UPDATE: ABC News released the following statement in response to reports in the British press:
An MRI scan recently discovered a small growth on Martin Bashir’s pituitary gland. Bashir’s doctors have advised that no immediate action be taken as they monitor the situation month to month.
Bashir is feeling well as he continues to keep a full schedule anchoring and reporting for ABC News.
MARTIN Bashir – the British TV reporter who conducted headline-making interviews with Princess Diana and Michael Jackson before becoming an anchor for “Nightline” – has a brain tumor.
The tumor was discovered while he was being treated after banging his head on the Times Square studio set of the ABC late-night news show.
The tumor in his pituitary gland is small, according to reports, and doctors have no plans yet to remove it. He has returned to work since the discovery as doctors monitor its growth.
But it was a bad bump on the head just before he was set to anchor “Nightline” that may have saved his life, sources told London’s Daily Mail. Last April 18, just as Bashir was preparing to go on the air, he stood up from his chair and banged his head on an overhanging light. He was taken to the hospital for stitches.
When he was still in pain the next day, he returned to the hospital where tests were performed and a tumor was found.
“If he hadn’t had the knock to his head, he would never have known about the tumor,” a source told the paper.
While potentially very dangerous, the tumor had not affected the newsman.
He anchored “Nightline” last week and is set to go to LA this week to do a story, the spokesman said.