Crooked Journalist Returns To Broadcasting

Will cover “Death Squad Fran’s” North American Tour

“Brian Williams will make his return to the air September 22 on MSNBC as part of a team of anchors covering Pope Francis’ first trip to the U.S.,” Deadline.com reports.

Williams won’t be MSNBC’s only anchor during the pontiff’s lengthy visit – but he will be the most closely watched for obvious reasons and his presence is sure to goose ratings for the cable news network’s coverage of Francis’s lengthy visit. Williams’ return to air happens on September 22, which coincides with Francis’ scheduled arrival in Washington, D.C. Williams will not be on the road with the pope; he will be anchoring from New York.

In June, NBCUniversal announced Williams would return to NBC in August, but would be assigned to MSNBC rather than return to the anchor chair at NBC Nightly News. Nightly News fill-in Lester Holt was named permanent anchor of Nightly.

Last February, NBCU and Comcast suspended Williams for six months without pay after it was revealed that he falsely claimed on NBC’s Nightly News that he was involved in a combat situation in Iraq in early 2003 – a claim the anchor also had made elsewhere, including on Late Show With David Letterman.

Professor James F. Tracy is an Associate Professor of Media Studies at Florida Atlantic University. James Tracy’s work on media history, politics and culture has appeared in a wide variety of academic journals, edited volumes, and alternative news and opinion outlets. James is editor of Union for Democratic Communication’s Journal Democratic Communiqué and a contributor to Project Censored’s forthcoming publication Censored 2013: The Top Censored Stories and Media Analysis of 2011-2012. Additional writings and information are accessible at memoryholeblog.com.