Brian Williams

NBC News said Tuesday it has suspended its chief anchor and managing editor Brian Williams immediately for six months without pay, forgoing the option of firing the embattled newsman for now due to his popularity and past work at the network.

"As I'm sure you understand, this was a very hard decision," wrote NBC News President Deborah Turness in a memo distributed to staff members late Tuesday. "Certainly there will be those who disagree. But we believe this suspension is the appropriate and proportionate action."

Lester Holt, who was tapped to fill in while Williams sat out, will continue to serve as substitute anchor of NBC Nightly News. Williams took himself off the air Saturday after soldiers revealed that his account of being on a Chinook helicopter that went down during the U.S. invasion of Iraq was not true.

"We felt it would have been wrong to disregard the good work Brian has done and the special relationship he has forged with our viewers over 22 years," Turness said. "Millions of Americans have turned to him every day, and he has been an important and well-respected part of our organization."

Williams replaced Tom Brokaw in 2004 as NBC Nightly News anchor after working as a reporter at the network since the early 1990s. Mixing serious journalism with occasional appearances on late night talk shows, Williams has helped NBC Nightly News retain its lead over competitors. Despite the overall drop in evening news viewership over the years, NBC Nightly News averages about 9 million to 10 million viewers a night, edging ABC's World News Tonight and CBS Evening News.

The scandal erupted earlier this month when Williams attended a New York Rangers game with a soldier who helped guard him and other American soldiers while a convoy of military helicopters they were flying on was forced to land on a desert in Iraq in 2003.

Williams said the helicopter he was on had been hit by enemy fire and forced down. Veterans from the convoy challenged Williams' story — which he has repeated in the past — on Facebook. And the anchorman recanted the story on air Wednesday after Stars and Stripes wrote a story about their online exchange and interviewed Williams and the veterans.

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