According to reports, the viewership for 'NBC Nightly News' lost over 700,000 viewers last week, which is presumably connected to the recent controversy surrounding its anchor, Brian Williams.

For those that may not know, Brian Williams is under-fire for publicly recanting a heroic story, one from 2003. The anchor lied about being in a helicopter that was hit by enemy fire during his time in Iraq, twelve years ago.

As a result, Williams has been suspended from his post behind the news desk for six months, and this, or the controversy in general, has taken a toll on 'NBC Nightly News' viewership.

According to ratings analyst Andrew Tyndall via New York Post, "If you look at year over year, this makes NBC look really bad," adding, "NBC had the Olympics last year, and they always get a boost."

What's worse is the timing of the loss in viewership, apparently, NYP says that winter is the toughest month for ratings, as it's the most competitive season for newscasts.

Stepping into a reason for the shift in channel flipping, Tyndall says, "Whenever there's a big change and a lot of publicity around that change - like the Williams situation - there's going to be a lot of extra sampling," adding,"Traditionally, viewers of one program check out the other one, so we can expect a lot of churning in the numbers."

He goes on to add, "News ratings are historically the lowest in summer and the highest in winter, when it's cold and people stay indoors," he said, "This is the most competitive time of the year ... And keep in mind that [ABC's] 'World News Tonight' was making inroads against NBC even before the Williams scandal."

Last but not least, NBC has launched an investigation into other things Brian Williams might not have been truthful about in the past. Beyond that, they've stripped Williams' name from the lead title card for 'NBC Nightly News'.