OAN Staff James Meyers
3:25 PM – Monday, September 30, 2024
Former NBC News and MSNBC anchor Brian Williams, whose career was met with controversy after an embarrassing reporting scandal in 2015, after acknowledging that he falsified claims about reporting under duress during war, is in talks with Amazon’s coverage of the 2024 president election.
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According to the Wall Street Journal, Amazon is in serious discussions about Williams hosting a special election night broadcast on Prime Video.
The 65-year-old, who quit NBC in 2021 after anchoring “The 11th Hour,” would be the lead anchor of coverage that would include news personalities and analysts discussing the day’s events on the big night in November, the outlet stated.
“Amazon’s Election Night special would likely have Williams relying heavily on the Associated Press to determine how candidates were faring state by state. The show would stream from a studio in the Los Angeles area, one of the people said, and could start as early as 5 p.m. eastern,” Variety reported.
The report continued, “Williams would be prepared to stay at the desk for as many as seven to eight hours — and potentially more. In the case of a close election in which results are too close to call, this person says, Williams would broadcast for as long as it might be sustainable.”
Variety also added that the coverage on election night does not necessarily mean the streaming service will produce more news programming events.
“The show is aimed more toward explaining the news, this person says, rather than breaking individual pieces of it. Producers have lined up well-known names, this person adds, and was aided by the fact that many traditional TV-news competitors have trimmed the ranks of their contributors as economic pressures have weighed on them. The show, this person says, would aim to be big and accessible and offer a lot of famous guests,” Variety reported.
Meanwhile, sources told the Wall Street Journal that an agreement between Williams and Amazon could be reached as early as this week.
Williams was known for being NBC’s top anchor from 2004 until 2015, when he was suspended for falsely claiming that he was hit by a helicopter that was hit by enemy fire during the Iraq War.
Another investigation found that he had made other false statements about his experiences covering big events, and resulted in him losing the job.
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