美国全国广播公司已停职六个月的晚间新闻主播布莱恩威廉姆斯没有报酬。处罚之际，美国全国广播公司新闻部（NBC News）继续调查威廉姆斯对伊拉克战争期间发生的事件的错误复述，这一失误使美国晚间新闻界的头号人物（以及NBC新闻部的所有成员）陷入了争议之中。威廉姆斯在《晚间新闻》上接替汤姆·布罗考，一直被视为电视网最可靠、最值得信赖的人物之一。

但在1月30日的晚间新闻报道中，威廉姆斯“歪曲了2003年报道伊拉克战争时发生的事件，”NBC现在承认。他告诉NBC的数百万观众，他乘坐的一架直升机被敌人的炮火击落；多年来，威廉姆斯多次背诵这个千变万化的故事，甚至在大卫·莱特曼（David lettman）的晚间节目中重复了一遍。

不过，最终还是Facebook的一条评论线索——曾经被军事杂志《星条旗》（Stars and Stripes）收录——把威廉姆斯可疑的记忆变成了全国头条新闻，把NBC受人尊敬的新闻业务搞得一团糟。上周末，威廉姆斯宣布他将暂时退出晚间新闻，但NBC对自己收视率最高的晚间主播进行了更严格的约束。

威廉姆斯承认，他在Facebook和随后的晚间新闻广播中都“记错”了这一集，但这一道歉对许多观众来说是空洞的。NBC的调查尚未得出结论，但该电视台显然有足够的信心立即对威廉姆斯发布停播令。”这是错误的，完全不适合布赖恩这样的人，”NBC新闻总裁德博拉·特内斯（Deborah Turness）在今晚分发给员工和新闻媒体的备忘录中说作为《晚间新闻》的总编辑和主播，布莱恩有责任做到真实，并始终坚持新闻部门的高标准。“莱斯特·霍尔特将在威廉姆斯缺席的情况下继续执掌《晚间新闻》。Turness的完整备忘录如下。

All,

We have decided today to suspend Brian Williams as Managing Editor and Anchor of NBC Nightly News for six months. The suspension will be without pay and is effective immediately.  We let Brian know of our decision earlier today. Lester Holt will continue to substitute Anchor the NBC Nightly News.

Our review, which is being led by Richard Esposito working closely with NBCUniversal General Counsel Kim Harris, is ongoing, but I think it is important to take you through our thought process in coming to this decision.

While on Nightly News on Friday, January 30, 2015, Brian misrepresented events which occurred while he was covering the Iraq War in 2003. It then became clear that on other occasi*** Brian had done the same while telling that story in other venues. This was wrong and completely inappropriate for someone in Brian’s position.

In addition, we have concerns about comments that occurred outside NBC News while Brian was talking about his experiences in the field.

As Managing Editor and Anchor of Nightly News, Brian has a resp***ibility to be truthful and to uphold the high standards of the news division at all times.

Steve Burke, Pat Fili and I came to this decision together. We felt it would have been wrong to disregard the good work Brian has done and the special relati***hip he has forged with our viewers over 22 years.  Milli*** of Americans have turned to him every day, and he has been an important and well-respected part of our organization.

As I’m sure you understand, this was a very hard decision. Certainly there will be those who disagree.  But we believe this suspension is the appropriate and proportionate action.

This has been a difficult time. But NBC News is bigger than this moment. You work so hard and dedicate yourselves each and every day to the important work of bringing trusted, credible news to our audience. Because of you, your loyalty, your dedication, NBC News is an organization we can — and should — all be proud of. We will get through this together.

Steve Burke asked me to share the following message.

"This has been a painful period for all concerned and we appreciate your patience while we gathered the available facts. By his acti***, Brian has jeopardized the trust milli*** of Americans place in NBC News.  His acti*** are inexcusable and this suspension is severe and appropriate.  Brian’s life’s work is delivering the news. I know Brian loves his country, NBC News and his colleagues. He deserves a second chance and we are rooting for him.  Brian has shared his deep remorse with me and he is committed to winning back everyone’s trust."

Deborah

更正：文章最初将威廉姆斯称为“有线电视收视率最高的晚间主播”。事实上，他在网络新闻主播中的收视率领先。