An NBC executive is worried suspended news anchor Brian Williams could go work for another network if top brass decides to fire him after he admitted to embellishing stories on the air.
The unnamed executive,
who spoke to The Washington Post, called Williams an "enormous talent."
"We have an enormous talent here," the executive said. "He has skills no one else has. Can we really get rid of him? The next question is, if we do, what if he shows up elsewhere" on a rival network?
A decision on Williams' future at NBC could come soon, reports the Post.
Williams was suspended for six months without pay in February after the 55-year-old newsman publicly admitted to making up details of stories.
Williams, whose salary is a reported $13 million a year, blamed his mistakes on the "fog of memory."
Later, however,
he told NBC executives, "maybe I had a brain tumor."
NBC News president Deborah Turness said at the time of Williams' suspension that what he did was "wrong and inappropriate."
"Brian misrepresented events which occurred while he was covering the Iraq War in 2003," Turness wrote in a memo to staff. "It then became clear that on other occasions Brian had done the same while telling that story in other venues. This was wrong and completely inappropriate for someone in Brian's position."
Lester Holt has been seated at the NBC News anchor desk since Williams' temporary exit.
Ratings for the program have fallen behind those of ABC's rival show, "World News Tonight," which features David Muir as anchor.
A report last month, meanwhile, claimed Williams refused to air two stories that portrayed the Obama administration in a negative light. One dealt with a Justice Department memo that justified killing American citizens using drones, and the other offered proof the White House knew in 2010 that some people would lose their health insurance policies because of Obamacare.
"He didn't want to put stories on the air that would be divisive," a senior NBC journalist said at the time.
Veteran NBC newsman Tom Brokaw, who anchored the "NBC Nightly News" from 1982-2004,
reportedly said in February he wants Williams fired from the anchor job.
Williams had dreams of hosting a late-night comedy show during his early years of hosting NBC's news program, but the network turned down his request of taking over Jay Leno's spot at the Tonight Show.
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