Brian Douglas Williams (born May 5, 1959) is an American journalist best known for his ten years as
anchor and managing editor of
NBC Nightly News, the evening news program of the
NBC television network. Six months after Williams joined the program in December 2004, NBC News was awarded the
Peabody Award for its coverage of the
Hurricane Katrina story, with the award committee stating that Williams and the NBC staff displayed the "highest levels of journalistic excellence" in their reporting. In February 2015, Williams was suspended for six months from the
Nightly News for "misrepresent[ing] events which occurred while he was covering the
Iraq War in 2003."