humane Letters[100]
George Washington University2012District of ColumbiaDoctor of Humane Letters[101]
This list is incomplete; you can help by adding missing items. (February 2018)

Television[edit]

YearTitleRoleFirst episodeNotes
2007Saturday Night LiveHimselfHost
2009–1230 RockHimselfThe Ones
2013Family GuyHimself“Space Cadet“Voice only
2013The SoupHimselfHimself

Career timeline[edit]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

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External links[edit]

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Who's Who in all U.S and U.K. Honoraries (Marquis) Numerous publications in over 80 venues DANA SPIRIT AWARD/2009 Oxford Roundtable, Editor of FOCUS, a student Social Science Journal Author Snell Life Cycle Lonliness Curve Professor Emeritus - Kirkwood College Omicron Delta Kappa Grants Online Editor for Psychology and Education.com Research Fellow - Arlington Institute Outstanding Teacher at Kirkwood College Membership in numerous editorial boards or a reviewer of manuscripts Associate Editor - Psychology and Education Co-Author of Snell-Green Professor Index Author of Snell Educator Effectiveness Index Contributer to FutureEdition.com Co-Author of Snell-Allen Medical Rank Index Fellow in Kennedy Foundation Co-Author of Snell-Allen Subjective Assessment Sex Role Index Honors >>> Positions and Courses Taught >>> joelsnell@hotmail.com http://www.socialvibes.net Research Council, Advisory Board

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