Brian Williams is ready to return to the anchor chair at "NBC Nightly News," but the people running the show aren’t on the same page with him,
The Daily Beast reports.
Williams was
taken off the air in early February in what was termed a six-month suspension over exaggerations he had made about his reporting.
But leaks from the network since have further sullied their star anchor's reputation, leading to speculation NBC brass wanted him gone permanently.
Williams doesn't seem to be getting the message, The Daily Beast said, as reports from friends indicate the 55-year-old believes he could be back in the anchor chair by summer.
"Williams has also (apparently) not been paying much attention to the press, which may be a reason for the optimism,"
Newsday's Verne Gay wrote on April 30. "Nevertheless, I hear he thinks a lot of the background noise is confined to the 'industry' or to the press, and that the rest of the world could not care less about what's happened."
Williams' attorney Robert Barnett likely is telling him only what he wants to hear, The Daily Beast's Lloyd Grove wrote, quoting an anonymous NBC News veteran as saying, "Sometimes a hired gun will tell you what you want to hear. If Brian’s goal is a comeback, the hired gun's goal is a comeback. They say, 'It won't be pretty, but we can fix this, we can make this happen.' They’re not going to say, 'Look, buddy, you have got to get a grip on reality.'"
Weekend anchor Lester Holt also has been holding his own in the ratings, running a close second to "ABC World News Tonight" anchor David Muir. Casting Holt aside to bring Williams back could be seen as a problem.
Plus, there's the issue of Williams' credibility going forward.
"What if there's a story about a presidential candidate who lied or embellished his resume?" an NBC News veteran told The Daily Beast. "How do you have Brian Williams in that chair, intro-ing that story, without all of America guffawing?"