The Daily Beast’s Lloyd Grove has alleged insider reaction to today’s Williams news…
“People in the newsroom are furious,” said an NBC News veteran who, like others who reacted to the personnel shuffle, spoke on condition of anonymity. “Everyone in the hallways is very, very upset and depressed about it.”
A second NBC veteran told The Daily Beast: “I have yet to speak to anyone in the news organization who wants Brian back and thinks Brian deserves to be back. He has zero support among the rank and file. I shouldn’t say ‘zero.’ There’s almost no support for him in the newsroom.”
A few more stories like these come out and NBC has a PR crisis on its hands again. And then there’s this…
It wasn’t a deal breaker that he isn’t being named managing editor of Nightly News; according to an NBC source, it was decided, based on the experience with Williams, that the managing editor title—bestowing final authority on the newscast’s content—gives an anchor too much power.
Baloney. How did Williams’ tall tales have anything to do with his Managing Editor role? I suppose you could make the argument that Williams felt omnipotent enough that he could skate by with his tall tales but he was going to feel that way because he was the face of NBC News, regardless of whether he was Managing Editor or not.
Filed under: MSNBC
