Posted on 05/11/2015 1:06:57 PM PDT by drewh
All of NBC’s bleeding-heart coverage of tattered American race relations – including the racial struggles of Michelle Obama – might sound awfully tinny if they don’t keep black anchorman Lester Holt in the Nightly News anchor chair.
In a new Brian Williams story at the Daily Beast, “a prominent black broadcast journalist who knows Holt” told them: “If Brian does not come back and Lester does not get the job, it’s going to get ugly. You can only imagine.”
It would seem odd for them to exile Williams and then turn to Savannah Guthrie or someone else other than Holt, but it’s interesting to note that turn might cause a racial rift.
In the new Beast piece, unnamed Williams critics are still venting:
“What if there’s a story about a presidential candidate who lied or embellished his resume?” said an NBC News veteran who, because of the sensitivity of the subject, spoke on condition of anonymity. “How do you have Brian Williams in that chair, intro-ing that story, without all of America guffawing?”
A second NBC News veteran expressed concern that the 55-year-old Williams—judging by quotes in various news stories attributed to “friends” of the anchor—might not fully grasp the gravity of his mistakes.
Indeed, Newsday’s well-connected television columnist Verne Gay recently reported that Williams was “almost certainly expecting a return to the anchor chair by this summer, his period of penance behind him...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.”
While Williams’s attorney, Robert Barnett, “is fighting tooth and nail to get him his job back”—not negotiating a partial payout of Williams’s reported $50 million 5-year contract, according to an NBC News veteran—the anchor is likely not hearing what he needs to hear.
“It’s a tricky area,” this person said. “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. You are gonna continue to be tabloid fodder, and if you think you’ve had it bad so far, your return to NBC is gonna be a total s--t show.’”
That last quote on “reality” was highlighed by the Daily Beast.
- See more at: http://newsbusters.org/blogs/tim-graham/2015/05/11/black-journo-warns-nbc-brass-keep-lester-holt-or-its-going-get-ugly#sthash.S27aLslN.dpuf
I actually (mostly) like Lester Holt. It never occurred to me that he was selected or retained due to racial biases on the part of NBC. Dumb me, right?
It’s time to stop reacting to ultimatums, especially ultimatums from nobodies in numerical minorities. Who do they think they are, somebody that counts?
I vote for “get ugly”.
So black NBC employees are going to riot and burn down NBC if ‘their guy’ doesn’t get the job?
Holt has a proven inability to hold an audience, dating from his days as lead anchor at WBBM-TV in Chicago. To be fair, Channel 2 was long past its glory day when Holt moved into the chair, and it was still a train wreck when he left. But for some reason, he doesn’t connect as well with viewers as other news readers—and it has nothing to do with his race.
NBC made the same mistake with Williams that CBS did with Dan Rather. They put all their money on one horse, and never made a serious effort to groom a successor. When Brian Williams imploded (like “Fake but Accurate” Dan), the network was left scrambling. They really can’t bring Williams back; Holt isn’t the long-term answer and neither is Matt Lauer or Savannah Guthrie.
Not that it really matters; the networks are making their money off morning infotainment shows, not the evening news. At some point, a large station group will decide they no longer want to give up 30 minutes of early evening airtime for a network newscast, and they will pull the plug. Smaller stations will follow and that will be the end of the evening news.
They have be confused; confused with someone who gives a shit!
That’s where we are...”oppress the ‘oppressor’ days”
Do African-Americans have a special skill reading a TelePrompTer?
Seriously, someone please ask this black journo what skin color possibly has to do with reading what someone puts on a TelePrompTer!
That turned ugly quick.
Fox should immediately hire Holt. He’s an excellent broadcaster and would be my choice to replace the Juan.
I am getting really tired of the bullying threats from blacks. Who the hell do they think they are? Reality is going to come smacking down on them in a very unpleasant way if they keep threatening and terrorizing people.
“the racial struggles of Michelle Obama”
Is there anyone stupid enough to really believe that?
Her husband was elected twice, so sadly the answer to that is YES!/s;)
Now that is what you call BLACKMAIL!
Women don’t work well as network anchors. Barbara Walters & Diane Sawyer were tried at various nets IIRC and failed.
Replace Holt with a Hispanic newscaster.
NBC, please, please, please, bring Brian back! I mean really, don’t ya’ll think he’s the prefect guy to put a face to the credibility of your “news” show?
AKA The Schmoo?
Brian Williams is trying to get rid of the black guy so he can return.
BTW, I always liked Lester Holt...one of the very few I have liked at NBC.
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