Lester Holt breaks silence on Brian Williams suspension and Night News promotion

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'There was a firewall - I didn't know what was going on': Lester Holt breaks his silence on Brian Williams' suspension and his promotion to Night News anchor
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Lester Holt has revealed that NBC News bosses told him nothing about the Brian Williams scandal and his own position during the past five months
Holt officially took over as anchor of the network's flagship Nightly News show on Monday
'There were never any discussions (with NBC executives) about where or what this all might lead to — so I tried to keep my head down,' he said
Holt said he and Williams spoke about the situation last week and the pair remain good friends

By David Mccormack For Dailymail.com and Associated Press Reporter

Published: 23:55 EST, 22 June 2015 | Updated: 02:28 EST, 23 June 2015

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Lester Holt has revealed that NBC News bosses told him nothing about what was going on with the Brian Williams scandal and his own position during the past five months.

Holt officially took over as anchor of the network's flagship Nightly News show on Monday and spoke to the media for the first time since he asked to fill in following his disgraced predecessor's suspension in February.

'The fact of the matter is that I wasn't being told anything about (Williams),' said Holt.

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Lester Holt has revealed that NBC News bosses told him nothing about what was going on with the Brian Williams scandal and his own position during the past five months

'For lack of a better term, there was a "firewall" between me and all that. I accepted that my role was to fill in for six months, and there were never any discussions (with NBC executives) about where or what this all might lead to — so I tried to keep my head down,' he told the Daily News.

Holt admitted that his biggest source for news about the Williams scandal were reports in the media.

'There were times that I tried not to read anything that was written about this whole situation, so of course I read everything,' he said.

'At some point I didn't know what to believe, but ultimately it kept coming back to keeping my head focused on the broadcast.'

Although Holt and Williams exchanged emails over the past five months, last Thursday was the first time the pair had spoken since the scandal.

Holt declined to give details about what was said, but he said the pair remain good friends.

'It was a conversation that we both had been craving but didn't know how to initiate,' Holt said.

'The bottom line is that we expressed our friendship to each other. We acknowledged that while some might see this as awkward, nothing that has transpired was between the two of us.

'We are friends and the best way to characterize it is that Brian and I are good.'

Lester Holt thanks Brian Williams during debut on Nightly News

Holt said he doesn't believe the Nightly News broadcast needs to take special steps to rebuild trust among viewers following Williams' demotion, even as NBC's first advertisement promoting him lauds his dependability.

'If I thought I was coming into a role to fix something, I probably would think twice,' said Holt.

Holt had been subbing for Williams since his predecessor's suspension in February, but last week NBC said Holt would replace him permanently. Williams was assigned to a lesser role at MSNBC after the network found several instances where he lied about his reporting experiences.

NBC has begun running a television ad promoting the former understudy, with the narrator proclaiming: 'When it really matters, you can depend on him.'

Holt said he believed his work speaks for itself, and that people who have watched him on NBC News over the past 15 years know what they are getting.

'People perceive this as being about Brian Williams himself rather than being about the network,' said Andrew Tyndall, a consultant who studies the content of network news broadcasts.

'If there had been a backlash against NBC News as a whole, it would have happened by now.'

Lester Holt: 'It's like my first day at school' for Nightly News

NBC's 'Nightly News' has generally run neck and neck in the ratings with ABC's World News Tonight over the past two months. NBC had a clear lead before Williams' downfall, but ABC's broadcast with David Muir had been gaining.

There's one key difference in Holt's role. Unlike with Williams, Muir and CBS' Scott Pelley, Holt was not given the title of his broadcast's managing editor. That's been noticed, even if the executive producer is generally considered the behind-the-scenes boss of a nightly newscast.

Holt said it was something he hadn't really thought about. He said he was comfortable his voice will be respected, even if he doesn't have final authority over content, and that he won't hesitate to speak up if he doesn't feel comfortable about something.

'It's a good relationship, and that's all I would ever ask for,' he said.

He's the first African-American to be the sole anchor of a network evening newscast; Max Robinson was part of a team on ABC more than three decades ago. Holt takes pride in the achievement as he downplays it, saying he looks forward to a day when it isn't an issue.

'I'm very mindful of the significance,' he said. 'There's a lot of pressure that comes with a job like this and that's one of them. That's one of the responsibilities. I'm gratified by those who have taken pride in that. I've never made race a big part of who I am.'

Before his ascension into what is considered one of the top jobs in network news, Holt said he figured he had gone about as far as he would go.

Holt said he and Williams spoke about the situation last week and that they remain good friends

At 56, the same age as Williams, Holt was NBC's Weekend Today and weekend Nightly News anchor, and host of Dateline NBC. He was a news anchor in Chicago in the 1990s.

He's practiced what he preaches to aspiring journalists, that they should become the 'Swiss Army Knife' of their organizations, and said his promotion validates that approach.

'I've tried to build my career around the notion that NBC can work me any way they see fit or need,' Holt said in an interview.

'You can send me to some disaster overseas, you can send me to a political convention, you can have me doing feature stories on the Today show.'

A few hints of how a Holt-anchored Nightly News would differ from Williams have emerged over the past few months.

Tyndall said the low-key Holt has shortened the broadcast's introduction to move more directly into reports from the field; Holt said one of his goals is to build the profiles of NBC's correspondents.

Holt has also shortened a pop culture-focused segment in the center of the broadcast and reduced the amount of celebrity news, Tyndall said.

Holt said he wants to go on the road for stories as often as he can. But he doesn't think viewers will see a vastly different show.

It's not exactly the way he wanted to assume a job like this.

'There have been many a day when I've gotten out of bed, looked in the mirror and (wondered) "What's happening here?"' he said.

'Everything I've done in my career, hopefully, has prepared me for an opportunity like this, no matter how it came about.'