UPDATE (Friday, June 19, 9:55 a.m. ET): Brian Williams’ interview with Matt Lauer aired on this morning’s Today Show, and the beleaguered news anchor once again apologized for saying “things that weren’t true.”;
However, he insisted that he didn’t intentionally lie. “I told stories that were not true. I never intended to. It got mixed up,”; he told Today host Matt Lauer. “It got turned around in my mind.”;
Still, Williams said he takes full responsibility for his false statements: “I own this. I own up to this.”;
Being suspended from NBC Nightly News since February, he admitted, has been “torture,”; but admits that “looking back it has been absolutely necessary”; given the circumstances.
As for the future, he says he’s done a great deal of soul searching and insists viewers will never hear anything but the truth pass through his lips. “What has happened in the past has been identified and torn apart by me and has been fixed, has been dealt with,”; he said. “Going forward there are going to be different rules of the road…I am different as a result, and I expect to be held to a different standard.”;
He blamed his own ego. “Looking back, it had to have been ego that made me think I had to be sharper, funnier, quicker than anybody else, put myself closer to the action, having been at the action at the beginning,”; he admitted. “It wasn’t from a place where I was trying to use my job and title to mislead.”;
In the second part of the interview, Williams discussed NBC’s decision to pull him off the network newscast entirely and assign him instead to a yet-to-be-defined role at MSNBC.
“Was it my first choice?”; said Williams of being canned from NBC Nightly News. “No. Obviously I wanted to return to my old job,”; Williams said. “I pushed back at first. Enough time has passed. I accept the decision.”;
In closing, he promised viewers he’ll “work everyday”; to regain their trust: “Judge me by as harsh a standard as you wish,”; she said, adding: “I am fully aware of the second chance I’ve been given. I don’t intend to squander it.”;
Asked by Lauer to write the headline to his story, Williams said: “A chastened and grateful man, mindful of his blessings, mindful of his mistakes, returns, hoping for forgiveness and acceptance.”; Watch:
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It’s been four months since Brian Williams was suspended after some on-air anecdotes were revealed to be complete fibs, but now the disgraced NBC Nightly News anchor is planning to speak out about the situation for the first time since his suspension in February.
According to The Wrap, Williams will break his silence in a Today Show interview with Matt Lauer, which has already been taped and had been scheduled to air on Friday, but may be pushed to next week while Today focuses on coverage of the tragic shooting in Charleston, South Carolina.
The interview hasn’t even aired and NBC is already taking heat for the perceived conflict of interest in having one NBC anchor (Lauer) interview another (Williams), with media analysts pointing out that it seems unlikely that Lauer will ask the kind of tough questions that Williams really needs to address.
“The decision for Williams to sit down with an NBC News anchor will certainly be met with mixed reviews among the journalism community,” notes The Wrap. “Many media analysts have said Williams needs to do an interview with an outside figure in order for complete transparency to take place.”
Meanwhile, Global News is reporting that Williams won’t be returning as anchor of the NBC Nightly News, but has been in discussions about taking on a yet-to-be disclosed role, possibly with NBC-owned cable news outlet MSNBC.
