People: NBC’s Williams still weeks away from return to air
Next week marks the end of Brian Williams’ six-month suspension from NBC News for exaggerating his role in news stories, but he isn’t expected back on the air in his new job at MSNBC for at least another month.
Williams was suspended on Feb. 10 after his story about flying in a helicopter hit by enemy fire in Iraq in 2003 was shown to be false, triggering an investigation into other incidents of self-aggrandizement in talking about his reporting. He lost his job as NBC’s “Nightly News” anchor and was named a breaking news anchor at the cable news outlet.
MSNBC hasn’t announced a start date for Williams. The tentative target for his return is for the network’s coverage of Pope Francis’ visit to the United States, scheduled for Sept. 22-27, according to an executive there who spoke on condition of anonymity because plans aren’t fully set.
Williams won’t have a regular time slot at MSNBC, but will work during daytime hours on busy news days.
MSNBC – which along with CNN runs a distant second to Fox News Channel in prime-time viewership – is in the midst of a makeover driven by poor ratings, jettisoning much of its opinionated daytime programming. New NBC News chief Andrew Lack is seeking to turn MSNBC into a breaking news outlet during the day, with assistance from NBC News personalities, and restrict its liberal viewpoint to the evening.
Other than announcing Williams’ role and the start of a new late afternoon show hosted by “Meet the Press” moderator Chuck Todd, many of the details about MSNBC’s plans remain under wraps.
Besides giving MSNBC more time to retool, the pope’s visit offers a relatively predictable news event for Williams to start back with.
Bieber given time to finish sentence
A judge says Justin Bieber is complying with the terms of his probation in a vandalism case and has given the singer until later this year to complete community labor requirements of his sentence.
Superior Court Judge Leland Harris made the comments Monday in a hearing in the pop singer’s misdemeanor vandalism case filed after he damaged a former neighbor’s home with eggs.
Bieber has already completed the anger management and restitution requirements of his sentence. He is supposed to complete five days of roadside cleanup, graffiti removal or other manual labor.
A prosecutor said Monday that Bieber is close to finishing the work.
Bieber’s progress on the work was previously delayed due to a severe ankle injury.
The birthday bunch
Actor-screenwriter Billy Bob Thornton is 60. President Barack Obama is 54. Producer Michael Gelman (TV: “Live! With Kelly and Michael”) is 54. Retired MLB All-Star pitcher Roger Clemens is 53. Race car driver Jeff Gordon is 44. Rapper-actress Yo-Yo is 44. Actors Dylan and Cole Sprouse are 23.