Report: Brian Williams turned down the chance to anchor CBS Evening News

CNN

CNN's Oliver Darcy that Williams, who recently left NBC News and MSNBC after nearly three decades, was offered the chance to become a network news anchor again. "Just years ago, in 2015, the notion that Williams would be rebuffing an offer to helm one of the big three nightly news programs would have been unfathomable. His reputation was in ruins for embellishing his stories as a journalist," says Darcy. "He was booted from NBC Nightly News and accepted what was then a significant demotion to MSNBC. But the tide has since turned." Now, Darcy says, Williams "is in demand...One such proposal floated to him, according to three people familiar with the matter, was to anchor the CBS Evening News. According to the sources I spoke with, CBS News president and co-head Neeraj Khemlani recently tried to recruit Williams for the network's flagship evening news program. Two of the sources I spoke with said that Khemlani, who assumed his role less than a year ago and has been working to poach talent, tried at least twice. But it was to no avail." Darcy reports Williams isn't interested in the evening news job, which he says has been greatly diminished in recent years. Darcy also notes that CBS News seeking a new CBS Evening News anchor doesn't bode well for current anchor Norah O'Donnell, whom the New York Post reported in October was in danger of losing her job. "If CBS is so happy with O'Donnell, whose current contract is said to be up soon, why have they shopped her job to others?" asks Darcy.