NEW YORK — Brian Williams returned to the airwaves of MSNBC to anchor coverage of the visit of Pope Francis to the United States on Tuesday, his first day back at work following his suspension from NBC News and demotion for misleading viewers about his role in news stories. Williams was all business, and no initial mention was made of his absence.
Network news divisions have been gearing up for pope coverage, with Lester Holt, George Stephanopoulos and Scott Pelley set to anchor special reports on Tuesday’s arrival on NBC, ABC and CBS.
But Williams’ return attracted the most notice. Except for an interview with Matt Lauer on “Today,” he’d been off the air since his suspension from “Nightly News” in February. He was caught telling a false story about his coverage of the Iraq War, and lost his “Nightly News” job after an NBC investigation turned up other instances of exaggerating his role.
Although Williams won’t have a regular daily show on MSNBC, he’s expected to anchor during busy news periods a couple of times a week.
![[prison 19] Caption: This is Cellhouse 1, Pod A, from ground level inside the Sterling Correctional Facility which is located outside of Sterling, Colorado Thursday afternoon. Photographer: LEW SHERMAN Title: FREELANCE Credit: SPECIAL TO THE POST City: Sterling State: CO Country: USA Date: 19990617 ObjectName: prison 19 Keyword: PUBDATE____1999_06_22](/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/20151207__denverpostp1.jpg?w=538 "20151207__denverpost~p1.jpg")
