Brian Williams announced Saturday that he will be leaving his anchor position on NBC Nightly News for several days. He admitted that the recent criticism he has received was becoming a distraction for the network.

Williams said that Dateline anchor Lester Holt would be standing in for him in a memo to the NBC News staff. He is reportedly stepping in while the network deals with Williams’s criticism.

He has been scrutinized for misleading the public on a helicopter situation in Iraq in which he claimed he was in a helicopter that was hit by enemy fire. In the memo, Williams stated that it has “become painfully apparent” to him that he has become “too much a part of the news” due to his actions. 

Williams is both an anchor for NBC Nightly News and a managing editor. He did not say when he will be returning to the program. However, he said that when he does return, he will work to “be worthy of the trust” of the people who put their trust in the program.

Quinnipiac University journalism professor Richard F. Hanley said that Williams’s decision to take leave will help him avoid his newscast being overshadowed by his issues. Hanley added that the audience would be focusing on him instead of the news he was reporting.

Hanley stated it would be “impossible for him to be a confident” news reader until his problems are cleared up. His news to take leave came just one day after NBC was beginning an internal investigation to fact-check Williams. The investigation, led by Richard Esposito, will include the Iraq incident along with other reports, such as reports on Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

Williams’s actions have caused many to place his career under a microscope. Additionally, others are beginning to question the credibility of NBC’s news division. Mark Feldstein, a previous NBC News employee, said that he could be one “bad apple.” However, he admitted that Williams came from “the system.”