"NBC Nightly News" anchor Brian Williams temporarily stepped down from the newscast beginning Monday (Feb. 9) after admitting to falsely stating that he was on a helicopter in Iraq that was hit by a grenade. Williams has also cancelled his scheduled appearance on CBS' "Late Show" with David Letterman, which was to have been Thursday (Feb. 12).

Neil Foote, principal lecturer in the University of North Texas' Frank W. and Sue Mayborn School of Journalism, is available to comment about the fallout over Williams'

"misremembering" facts about the helicopter incident in Iraq, which occurred in 2003. Foote can also comment about Williams' inconsistencies regarding his time spent in New Orleans covering Hurricane Katrina -- coverage that won Williams a Peabody Award.

Foote, an avid watcher of "NBC Nightly News" for many years, says that while he's glad that Williams decided to step down from the anchor desk  temporarily, he "should have gone further to state that he would remain off the news until he is no longer in the news."

"These questionable incidents only heighten the mistrust newspaper readers and television viewers have with media. These lapses of judgment -- or memory -- reinforce the skeptics who claim that traditional news media are tainted with bias. There can be no compromise. There's too much at stake," Foote says.

To restore faith in "NBC Nightly News," Foote says, NBC News president Deborah Turness needs to take several drastic steps, including having Williams resign. Foote notes that longtime "CBS Evening News" anchor Dan Rather left his job after reporting false documentation of President George W. Bush's National Guard duty.

Williams, Foote says, "must follow suit," adding that his misstating of the helicopter incident in Iraq "only exacerbates a growing problem with his obsession with self-promotion." That promotion included Williams appearing on "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon" in "Slow Jamming the News" segments and his not-so-subtle on-air mentions of his daughter Allison starring in NBC's live presentation of "Peter Pan" this past December, Foote says. The latter, he says, "truly became a gratuitous and particularly embarrassing display."

"NBC News needs to restrict future anchors from courting celebrity. Network news, which still garners tens of millions of viewers, needs to maintain its commitment to news," Foote says. "Perhaps I'm old school, but Walter Cronkite and Bernard Shaw were journalists first and always."

He noted that, in a note to his staff, Williams vowed to return to NBC News and continue his career-long effort "to be worthy of the trust of those who place their trust in us."

"Williams has violated that trust. He must accept the responsibility and bow out -- not so gracefully -- to make way for a new anchor who can re-establish NBC News' reputation as a credible news source. That also can help me restore faith in the next generation of journalists," Foote says.

More thoughts from Foote are available on his blog. He may be reached at 214-448-3765 or at foote@unt.edu.