Despite ‘Long Period’ of Concerns at NBC, Williams Given $50 Million Contract in Dec.

Written by Michael Warren

The unraveling of Nightly News anchor Brian Williams‘s accounts of his reporting in Iraq and Katrina-ravaged New Orleans has become a black mark on NBC News’s reputation. A detailed account in Thursday’s Washington Post of the decision to suspend Williams for six months without pay appears to demonstrate how seriously the Peacock Network has taken the newsman’s transgression—NBC Universal’s CEO Steve Burke even considered firing Williams outright.

Here’s how the Post describes it, citing anonymous NBC officials:

The suspension was the culmination of a long period of internal concerns.