Presenter who gave false account of Iraq helicopter incident reportedly will not return as senior anchorman, possibly moving to cable channel MSNBC instead

This article is more than 5 years old

This article is more than 5 years old

Television news presenter Brian Williams, suspended by NBC in February for fabricating a story that he had come under fire on a helicopter during the Iraq war, will not return as anchor of the network’s Nightly News program, CNN reported on Wednesday.

CNN, citing unnamed sources, reported that NBC and Williams had reached a tentative agreement to keep him at the network after his six-month suspension ends in August but he would assume a different role.

Williams would not return as anchor of NBC’s evening newscast under the arrangement, CNN reported, adding that NBC could make a formal announcement about his future on Thursday.

NBC News officials and Robert Barnett, Williams’s representative in negotiations with the network over the past several weeks, would not comment Wednesday on the reports.

It is known Williams and NBC have been discussing an undefined role for him at the network. Lester Holt has substituted for Williams on NBC’s evening newscast and is the odds-on favourite to be his permanent replacement.

NBC has been tight-lipped about its negotiations with Williams, who signed a new contract to be the network’s chief news anchor in 2014.

Williams, who began anchoring NBC Nightly News in 2004, came under scrutiny in January after telling different versions of a story about being aboard a US military helicopter hit by a rocket-propelled grenade during the first days of the Iraq war in 2003.

He was suspended without pay for six months after he voluntarily took himself off the air in February and NBC News launched an inquiry into his account of the event. Some reports on Wednesday night said he would be switching to a lesser role at MSNBC, the cable news network.