New York, Tuesday
NBC News President Michael Gartner today announced his resignation.
The organisation is facing criticism over a rigged crash test and other
credibility issues.
In a letter to staff, Mr Gartner said he had originally planned to
leave the network between August 1 and October 25, but had decided to
hasten his departure.
''Given the publicity of late, I think it best to announce it now, in
hopes that this will take the spotlight off all of us and enable us to
concentrate fully on our business,'' Mr Gartner said.
A source within the news division said that Mr Gartner was ''basically
fired.''
The NBC news division, already reeling from budget and staff cutbacks,
suffered a damaging blow when a report on November 17 in the news
magazine show Dateline about General Motors trucks was questioned.
NBC ultimately admitted that it made a mistake in a testing procedure
used to show that the trucks were unsafe.
NBC News has been a beleaguered institution during Mr Gartner's
tenure.
He was criticised for his decision to identify the alleged rape victim
in the trial of William Kennedy Smith. The woman, Patricia Bowman, had
asked for anonymity although she later agreed to go public.
Mr Gartner also presided over cutbacks in bureaus and staffing levels
to save money, especially in overseas news.
Its evening newscast is consistently No. 3 in the ratings behind ABC
and CBS. The Today show, once the dominant force in morning television,
now lags slightly behind ABC's Good Morning America.
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