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Brian Williams, the embattled NBC news anchor whose credibility plummeted after he acknowledged exaggerating his role in a helicopter incident in Iraq, was suspended for six months without pay, the network said Tuesday night.
NBC电视台周二晚间表示，陷入争议的NBC新闻主播布莱恩·威廉姆斯(Brian Williams)将被无薪停职六个月。威廉姆斯承认他夸大了自己在伊拉克一起直升机事故中的角色，因而其公信力一落千丈。
“This was wrong and completely inappropriate for someone in Brian's position,” Deborah Turness, the president of NBC News, said in a memo. Lester Holt will continue to substitute for Williams, the network said.
NBC新闻频道(NBC News)总裁黛博拉·特尼斯(Deborah Turness)在一份备忘录中表示，“对于处在布莱恩这种地位的人，这是一种错误的、非常不妥的行为。”该电视台表示，莱斯特·霍尔特(Lester Holt)将继续代替威廉姆斯担任主播。
His departure culminated a rapid and startling fall for Williams, who at age 55 was not only the head of the No. 1 evening news show, but also one of NBC's biggest stars, a frequent celebrity guest on “Saturday Night Live,” “30 Rock,” and the late-night talk show circuit.
威廉姆斯的声誉以惊人的速度跌落，最后以他的离职告终。55岁的威廉姆斯不仅是排名第一的晚间新闻节目的招牌，还是NBC电视台的巨星之一。他经常担任《周六夜现场》(Saturday Night Live)、《我为喜剧狂》(30 Rock)以及深夜脱口秀节目的明星嘉宾。
Williams has been drawing 9.3 million viewers a night, and his position seemed unassailable. Even as the stature of the nightly newscast faded in the face of real-time digital news, Williams was one of the most trusted names in America and commanded the respect accorded predecessors like Walter Cronkite, Tom Brokaw and Peter Jennings. But his embellishment of his helicopter journey and questions about his other reporting undermined the trust viewers placed in him.
威廉姆斯在晚间能够吸引930万名观众收视，他的地位似乎不可撼动。尽管面临实时数字新闻的威胁，晚间新闻节目的地位有所衰退，威廉姆斯在美国仍然是最受信赖的人之一，他还赢得了沃尔特·克朗凯特(Walter Cronkite)、汤姆·布罗考(Tom Brokaw)、彼得·詹宁斯(Peter Jennings)等前辈的尊重。但他夸大直升机之旅的行为，以及有关他的其他报道的问题，破坏了观众寄予他的信任。
In the six days since he admitted his mistake, he was pilloried relentlessly online, with Twitter feeds mocking him and amateur truth squads investigating his past reporting. Almost none of his peers in the news business came to his support.
在他承认错误后的六天时间里，他在网上遭到了无情嘲笑，Twitter用户纷纷嘲讽，热衷探究真相的网友则调查了他过去的报道。几乎没有哪个新闻界同仁站出来支持他。
Six months is a long time to disappear from the television landscape, and analysts said it would be difficult for him to re-establish himself as a credible nightly presence.
从电视上消失六个月是一段相当长的时间，分析人士表示，他很难再树立起值得信赖的晚间新闻主持人形象了。
“I don't know how he can ever read the news with a straight face, or how the public will respond if he does,” said Mark Feldstein, a broadcast journalism professor at the University of Maryland. On the other hand, he added, “Maybe they're hoping that with a six-month cooling-off period, he's got a loyal fan base.”
“我不知道他怎样才能再一脸严肃地播报新闻，也不知道观众看到这副样子会作何反应，”马里兰大学(University of Maryland)广播电视新闻学教授马克·费尔德斯坦(Mark Feldstein)说。他还表示，另一方面，“或许他们希望经过六个月的冷却期后，他会得到一群忠实的粉丝。”
At 11 a.m. on Tuesday, Williams went to the Upper West Side apartment of Stephen P. Burke, the chief executive of NBCUniversal. Only the two men were present, according to a person briefed on the meeting, and Burke informed Williams that he had decided to suspend him. “NBC Nightly News” staff learned about it in a meeting after the evening broadcast.
周二上午11点，威廉姆斯走出了NBC环球公司(NBCUniversal)首席执行官斯蒂芬·P·伯克(Stephen P. Burke)位于上西城的公寓。据一名知情人士透露，当时只有他们两人在场，伯克通知威廉姆斯，他已经决定对他做出停职处罚。《NBC晚间新闻》(NBC Nightly News)的工作人员在晚间播报结束后召开的会议上得知了此事。
“By his actions, Brian has jeopardized the trust millions of Americans place in NBC News,” Burke said in a statement. “His actions are inexcusable and this suspension is severe and appropriate.”
“布莱恩的行动破坏了数百万美国人给予NBC新闻频道的信任，”伯克发表声明称。“他的行为不可原谅，停职是一个严厉且恰当的处罚。”
For NBC, the suspension provides at least a temporary solution to the crisis that has engulfed the network since Williams admitted last week that he had misled the public with the helicopter story. The incident has called into question not only the credibility of Williams but also the ethics and culture at NBC News. It is not clear whether other people at NBC were aware of Williams' version of events.
对于NBC来说，停职决定至少提供了一个应对危机的临时解决方案，威廉姆斯上周承认他在有关直升机的报道中误导了公众，NBC因此陷入危机。该事件不仅使威廉姆斯的可信度受到了质疑，也让NBC新闻频道的操守和文化受到了质疑。目前尚不清楚，NBC电视台的其他人是否了解威廉姆斯描述的事件。
Burke said that Williams “has shared his deep remorse with me, and he is committed to winning back everyone's trust.”
伯克说，威廉姆斯“向我表达了深深的懊悔，他决心要重新赢得大家的信任”。
“He deserves a second chance, and we are rooting for him,” Burke said.
伯克说，“他应该得到第二次机会，我们支持他。”
Turness said in a memo to NBC News staff that executives decided to suspend Williams because he misrepresented the Iraq incident on the “Nightly News” broadcast. She said that executives also were concerned about the way he portrayed his reporting away from his newscasts. That includes his descriptions of reporting on Hurricane Katrina as well as other stories.
特尼斯在一份发给NBC新闻频道工作人员的备忘录中说，管理层决定让威廉姆斯停职，是因为他在《晚间新闻》的节目中错误表述了伊拉克的事件。她说，管理层还对他偏离自己的新闻报道，讲述报道过程的做法感到担心，包括他对“卡特里娜”飓风(Hurricane Katrina)和其他事件的报道的描述。
“We have concerns about comments that occurred outside NBC News while Brian was talking about his experiences in the field,” she said.
她说，“在布莱恩讲述自己在现场的经历时，NBC新闻频道之外对此的评论也让我们感到担心。”
On Saturday, three days after his apology, Williams announced he was temporarily stepping aside from his show because he had become “too much a part of the news.” A day earlier, NBC started an investigation into Williams and his reporting about Iraq, Hurricane Katrina and any other news event that it deemed necessary to review. That investigation is ongoing.
周六，威廉姆斯在道歉三天后宣布，他要暂时离开自己的节目，因为他对“新闻进行了过多参与”。此前一天，NBC开始调查威廉姆斯，以及他对伊拉克、“卡特里娜”飓风和其他认为有必要进行核查的新闻事件的报道。目前调查仍在进行。
“This has been a painful period for all concerned, and we appreciate your patience while we gathered the available facts,” Burke said.
伯克说，“对于所有相关人士，这都是一个痛苦的时期，我们感谢您在我们搜集事实期间，所表现出的耐心。”
Williams transcended the news division, and had ambitions beyond the anchor chair. About five years ago, as NBC was contemplating who would eventually succeed Jay Leno as host of “The Tonight Show,” he told top NBC executives that he was interested in becoming a late-night host. They called the idea ridiculous, telling him that he was a journalist, not a comedian, and to stick to the news department, according to two industry executives with knowledge of the discussions.
威廉姆斯的行动超越了新闻部，而且他也有雄心涉猎新闻主播之外的事务。大约五年前，NBC考虑让谁最终接替杰伊·莱诺(Jay Leno)，担任《今夜秀》(The Tonight Show)的主持人时，他告诉NBC最高层，他有兴趣担任深夜节目主持人。了解相关讨论的两名行业高管称，NBC高层告诉他，这个想法很荒谬，因为他是一名记者，不是笑星，而且还让他继续留在新闻部。
Williams' downfall began when he appeared at a New York Rangers game with an Iraq veteran in a tribute to a retiring command sergeant major. Williams suggested on his newscast that the sergeant had protected him from a dangerous situation in Iraq, when “the helicopter we were traveling in was forced down after being hit by an RPG,” referring to a rocket-propelled grenade. “Our traveling NBC News team was rescued, surrounded and kept alive by an armor mechanized platoon from the U.S. Army 3rd Infantry.”
威廉姆斯的陨落，始于他与一名伊拉克老兵一同现身纽约游骑兵队(New York Rangers)的一场比赛之时，那次露面是为了纪念一名退休的参谋军士长。威廉姆斯在他的新闻节目中表示， 那名军士长曾在伊拉克的一次危险情况中保护了他。“我们乘坐的直升机被一枚RPG击中，随后迫降”，这里的RPG指的是火箭推进榴弹。“在前方采访的NBC新闻团队，因为美国陆军第三步师的一个装甲机械化排而得救，他们将我们包围起来，使我们活了下来。”
The military publication Stars and Stripes was tipped off that Williams' account was inaccurate and contacted Williams, who admitted that he was not on the helicopter that was forced down. “I would not have chosen to make this mistake,” Williams told Stars and Stripes. “I don't know what screwed up in my mind that caused me to conflate one aircraft with another.”
有人向军方报纸《星条旗报》(Stars and Stripes)爆料称，威廉姆斯的说法并不准确，于是该报联系了威廉姆斯。他承认自己当时不在迫降的直升机上。“我不应该犯这样一个错误，”威廉姆斯告诉《星条旗报》。“我不知道自己的脑子怎么了，竟然把一架飞机上发生的事，安在另一架飞机上。”
Travis J. Tritten, the Stars and Stripes reporter who broke the story about Williams' exaggeration, said he did not get any satisfaction from seeing Williams suspended. “Like the vets I spoke with,” he wrote in a Twitter post, “I just wanted to set the record straight.”
揭露威廉姆斯夸张说法的《星条旗报》记者特拉维斯·J·特里滕(Travis J. Tritten)说，看到威廉姆斯被停职，他并没有获得任何满足感。“和那些跟我谈过话的老兵一样，”他在Twitter上写道，“我只是想纠正错误。”
