NBC suspends journalist Brian Williams for 'lying' about brush with death in Iraq war

Star presenter Brian Williams has been suspended from US network NBC for six months without pay after embellishing an Iraq war story, amid swirling accusations he exaggerated other news reports.

The measure takes effect immediately, NBC said today, which is under growing pressure to fire the 55-year-old Williams, who reportedly earns about US$10 million a year and has earned more than two dozen industry awards during his glittering journalism career.

The controversy erupted after Williams gave a different account of his experience reporting in Iraq in 2003. At the time of the Iraq incident, Williams said it was the Chinook ahead that was “almost blown out of the sky”, but his story has gradually changed.

Last week, in an elabourate tribute to a retired soldier who helped provide ground security for the grounded aircraft and crew, Williams claimed on air that the helicopter he was riding came under rocket fire.

Crew members of the Chinook helicopter and Williams’ aircraft disputed this, telling Stars and Stripes, a US publication that covers the military, that the presenter been nowhere near the helicopter that was fired upon or other Chinooks in its formation.

Williams instead arrived later in a separate helicopter, which landed due to an oncoming sandstorm, according to the crew.