Brian Williams lied. He put himself above the news he was reporting on. He's not alone. Over the years, I have read in the Times about a Pulitzer Prize winner who lied about military service in Vietnam and an author who lied about his experiences during the Holocaust. The common thread seems to be a deeply felt need to enhance one's own credibility or authenticity. Whatever the reason may be, Mr. Williams has damaged his own credibility and the credibility of NBC News. He should resign.
39
I think there have been more downfalls by people who may have been in a war zone, and respond to their time there confused, accused and held responsible for their actions and comments by those of us who would probably have the same or similar comments or actions ... there is no problem Waterboarding at the time ... but when all is done, we look back at it as a crime ... but tankful for the crime at the time. You wouldn't believe the Fish that I caught!!! (actually I don't fish).
Dowd is right about "narcissism"-- it is the core of TV news and social media. It combined with celebrity status probably drove the pompous Williams to his greater depths of pathological "embellishing".
21
Stolen valor. You can't do from a desk in New York, what NBC foreign correspondent Richard Engel endured, dodging shrapnel and be captured and held hostage. This is newsreaders trying to make themselves part of the news they're supposed to be reading to us in order to boost their personal ratings and paychecks. Unlike newspapers and radio, television is visual. It seems weather reporters must go to the location of the storm and stand in the wind and rain in order to tell us it's windy and raining. Pity the poor cameraman. Just get out of the viewfinder and give us the news.
29
"[Regarding] ... the “moral authority” of the networks, does anyone really feel that way anymore?"
Well put. When Dan Rather was forced out in 2000 over mere accusations of inadequate story verification, the old broadcast news anchors were still indeed perceived as Journalists. The pre-blog Internet was still too wild-eyed to be a sole source.
The new century is in its adolescence now, and audiences receive their news from the Internet. People get a sense of what the actual headline news of the day is by comparing their favorite sources on the Net. Legacy news shows are pure entainment now, selling continuity to an aging demographic, feel-good silliness, and the promise of better living through pharmaceuticals.
No one believes that Brian Williams is a journalist ... and he shouldn't be held accountable to a standard that no longer exists.
Well put. When Dan Rather was forced out in 2000 over mere accusations of inadequate story verification, the old broadcast news anchors were still indeed perceived as Journalists. The pre-blog Internet was still too wild-eyed to be a sole source.
The new century is in its adolescence now, and audiences receive their news from the Internet. People get a sense of what the actual headline news of the day is by comparing their favorite sources on the Net. Legacy news shows are pure entainment now, selling continuity to an aging demographic, feel-good silliness, and the promise of better living through pharmaceuticals.
No one believes that Brian Williams is a journalist ... and he shouldn't be held accountable to a standard that no longer exists.
16
Last year Lester Holt acknowledged being "busted" when a video of him giving a harrowing report on a major storm revealed a huge fan was employed to show him braving the tempest. Now he is to stand in for Williams. When it comes to truth telling, he is at least as creative as Williams. Thanks NBC!
34
Wikipedia says re Cronkite: Cronkite was one of eight journalists selected by the United States Army Air Forces to fly bombing raids over Germany in a B-17 Flying Fortress part of group called the Writing 69th, and during a mission fired a machine gun at a German fighter. He also landed in a glider with the 101st Airborne in Operation Market-Garden and covered the Battle of the Bulge. After the war, he covered the Nuremberg trials and served as the United Press main reporter in Moscow from 1946 to 1948.[19]
22
If you don't watch the first 8 minutes of the broadcast, you miss all the hard news. The sad thing is, the more the networks try to win the rating wars, the less news they present.
27
How could you leave aside Fox News, the best entertainment of them all? Where you don't have to give real news (just have to say "some people are saying"), put pretty women, and shows with people screaming, I meant arguing with each other? I know, everybody does it, but they are so much better at it, and they have the audience to prove it!
39
The evening news just had its coffin nailed shut. It joins its brethren, the recently-deceased newspapers and the long-dead morning news. Idiots turn to social media, where real news is indistinguishable from photos of Kim K's posterior. Ironically, the only truth left is on Comedy Central and HBO. Whodathunk?
47
Williams deserves to have his tale kicked out - for good.
News anchor must have credibility and the trust of the public.
If they want drama, go to the E! Network.
News anchor must have credibility and the trust of the public.
If they want drama, go to the E! Network.
16
Sounds like Brian Williams could not help himself otherwise why would a man at the top of his career with stellar ratings thinks he needed to make up stories of himself.
At the end of the day Mr. Williams comes off as an insecure man , and what a way to end a career.
Story of a man who never grew up !
At the end of the day Mr. Williams comes off as an insecure man , and what a way to end a career.
Story of a man who never grew up !
29
Imagine Walter Cronkite exposing Bush's lies amidst the futility of the Iraq adventure.
Imagine Walter Cronkite presenting a serious issue like, hey, it's 2005, and Flip This House isn't just a TV show--it's a pyramid scheme wherein tens of thousands of Americans are buying a currency (housing) that will soar until it crashes. Imagine Cronkite then explaining how the Fed has enabled this madly expanding bubble with its loose money policy.
Imagine Walter Cronkite discussing a serious issue like, hey, it's this week and our President is being excoriated for pointing out that Islam isn't the only belief system that has been evoked to justify murder and mayhem. Cronkite might encourage windbags like Bill Donohue to blow themselves out and then dryly comment that exceptionalism has always been a Christian as well as a Muslim aspiration.
But we don't have Walter Cronkite to kick our consciences around any more. Instead, we have entertainer manques who have gotten gigs presenting whatever news passes muster with the broadcaster's corporate host.
I'd like to review Mr. Williams' reporting of ...
... the Valerie Plame outing. I wonder how many official lies he repeated.
... the WMD claims ... the Bush Administration's firing of the insufficiently partisan prosecutors ... the "lost" $9 billion in Baghdad.
... Chelsea Manning, a brave kid who exposed multiple lies that propped up official evil in Iraq.
But Williams lied about being in a helicopter! Now that's just too much.
Imagine Walter Cronkite presenting a serious issue like, hey, it's 2005, and Flip This House isn't just a TV show--it's a pyramid scheme wherein tens of thousands of Americans are buying a currency (housing) that will soar until it crashes. Imagine Cronkite then explaining how the Fed has enabled this madly expanding bubble with its loose money policy.
Imagine Walter Cronkite discussing a serious issue like, hey, it's this week and our President is being excoriated for pointing out that Islam isn't the only belief system that has been evoked to justify murder and mayhem. Cronkite might encourage windbags like Bill Donohue to blow themselves out and then dryly comment that exceptionalism has always been a Christian as well as a Muslim aspiration.
But we don't have Walter Cronkite to kick our consciences around any more. Instead, we have entertainer manques who have gotten gigs presenting whatever news passes muster with the broadcaster's corporate host.
I'd like to review Mr. Williams' reporting of ...
... the Valerie Plame outing. I wonder how many official lies he repeated.
... the WMD claims ... the Bush Administration's firing of the insufficiently partisan prosecutors ... the "lost" $9 billion in Baghdad.
... Chelsea Manning, a brave kid who exposed multiple lies that propped up official evil in Iraq.
But Williams lied about being in a helicopter! Now that's just too much.
47
I quit watching teevee news years ago.
Although I must say that Brian Williams' turn on "30 Rock" made me laugh...uneasily.
Although I must say that Brian Williams' turn on "30 Rock" made me laugh...uneasily.
16
Brian Williams is toast. I'm sure NBC will replace him within a week or so.
25
I can only think of Bob Woodward of ABC News when he was blown up covering the Iraq war, along with his photo man. They both suffered grievous injuries. Woodward was in a coma for more than 6 weeks. His head and face took horrible damage by the blast. Shame, shame, shame on you Mr. Williams. I will write to every sponsor of his show starting Monday even though he took a leave.
42
Brian Williams never had much sway with me since I felt if you were a news anchor on TV and I was constantly being telegraphed your politics ... well you would probably see me reaching for the remote. It becomes a soap opera and repetitious to a point of banality.
What I find even more disturbing, now, is to find out that he was not only the anchor but "managing editor." Oy vey, this is not going to end well for Mr. Brian. The fact that he may get a "get out of jail" pass on this because others have committed sins far worst, is the plague of our time.
What I find even more disturbing, now, is to find out that he was not only the anchor but "managing editor." Oy vey, this is not going to end well for Mr. Brian. The fact that he may get a "get out of jail" pass on this because others have committed sins far worst, is the plague of our time.
11
And to think they had the rare real deal with Ann Curry, and let her slip right through their fingers. Boy, do they ever need her now.
22
He should go. Think of an analogous action in any other job and it would get one fired. How could he not know? That claim compounds the first mistake.
15
Brian Williams and his cohorts on all the other network news desks have such vast resources at their every whim that they don't even need to be aware of the news. They are not journalists, they are news-reading puppets. They show up with their perfect teeth and hair and recite the news, written by other people, into a teleprompter.
Here's an idea, networks: Take some of the huge salaries you pay to pretend journalists, hire some real journalists at a decent salary, keep them safe in dangerous parts of the world, and you may get real reportage in return.
In the meantime, "American journalism" remains an oxymoron.
Here's an idea, networks: Take some of the huge salaries you pay to pretend journalists, hire some real journalists at a decent salary, keep them safe in dangerous parts of the world, and you may get real reportage in return.
In the meantime, "American journalism" remains an oxymoron.
43
Hubris comes to mind...Williams so self-confident that he would exaggerate events, changing them to fantasy in an attempt to elevate himself to mythical proportion. This is symptomatic of most "news" outlets, which can't distinguish between actual news and mere attention grabbing.
9
play it mo (and play it again), "...the nightly news anchors are not figures of authority, they're part of the entertainment, branding and cross-promotion business."
performers, the lot of 'em, the ken and barbie anchors and most of the so-called reporters, from the "faces" and poses they make (often put on for the reverse angles shot after the actual interviews) to the voices (editorial opinion-tones if you will) of everything from tsk, tsk disapproval of celebrity hijinx to the awww reflex when cats kiss dogs... (personal favorite: the uncomprehending glaze that goes with reading of news way beyond grasp).
performers, the lot of 'em, the ken and barbie anchors and most of the so-called reporters, from the "faces" and poses they make (often put on for the reverse angles shot after the actual interviews) to the voices (editorial opinion-tones if you will) of everything from tsk, tsk disapproval of celebrity hijinx to the awww reflex when cats kiss dogs... (personal favorite: the uncomprehending glaze that goes with reading of news way beyond grasp).
9
Williams is just another wannabe that got exposed. Move along folks. Nothing to see here.
24
He's negotiating for a severance package as we speak. David Gregory got 4 million. Brian, a more adept deceiver, will surely try to get more. Will he negotiate for more coverage for his daughter? For more puppy videos? Will his recent knee replacement which he covered from his home on the beach be updated regularly? Will Dr. Nancy Schneiderman become NBC's restaurant critic? Everything seems to be up to Deborah Turness who seems to enjoy taking her time. To quote Miranda Priestly in The devil Wore Prada: "Oh, by all means, move at a glacial pace. You know how that thrills me."
29
My Dad was in the RAF. He was a Rigger. Most of the Vets he knew had similar, unglamorous jobs. He always found it humorous that those same Vets would go from simple line cook to Commando after six beers at the legion. When it comes to embellishment, no one tops the Vets.
17
I still miss Uncle Walter.
19
TV News wasn't part of the entertainment division of these networks in Cronkite's time. The FCC's de-regulation of what once was called 'public affairs programming" had a lot to do with it, but that's a bell that can't be unrung, what with people's choices now including "news" from cable and the internet. If the networks returned to Cronkite-style news even fewer would watch and those networks would make their 'entertainment" even more sensationalist to make up the ratings. The good news is that PBS is still there every night to give you a news hour that is an actual hour of news presented professionally. I highly recommend it. The NBC Evening News and it's threadbare broadcast counterparts aren't going to change after Brian Williams is gone
16
If you want honest and comprehensive world news reporting, give a look at Al Jezeera (in English - they do other languages), if you can get it. Don't be put off, just try it for a day or two I think, and you will see the difference in reporting. No "star" reporters.
23
Mr. Williams told Jimmy Fallon that Williams was a 15 hour community college loser on a recent Tonight Show. People who may feel under qualified or somehow fraudulent conflate their resumes. He dropped out of college and was anchoring. Walter Cronkite dropped out of UT and Peter Jennings did not attend college. Perhaps Williams conflated to cover some sense of shame. As a viewing public holds some in the business to a higher standard few today ever saw a live Cronkite broadcast. Cronkite would not edit or reshoot an interview to suit a politician but today journalist will interview on bended knee. Williams may be fired for lying about the conflict he covered while politicians are not held to that standard. Few today know of Ed Murrow's take down of Joseph McCarthy but have heard Chuck Todd say if they ask hard questions no one would be on their show. It has been a show for along time. Holding Williams to this standard in today's business is an indictment of our culture and Williams is a sacrificial lamb. The new business will continue as usual. Ronan Farrow and Luke Russert will feel
12
That away...it is about time in the "mainstream" told it like it is. The Stewarts, Colberts, etc are the Murrow's of our day, whereas the rest are merely clowns parroting what "big brother" wants what is to be told to the herd.
12
"The nightly news anchors are not figures of authority. They’re part of the entertainment, branding and cross-promotion business."
Maureen Dowd summarizes what the majority of the 25-54 year-old demographic feels about Nightly News broadcasts from any news outlets. The days of Brokaw, Kronkite and Murrow are gone. We have the internet now. You can keep your cable and network TV news. Our demographic isn't interested.
Maureen Dowd summarizes what the majority of the 25-54 year-old demographic feels about Nightly News broadcasts from any news outlets. The days of Brokaw, Kronkite and Murrow are gone. We have the internet now. You can keep your cable and network TV news. Our demographic isn't interested.
60
Ms. Dowd:
You have done a fine job pulling the pieces together. I don't watch any news on T.V. anymore. I haven't for years. I remember my father's serious attitude about watching the news when I was a kid. Cronkite, Huntley, Brinkly et. al. The bizarre and dysfunctional society we live in now avoids gravitas at all costs.
Mr. Williams is the epitome of that society. A nation that thinks who you pretend to be is so valuablev it precludes the need for authenticity.
As you well know, W, was the presidential embodiment of this, preening and posturing and talking the talk. Underneath it all the the lack of self-esteem must gnaw at their soul.
It leads them to strange and dark places they don't like to visit .I pity them. But I cannot forgive the damage done to the country by their childish lack of regard for the positions they held. But, they also reflect who we are and what we are willing to accept. Our society is filled with the macho posturing emboldened by these shining examples. We are awash with wannabees. How we got here is a long and winding tale. However, consider
this: Reagan, Clinton ,Dubya, Cheney and the rest of that ship of fools were all draft-dodgers. Cowboy hats and tall tales, There is always room in war for one more. Failing to live up to childhood dreams when your moment arrives shouldn't qualify anyone to set foreign policy or start a war.Quite a legacy. Mission Accomplished ! .
-
that is embolderned
You have done a fine job pulling the pieces together. I don't watch any news on T.V. anymore. I haven't for years. I remember my father's serious attitude about watching the news when I was a kid. Cronkite, Huntley, Brinkly et. al. The bizarre and dysfunctional society we live in now avoids gravitas at all costs.
Mr. Williams is the epitome of that society. A nation that thinks who you pretend to be is so valuablev it precludes the need for authenticity.
As you well know, W, was the presidential embodiment of this, preening and posturing and talking the talk. Underneath it all the the lack of self-esteem must gnaw at their soul.
It leads them to strange and dark places they don't like to visit .I pity them. But I cannot forgive the damage done to the country by their childish lack of regard for the positions they held. But, they also reflect who we are and what we are willing to accept. Our society is filled with the macho posturing emboldened by these shining examples. We are awash with wannabees. How we got here is a long and winding tale. However, consider
this: Reagan, Clinton ,Dubya, Cheney and the rest of that ship of fools were all draft-dodgers. Cowboy hats and tall tales, There is always room in war for one more. Failing to live up to childhood dreams when your moment arrives shouldn't qualify anyone to set foreign policy or start a war.Quite a legacy. Mission Accomplished ! .
-
that is embolderned
10
Personally, I stopped watching any of the "network" news shows once they became more interested in promoting their own shows ie; the voice, and all of their other poorly watched shows. I agree it has become nothing but an entertainment show, the news they push is agenda driven, and I personally can get my news from other more trustworthy sources thankfully. How it is that Brian WIlliams can get crucified for embellishing his stories, while at the same time NBC gives the tax evader Al Sharpton his own show, they hypocrisy is laughable, and I hope the whole thing collapses on itself due to their lies and corruption. They won't be missed.
6
For me, even though I unplugged a year or more ago, and don't miss the non-national/international network news every night, I fill up daily with the New York Times. I don't know what to say about Mr. Williams, other than I'm disgusted. It also seems sad and tragic to me as well. Inflating his resume, at this time in his career? What for? Ms. Dowd's analysis to me seems very sound indeed. I much prefer reading over listening. I learn so much more this way!
4
At first, I was shocked reading about Brian Williams and his lying about his war experience, but then, I thought about the transformation of what the evening news has actually become. There is no real investigative reporting anymore, all the stations are completely corporate owned and it's more entertainment than actual news. I remember when all of the news stations pushed the Iraq war and there were no hard questions regarding the lies about the " Weapons Of Mass Destruction " in Iraq. Brian Williams now belongs to our politician's liars club...right up there with the climate deniers and trickle down economics pushers.
7
What comes to mind are two well known points:
our news is censored; it also is treated as entertainment when it is at its lowest ebb.
Don't attractive anchors give the public the glamour that it demands?
Also, where will one find an unattractive Member in our congress?
After this flap over BW, maybe The PBS News Hour will rise in the estimation of the public. If so, then that's a good thing.
our news is censored; it also is treated as entertainment when it is at its lowest ebb.
Don't attractive anchors give the public the glamour that it demands?
Also, where will one find an unattractive Member in our congress?
After this flap over BW, maybe The PBS News Hour will rise in the estimation of the public. If so, then that's a good thing.
7
Any TV news show, network or local, involves more than one person. Where was the producer and the other crew members? The fact checkers? All those wizards who write the promos for new medications that might cure whatever? Williams, like so many of my gender who pad their background or show off their bravado, got caught up in Hubris. No network newsman ever resembled Hemingway who lived like he really loved death. What TV news really needs is a clone of Hunter S. Thonpson.
6
Time to watch the 1976 movie Network again, and marvel at its prescience and poigniance.
13
Since when did memory become "truth"? I would encourage those that believe that Brian Williams' consciously misled to read neurologist Oliver Sacks' essay title Speak, Memory for insight.
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2013/feb/21/speak-memory/
Hang in there Brian. Dr. Sacks as well as millions of other human beings, including myself, have done the same thing.
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2013/feb/21/speak-memory/
Hang in there Brian. Dr. Sacks as well as millions of other human beings, including myself, have done the same thing.
8
Are there any true journalists left? If so, where are they reporting? Not here, not on TV, nowhere as far as I can tell.
12
What a damn joke this entire affair is. Brian W.'s lie is laughably bad, but the news organization's attempt to paint a veneer of respectability for themselves by painting him bad is far worse. Really? Do they really think they earned it?
3
Brian Williams' "misremembering" iss indicative of a character flaw that seemed to be known only to him. Why would anyone with his looks, professional success, and great voice and delivery choose to mess with the truth in this fashion? Maureen's column blames it on the "news anchor" phenomenon rather than the simple explanation that lying (from a major network news anchor) is just plain wrong period.
6
As you correctly point out, there was one and will only be one Walter Cronkite, despite Tom Brokaw's very persistent delusion to the contrary.
The thing I liked about Brian Williams was exactly that, he seemed to "get" that, and had the wherewithal and good sense not to slip on that superhero newsman cape.
Sure, he shamelessly courted celebrity and it appears now that he may have become "confused" about some past events, but he always seemed like such a "regular" guy, a guy you really could have a beer with.
As with many people that scale such heights, crossing the finish line never seems to be enough, they just can't stop running even though the race is over.
The thing I liked about Brian Williams was exactly that, he seemed to "get" that, and had the wherewithal and good sense not to slip on that superhero newsman cape.
Sure, he shamelessly courted celebrity and it appears now that he may have become "confused" about some past events, but he always seemed like such a "regular" guy, a guy you really could have a beer with.
As with many people that scale such heights, crossing the finish line never seems to be enough, they just can't stop running even though the race is over.
2
This whole episode makes me sad but I'm not surprised. If Walter Cronkite were alive he'd cringe at what "news" has become. If Brian Williams is bounced I imagine he'll have a great career in entertainment. He's funny, clever, and quick. Maybe this should have been his career all along. I nominate Richard Engel as his successor, a true newsman.
17
The irony in this comment thread is just so thick you could cut it with a knife.
Dozens, hundreds of people opining confidently based on rumor, repeating things other posters said without sourcing which are then repeated as fact - things they think they remember hearing - things that have been repeated in the media that no one remembers the origin of - things they're sure about because they heard or saw it themselves - things they believe must be true because they feel so strongly about it ...
Ahem?
Dozens, hundreds of people opining confidently based on rumor, repeating things other posters said without sourcing which are then repeated as fact - things they think they remember hearing - things that have been repeated in the media that no one remembers the origin of - things they're sure about because they heard or saw it themselves - things they believe must be true because they feel so strongly about it ...
Ahem?
10
One lie usually leads to another lie and Americans love to be lied to. Most of us somehow believe our stories aren't good enough and need some embellishment.
3
Maybe it's time for the networks to rethink their model for news programs. What is gained by sending the anchors to "report" in news hotspots? Let anchors anchor, pay them a more reasonable wage and hire some real reporters who can go beyond breathless outrage and tepid interviews. It's not an accident that the nightly news programs are so interchangeable and so forgettable.
65
First questions that came to mind; Was it the Pay-day?, the Ratings?...or, just your basic hubris? Whatever the answer or answers, we have witnessed the disgrace of one of the Network's prime Golden-boys, who has been pretty much walking on water up until now.
It's no secret that the entertainment factor trumps the news in every reportage, and it won't be long before the next News Anchor appears, only to outdone by some bigger fabrication, or distortion of the truth. A sad footnote to Mr. Williams career, and the media circus that TV news has become.
It's no secret that the entertainment factor trumps the news in every reportage, and it won't be long before the next News Anchor appears, only to outdone by some bigger fabrication, or distortion of the truth. A sad footnote to Mr. Williams career, and the media circus that TV news has become.
4
Good column. But just because we don't need Williams doesn't need we don't need him replaced. Next, please....
3
I stopped watching the news years ago because it became so lightweight. I get my news from reading several papers and listening to NPR. I'll have to confess, I never heard of Brian Williams until this recent scandal.
The public gives too much credit to news anchors. For the most part, they are simply good-looking people with good speech reading a simplistic script.
The public gives too much credit to news anchors. For the most part, they are simply good-looking people with good speech reading a simplistic script.
8
Hey, guys, US network news is just entertainment bait for advertising. It's ratings that matter, because they feed the money machine that rewards owners and greases politicians. So Brian mixed in a little fiction. All right, but did he tell a good story?
1
When the newscasters and reporters of PBS News Hour start acting as if they were part of the story and not reporting the story, then I will cease to turn on my TV with the intention of hearing well reported news.
One thing that I have never understood is how so many people like Williams gets caught in their own lies after spending hours reporting how OTHERS have gotten caught in lies and deception. Surely they must realize that eventually all that isn't true will, in today's world, eventually surface and bite them in the ankle.
When I was very young and the radio was all that one had other than magazines and newspapers, we didn't always get the full story on any story very likely if it was negative in any way towards the great and famous and we stayed happily ignorant. For people such as Williams, they would have loved it back then.
One thing that I have never understood is how so many people like Williams gets caught in their own lies after spending hours reporting how OTHERS have gotten caught in lies and deception. Surely they must realize that eventually all that isn't true will, in today's world, eventually surface and bite them in the ankle.
When I was very young and the radio was all that one had other than magazines and newspapers, we didn't always get the full story on any story very likely if it was negative in any way towards the great and famous and we stayed happily ignorant. For people such as Williams, they would have loved it back then.
1
We are used to see journalists getting in trouble for telling the truth.
This is a rare occasion in which one of them is under fire for telling a lie.
This is a rare occasion in which one of them is under fire for telling a lie.
3
Where is The Rachel Maddow Show in all this discussion of news?
Stewart, Colbert, Oliver deserve their accolades, but Rachel Maddow provides not just news, but background, context, and good old-fashioned muckraking. She's our Lincoln Steffens of the 21st century.
msnbc has several excellent shows. Want reporting on TTP? Watch The Ed Show. Not only does he cover the story, he chastises other news providers with their failure to cover such an important story. Lawrence O'Donnell, too, provides news and analysis worth watching.
But Rachel Maddow is the real thing. I suffer withdrawal on weekends, when she's off the air, and I resent it when she takes a well deserved vacation.
Not everyone on msnbc is worth watching, to be sure. But as a former print and broadcast journalist myself, I respect and admire her work, her dedication, and her understanding of what it means to be a reporter.
Thank you, Ms, Maddow.
Brian Williams could learn a great deal from you.
Stewart, Colbert, Oliver deserve their accolades, but Rachel Maddow provides not just news, but background, context, and good old-fashioned muckraking. She's our Lincoln Steffens of the 21st century.
msnbc has several excellent shows. Want reporting on TTP? Watch The Ed Show. Not only does he cover the story, he chastises other news providers with their failure to cover such an important story. Lawrence O'Donnell, too, provides news and analysis worth watching.
But Rachel Maddow is the real thing. I suffer withdrawal on weekends, when she's off the air, and I resent it when she takes a well deserved vacation.
Not everyone on msnbc is worth watching, to be sure. But as a former print and broadcast journalist myself, I respect and admire her work, her dedication, and her understanding of what it means to be a reporter.
Thank you, Ms, Maddow.
Brian Williams could learn a great deal from you.
19
The pathology of celebrity shows through. He had to know that someday he would be outed, yet he kept the pretense up. "Mirror, mirror on the wall, whose the best newscaster of them all?" Ans: There is no news anymore dummy, it's all entertainment. We arrived at 1975 and the theme of Network.
5
There is no "glory" in sitting in a Chinook helicopter that takes a round. There's glory in steering a gunship into an attack on an enemy position.
1
Nailed it. I also think of Ed Murrow and CBS Reports' "Harvest of Shame" as examples of courageous journalism. And radio is less susceptible to being corrupted by the "appearance is reality" ethic that has taken hold. Maybe that's why NPR has a huge audience. I'm wondering if the TV watching public will completely lose their trust in journalism as more and more digital fakery is produced, blurring the line between fact and fiction even more. Your great article, if it were longer, might have included outlets like The Real News and Vice to show that gutsy news is being produced -- but not at the Network level.
6
TV "news" is all about producing a narrative. Brian Williams fell because he thought he could be that narrative. And in way that he did not expect, he succeeded. Next narrative, please.
1
A different CBS News correspondent named Williams, Holly Williams, and her colleague, Elizabeth Palmer also of CBS, and Richard Engel of NBC, constantly take extraordinary risks to get the story. They do this not only because they are courageous, but because they seek the real story, the truth. Anchormen who fictionalize the story to gin up their own credentials do a disservice to the countless correspondents who actually do place themselves in harms' way. Brian Williams has lost something that is indispensable for anyone in the news business: credibility.
10
There is no way for Brian Williams to repair or salvage his career. "I apologize" and "I'm sorry" won't help. His own profession is on a feeding frenzy picking over his bones, perhaps rightfully so. There's been no one approaching Murrow, Cronkite or Sevareid on the news for a long time. Charlie Rose comes close at times, but he only takes that next step when he's broadcasting on PBS.
The media should be using the same outrage on today's politicians that they're using on Brian Williams.
The media should be using the same outrage on today's politicians that they're using on Brian Williams.
7
Blistering article. It's been known for the better part of the last ten years in many newsrooms that Williams has zero credibility and is a malignant narcissistic pompous jerk.
11
Maureen can you understand that no one cares about the press? They are a flock of liars and that's all that need be said.
3
Gotta hand it to Maureen Dowd. This column says it all about Brian Williams "conflating", embellishing and out right lying about being on a downed helicopter in Iraq. She also nails it about the national evening news degenerating into weather reports and fluff that serious reporters wouldn't touch with a 10 foot pole.
7
Unlike Brian Williams, I cannot tell a lie. I discovered PBS and the MacNeil Lehrer News and haven't watched a commercial television ad-filled news broadcast since. So I actually have never seen Brian Williams or Diane Sawyer or any other anchor (sorry, can't name them) since the mid 1970's. When I discovered NPR around 1982, I stopped turning on TV to get ready for work in the morning, too. So I missed everyone since Jane Pauley and Bryant Gumbel were on Today. And you know what? I'm glad I did for all the reasons Maureen Dowd describes in her column. As far as I'm concerned, firing Brian Williams would be as good an excuse as any to quit commercial news broadcasts period. How's that for looking ahead?
6
So Williams is on leave? He shouldn't come back. The news business may be in decline but integrity is basically all that really holds it up, unless of course your Fox News. Maybe Williams ought to join up with them instead since stretching the truth is their trademark.
5
Disappointed? Of course not, we haven't had a professional media for decades. Why would we expect them to start now?
5
This is the swiftest Swift Boating I have seen. It's interesting that most of the stories on this include anonymous NBC employees, oh the release of pent up Boss Hate. The feeding frenzy is more entertaining than watching the anchorman frozen in the headlights. It's a Ron Burgundy moment and if it wasn't disrespectful of veterans, it would be funny. Of course, the character with character in this story is the Facebook poster who said, 'Dude, I don't remember you on my aircraft.' He could have said worse things.
2
Williams and Cosby are being held to a higher standard than Hill (sniper firein Bosnia) and Bill. I guess in Hillary's case we don't expect that she will be telling the truth. As for Bill, the legend lives on.
5
Brian is no longer a credible news man and should be relieved of his duties. I will not watch a liar give me the news. Yes, stick a fork in this con man...as he is done.
5
It's a sad truth that the shows about news shows are better than the actual news shows these days. I'm talking about "The Newsroom" and the hilarious "Newsreaders." If I want straight reporting on what's going on in the big, wide world, I go to the BBC. And here, of course. Yep.
I watch the local Network-affiliate news shows to keep on top of what's happening where I live, mostly because my local newspapers are useless. I watch the national news more out of habit than anything. Pretty pictures and a soothing voice. CNN used to report real news, but now they seem to report endlessly on their reporters, alas. I've been recording two excellent English-language news shows out of France for a few months, which was especially interesting during the recent terrorist incidents. And then there's always radio, both the CBC and BBC. I'm afraid NPR reporting and commentary skews a bit too much to the left for me these days. I'm old.
I watch the local Network-affiliate news shows to keep on top of what's happening where I live, mostly because my local newspapers are useless. I watch the national news more out of habit than anything. Pretty pictures and a soothing voice. CNN used to report real news, but now they seem to report endlessly on their reporters, alas. I've been recording two excellent English-language news shows out of France for a few months, which was especially interesting during the recent terrorist incidents. And then there's always radio, both the CBC and BBC. I'm afraid NPR reporting and commentary skews a bit too much to the left for me these days. I'm old.
4
Williams is just another pretty boy announcer, pretty pathetic .
2
I wonder how long it would take the mainstream media to uncover a false claim by a Fox news anchor? Certainly not 11 years. Probably less than 11 seconds.
5
Chris Rock: "Brian Williams becomes the first person ever to be punished for lying about Iraq."
18
Please, can we be serious about this?
"Upon my return, I will continue my career-long effort to be worthy of the trust of those who place their trust in us."
Pretty much says it all. "......... to be worthy of the trust of those who place their trust in us."? Just who would that be?
Oh! By the way, Miss Dowd, that comment about Walter Cronkite?
"One anchor exerted moral authority once and that was Walter Cronkite, because he risked his career to go on TV and tell the truth about the fact that we were losing the Vietnam War."
Would this be the same Walter Cronkite who admitted that in his business you sell out to the dollar? Just asking.
"Upon my return, I will continue my career-long effort to be worthy of the trust of those who place their trust in us."
Pretty much says it all. "......... to be worthy of the trust of those who place their trust in us."? Just who would that be?
Oh! By the way, Miss Dowd, that comment about Walter Cronkite?
"One anchor exerted moral authority once and that was Walter Cronkite, because he risked his career to go on TV and tell the truth about the fact that we were losing the Vietnam War."
Would this be the same Walter Cronkite who admitted that in his business you sell out to the dollar? Just asking.
2
So a guy gets a little confused and conflates his adventure. Anyone here ever read a friends CV and wondered where half the stuff on it came from? What really annoys me is that the liars who got him there in the first place--Bush Cheney Rummie and company--have not been shot down by the righteous seeks of truth.
3
It's much easier to keep your story straight when you always tell the truth.
6
He needs to go.
5
Fire the liar if it's true
1
Most of the anchors today are personalities and readers, not journalists and writers. They cannot come close to attaining the credibility of Cronkrite, Collingswood, Murrow, Huntley, or Brinkley who would have rebelled and scoffed at a news director who wanted to add fluff and banter to a newscast.
Instead of staying at their desks investigating and writing solid stories, anchors today prefer to put on silly costumes and rush to the scene of the latest tragic event or natural disaster. Wearing wading boots in a hurricane or a flak vest 12 miles from a battle does not make you a journalist. It only makes you a performer.
As for NBC, they are as much to blame as Mr. Williams. Surely a crew member or cameraman who accompanied Williams in Iraq must have come forward and told some exec that lies were being told or facts conflated. Someone at the network should have stepped in to stop the farce of Mr. Williams trotting out his narcissistic fabrications on every talk show that needed a ratings boost.
Instead of staying at their desks investigating and writing solid stories, anchors today prefer to put on silly costumes and rush to the scene of the latest tragic event or natural disaster. Wearing wading boots in a hurricane or a flak vest 12 miles from a battle does not make you a journalist. It only makes you a performer.
As for NBC, they are as much to blame as Mr. Williams. Surely a crew member or cameraman who accompanied Williams in Iraq must have come forward and told some exec that lies were being told or facts conflated. Someone at the network should have stepped in to stop the farce of Mr. Williams trotting out his narcissistic fabrications on every talk show that needed a ratings boost.
2
I for one don't mind American not having someone with the purported "moral authority" of a Cronkite telling us what is right and wrong. The proliferation of news cable channels, news sites and other outlets has democratized the news as much as it's dumbed it down.
The fact is, the network news evening broadcasts were becoming dinosaurs even before the AOL days, because people on some level realized that presenting the day's events in 17 minutes meant a highly subjective editing process.
The fact is, the network news evening broadcasts were becoming dinosaurs even before the AOL days, because people on some level realized that presenting the day's events in 17 minutes meant a highly subjective editing process.
1
I'm surprised at his talk of coming back after the internal investigation is done. That is denial for you. The vets would rightly put paid to that notion PDQ.
4
Why didn't Williams come out and say, "I thought I could get away with it and burnish my image instead of making the cowardly apology that I made?"
1
I think Lester Holt should be the permanent replacement.
4
Dear Ms. Dowd,
Mr. Williams, if his ego had let him, might have saved his reputation if he just admitted he "lied" and get on with it. Instead, I do not see a "remorseful because I lied" journalist here but a "damn, I got caught" egomaniac who will, most likely, join Dan Rather in the "dustbin of reporting".
As he should. His lies are a slap in the face to all of our service personnel that have actually "seen the elephant" and those whose last sight was that "elephant" before dying. The nerve of Mr. Williams is unbelievable much like his story as it turns out.
Let me hope that this is the last article I have to read about concerning this poltroon.
Mr. Williams, if his ego had let him, might have saved his reputation if he just admitted he "lied" and get on with it. Instead, I do not see a "remorseful because I lied" journalist here but a "damn, I got caught" egomaniac who will, most likely, join Dan Rather in the "dustbin of reporting".
As he should. His lies are a slap in the face to all of our service personnel that have actually "seen the elephant" and those whose last sight was that "elephant" before dying. The nerve of Mr. Williams is unbelievable much like his story as it turns out.
Let me hope that this is the last article I have to read about concerning this poltroon.
2
No media outlet is exempt from self-promotion that distracts from the news. TV news touts celebrities like Mr. Williams. Tabloid newspapers lead with large and clever headlines. And prestige papers employ celebrity columnists, tell you how many Pulitzers they've won (which are as much political as for merit), and keeps you apprised of any prosecutions that follow from their investigatory journalism even though such prosecutions are generally trivial and not newsworthy. Successful media must sell their product, sometimes at the cost of the truth, and those who suggest otherwise are either oblivious or trying to pull the wool over our eyes.
"I must say I find television very educational. The minute somebody turns it on, I go to the library and read a good book." ~ Groucho Marx
My sentiments exactly.
My sentiments exactly.
12
I always considered Brian Williams the "Ted Baxter" of network news. All hair and voice and no substance. I agree with Maureen that the problems with TV news today go way beyond his lies and self promotion. Perhaps his downfall will prompt serious change in the industry and the way they select anchors.. Williams never earned that anchor spot. He was always a talking head and had never proved himself in the field as the previous generations of network anchors had. He still doesn't get it....the statements he released show that. If NBC wants to retain me a a viewer, I never want to see him behind that anchor desk again.
4
The urge to be on top seems to foster narcism, which is never satisfied because the top keeps getting moved higher and higher. It's the old World War I ditty, "How you going to keep them down on the farm after they've seen Pari?" There doesn't seem to be an ilk like Cronkite and Murrow coming up the journalistic path to greatness. I remember listening every morning on my way to work to that Texas newsman, Dan Rather, go over and attaclk the Watergate scenario because he didn't have any new information. From there he made a big name for himself leap frogging to the national scene on TV. I wonder if that method - rehash, rheas, rehash the same old same old - to climb the ladder of success is the way to do it.
The Press is specifically mentioned in the US Constitution because it is the only thing that is supposed to watch our government, guard against it encroaching on our liberties and help provide an informed citizenry, which is a necessity for our form of government. Now we get lies and cover-ups from the Press that PROTECT the government. The Press has changed from watch dog to lap dog.
2
It is quite sad to see such a trusted figure publicly humiliate himself in this manner. Even when he had one last chance to come clean by admitting "Yes, I embellished the story, I was wrong to do it and I am sorry", he blew it with his "misremembering" nonsense. Clearly the sign of an immature and pathetic man. The ironic thing is that he probably could have saved his career by coming clean - Americans are generally forgiving if you 'fess up. Instead, like old Dick Nixon, I think early retirement is in Mr. Williams' future.
The irony is that there was absolutely no need for him to embellish his story. His credibility as a responsible television journalist had been firmly established. Now, he has placed himself among the likes of Geraldo Rivera whose own wartime reporting has been called into question. No wonder Rivera has rushed to Williams' defense.
1
He thinks he is Al Gore.
2
The reality is that we love a good scandal. The nerve of a TV guy, lying to apple-pie eating, flag-waving America! Williams ain't like the rest of us, who would never stretch the truth to get someone back to our places, or falsify anything on Facebook.
Watch "Broadcast News" with Albert Brooks if you haven't. It's prescient. You get your news from TeeVee (other than PBS), you deserve Brian Williams Inc.
Watch "Broadcast News" with Albert Brooks if you haven't. It's prescient. You get your news from TeeVee (other than PBS), you deserve Brian Williams Inc.
52
Perhaos we crucify him because we are all as Americans lying- about our role in the world as morally correct, when in our hearts and minds we know ourselves to be just like him - pretenders to that self proclaimed moral throne.
1
The entire concept of a nightly news anchor seems outdated and stale.
Absent a Google search, I honestly couldn't tell you, for example, who anchors the evening newscasts of ABC or CBS -- and I've been a news junky for 40 plus years.
Today's news stars tend to come from the right, and it's not all blonde hair and perfect make-up (though TV has always favored both).
The new serious broadcast people instead seem to share traits of old: intense questioning, even to the point of unease; an aversion to fawning; and a reliance on confronting their subjects with often-uncomfortable facts.
Witness, of course, Megyn Kelly's recent front-page profile in the NY Times Magazine.
It was no "puff-piece," as Kelly's friend and colleague Bill O'Reilly jocularly characterized it on-air, but rather what might be a prescient characterization of future news media coverage of its own.
After all, if a Fox News star emerged intact and respectable from a Times investigative profile, surely little of a damaging nature was there.
An indication, perhaps, that self-important inflation in a Twitter-Google world is both pointless and pernicious.
Absent a Google search, I honestly couldn't tell you, for example, who anchors the evening newscasts of ABC or CBS -- and I've been a news junky for 40 plus years.
Today's news stars tend to come from the right, and it's not all blonde hair and perfect make-up (though TV has always favored both).
The new serious broadcast people instead seem to share traits of old: intense questioning, even to the point of unease; an aversion to fawning; and a reliance on confronting their subjects with often-uncomfortable facts.
Witness, of course, Megyn Kelly's recent front-page profile in the NY Times Magazine.
It was no "puff-piece," as Kelly's friend and colleague Bill O'Reilly jocularly characterized it on-air, but rather what might be a prescient characterization of future news media coverage of its own.
After all, if a Fox News star emerged intact and respectable from a Times investigative profile, surely little of a damaging nature was there.
An indication, perhaps, that self-important inflation in a Twitter-Google world is both pointless and pernicious.
The news, back in Cronkite's days, use to be the news as to current happenings. They weren't always accurate because politics and sponsors played a role. Nevertheless they tried to be thoughtful and truthful and were far superior to what we have now. Today we have Fox who just is ridiculous and CNN who can spend two weeks talking about a plane crash with no thought to what else might be going on. And then there is Brian Williams who just keeps running his mouth about personal experiences that never happened. I get so discouraged with all the misinformation. This is what takes us to war and avoids the topics at home that need to be addressed. I'm at a loss to know what we can do to make more sense and less crap.
1
I was never comfortable with that rap crap on fallon's show. Cronkite, Murrow etal wouldn't be caught dead doing that. Anchors are not supposed to act, the trust that they are reporters gets lost.
4
Bravo for pointing out how far network news has run from serious to fluffy in the race for ratings and ad money. Recently we had one of the nightly news shows on while we cooked dinner. I looked up to see the end of a lifestyle piece on some actor whose latest movie had just come out. It wasn't until I saw what time it was that I realized that the news was over, and that this was actually a nightly entertainment show. That stuff has its place, but please don't call it the national news -- not when so much that is important is happening in the world every day. If you want informative, in-depth, and intelligent TV reporting, watch PBS.
2
He obviously tripped over his own ego, big time. Sad to say, but I think he's got to move on. I see a mea culpa memoir and the talk show circuit in his future.
1
These folks have the ethics of their masters not of the past. Simply they don't really matter except to themselves and others too incompetent to realize their lack of worth. Time was firing was immediate for even local news people who took liberties with the facts, but now some are too important.
Uncle Walter told us we're losing the war in Vietnam but we were not, his words gave aid and comfort to the enemy and he was wrong. He was just as wrong then as Williams is now.
1
Maureen Dowd writes in this op-ed: "It seemed pathological because Williams already had the premier job, so why engage in résumé inflation?"
Indeed, it is entirely possible that Brian Williams might be a victim and not a culprit here: "confabulation" is a clinical psychiatric symptom defined as a "production of fabricated, distorted or misinterpreted memories about oneself or the world, without the conscious intention to deceive."
The DSM IV-TR (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition, Text Revision) treats of so-called "amnestic distorders," a few of which involve confabulation as an aspect of memory malfunction.
Even though some of these conditions also entail other obvious symptoms - such as a loss of the ability to form new memories - some type of neuropsychological problem might underlie Mr. Willams's story-telling.
If so, a medically-recognized illness gets the blame, not Brian Williams.
Indeed, it is entirely possible that Brian Williams might be a victim and not a culprit here: "confabulation" is a clinical psychiatric symptom defined as a "production of fabricated, distorted or misinterpreted memories about oneself or the world, without the conscious intention to deceive."
The DSM IV-TR (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition, Text Revision) treats of so-called "amnestic distorders," a few of which involve confabulation as an aspect of memory malfunction.
Even though some of these conditions also entail other obvious symptoms - such as a loss of the ability to form new memories - some type of neuropsychological problem might underlie Mr. Willams's story-telling.
If so, a medically-recognized illness gets the blame, not Brian Williams.
1
I don't understand the fuss concerning Brian William's just so stories about himself. Does anyone really believe the mission of NBC News is to inform the public about the events of the day, to offer analysis and insight about world events and their historical implications, the impact they might have on everyday citizens? Of course not. Brian Williams is an entertainer and NBC News is in the entertainment business, so the unfolding of a fictionalized telling of Mr. Williams' imagined exploits is hardly alarming or even an offense against journalism.
Who would be upset to learn that a short story or novel is not an empirically true recounting of actual events; the writer of fiction is not bound by the limitations of what is real; a story teller entertains us by the artful use of imagination and has no obligation to measure the script being read to his audience against the arbitrary limitations of real, verifiable events.
Of course, if Mr. Williams were a journalist and NBC News engaged in a journalistic undertaking then we would be entitled to be shocked, but that is not the case here and has not been for many years.
Who would be upset to learn that a short story or novel is not an empirically true recounting of actual events; the writer of fiction is not bound by the limitations of what is real; a story teller entertains us by the artful use of imagination and has no obligation to measure the script being read to his audience against the arbitrary limitations of real, verifiable events.
Of course, if Mr. Williams were a journalist and NBC News engaged in a journalistic undertaking then we would be entitled to be shocked, but that is not the case here and has not been for many years.
2
It's all kind of sad, knowing what kind of creatures we can or cannot be -- hopefully we won't have to listen to Fox on the subject -- nightly, they contain white-haired old ladies in the box, by not supplying them reason.
2
Am I disappointed that Mr. Williams exposed himself for what he is: a confused entertainer living a confused existence in a distant place called Rock Center? No. Mr. Williams is one of the journalistic hacks, by no means the only, that drove us into the Iraq War despite a cloud of outright lies and misinformation that hung over the entire operation from the very beginning. He then went over to Iraq and continued to report one lie after another, all the while surrounding himself with our sons and daughters, our fathers and mothers and our sisters, brothers and friends who were fighting and dying for nothing; because, of the lies and misinformation he failed to expose, so he could play at being a war correspondent. As if that wasn't bad enough, now Mr. Williams has been running around for the past 10 years bathing himself in their glory that they earned on the battlefield; but, with that glory comes awful nightmares, mind bending guilt and the terrible dreams of dying comrades calling for their mothers. Mr. Williams had none of that. Now, to top all this mess off, Mr. Williams's final story is: "he is stepping away from the news desk for a few days." Mr. Williams, I would love to tell you this to your lying face: you have stepped away from the news desk forever.
4
I watched his David Letterman segment from 2013. It is clear that
it was not just a mistake. He went on for several minutes describing
events that did not happen. He looked very comfortable lying - and receiving applause from the Letterman audience. He has got to go - permanently!
it was not just a mistake. He went on for several minutes describing
events that did not happen. He looked very comfortable lying - and receiving applause from the Letterman audience. He has got to go - permanently!
7
Brian Williams, always the calm in the storm on the nightly TV news, is now juxtapositioned into the media shark feeding frenzy as if he was Hemingway's Nick Adams after being thrown overboard. Sometimes my clothes dryer makes a loud and clunky sound when I put too many absorbent beach towels and set it at high spin cycle and it reminds me of this loud din when the anchorman becomes the story.
My point is that when I hear the loud tin drum I'm reminded of the plot from the 1976 Sidney Lumet movie, "Network." The movie rotated around the inner workings of prime time TV & its struggle for ratings. In fact, in one scene Howard Beale, the longtime anchor of the Union Broadcasting System's UBS Evening News, learns from the news division president that he's going to be fired because of declining ratings. So he announces on TV that he'll commit suicide on air. UBS fires him although as a last goodbye, he launches into a rant claiming that life is "bull*hit." This causes the newscast's ratings to spike, and the upper echelons of UBS decide to exploit his antics rather than fire him. In one impassioned diatribe, Beale galvanizes the nation, persuading his viewers to shout out of their windows "I'm as mad as hell, & I'm not going to take this anymore!" From then on, the news just becomes more sensationalized in order to maintain viewers. The anchorman becomes part of the shtick & the audience is thrilled w/ entertainment as they sit back on the couch with their microwave dinners.
My point is that when I hear the loud tin drum I'm reminded of the plot from the 1976 Sidney Lumet movie, "Network." The movie rotated around the inner workings of prime time TV & its struggle for ratings. In fact, in one scene Howard Beale, the longtime anchor of the Union Broadcasting System's UBS Evening News, learns from the news division president that he's going to be fired because of declining ratings. So he announces on TV that he'll commit suicide on air. UBS fires him although as a last goodbye, he launches into a rant claiming that life is "bull*hit." This causes the newscast's ratings to spike, and the upper echelons of UBS decide to exploit his antics rather than fire him. In one impassioned diatribe, Beale galvanizes the nation, persuading his viewers to shout out of their windows "I'm as mad as hell, & I'm not going to take this anymore!" From then on, the news just becomes more sensationalized in order to maintain viewers. The anchorman becomes part of the shtick & the audience is thrilled w/ entertainment as they sit back on the couch with their microwave dinners.
2
Dowd thinks maybe Brian was new to the need for "bullets whizzing by" approach to the blow-by anchor job? Do we all remember Dan Rather in his Bogie raincoat in Afghanistan, and Brokaw was probably simply following Walter C. who did it in Vietnam, so it was OK for him to go everywhere in combat drag (or London Fog drag). NBC now has just one guy, Richard Whatzisname, they fly everywhere from Libya to Turkey to Kabul so he can stand in front of some regional flaming background and pretend he's providing instantaneous coverage of the news there, on-the-ground insight. Joke, joke. As war news go, the 3 major networks are all minor lightweights now. In this recent media dustup, Brian pleaded that he had become too involved in the news process --the reverse is true, he and the rest of the network dishes have become uninvolved in the news, more interested in sound-bite blowby and their wardrobes. Perfectly silly, Brian ends his newscasts saying, We'll see you tomorrow right back here--what a joke, something a game-show host might say. He sees nobody "back here" except his reflection in a TV monitor...
t
t
Brian Williams is a case of out-of-control ego. He forget that people turn in to see the news, not him. He's not there to talk about himself or give his opinion. He is supposed to be there to REPORT the news. The real news. The truth, not some slanted story based on the way he see it. Someone with the integrity and guts of an Edward R. Murrow. The honesty of a Bill Moyers. They were journalists who wouldn't bend the truth to fit the agenda of the people they work for. They didn't tell whoppers to put themselves inside the story to make themselves look and feel good. They were standing up for the truth while keeping us informed.
Can you picture any of these people on the t.v. news today standing up and telling the American people in detail how the Issas and Gowdys and Lindsays are lying to all of us for their own benefit? I can't.
Can you picture any of these people on the t.v. news today standing up and telling the American people in detail how the Issas and Gowdys and Lindsays are lying to all of us for their own benefit? I can't.
1
It is sad. I don't know who will replace Williams. I'm sure there are plenty of people drooling over the job. I like Lester Holt as an anchor but his association with the "Don't watch alone" drama diminishes his stature for me. And Chuck Todd, who may be eyeing the post, is so obviously cocky that I often nearly turn the news off while he is on. Maybe they should crawl back to David Gregory and ask him to take over. I'm afraid NBC has lost its quarterback and they are finding out how thin their ranks really are about now. I wonder how many million it will cost NBC to buy Williams out.
terrific 1987 movie 'broadcast news' covered the blow dry anchor. the portable anchor who could sub host for letterman.
2
It's too bad the Colbert Report went off the air. Brian William's repeated demonstrations of "truthiness" would have made him the perfect successor to Stephen Colbert. Perhaps Jon Stewart will hire him as a correspondent. He'd actually have to report the news.
http://meditationonmoneymanagement.blogspot.com/
http://meditationonmoneymanagement.blogspot.com/
1
Walter Cronkite, born in 1916 in St. Joseph, Missouri, a Boy Scout, the son of a dentist. He died at age 92, in 2009. Next year will be 100 years since his birth.
He wrote well. He gave us careful, reflective, direct commentary. This was so much more than simply reporting the news.
When he read, on television, his editorial about the Vietnam war -- that we would never win, and that it was time to negotiate an ending -- Johnson said: if I have lost Cronkite, then I have lost Middle America.
Middle America -- where is it now? It is vanishing, and our super-star media no longer care what that means.
It is too easy to blame the decline of network news on social media. We need more than the information of what happened. We needs journalists who think, and write, and take a stand.
He wrote well. He gave us careful, reflective, direct commentary. This was so much more than simply reporting the news.
When he read, on television, his editorial about the Vietnam war -- that we would never win, and that it was time to negotiate an ending -- Johnson said: if I have lost Cronkite, then I have lost Middle America.
Middle America -- where is it now? It is vanishing, and our super-star media no longer care what that means.
It is too easy to blame the decline of network news on social media. We need more than the information of what happened. We needs journalists who think, and write, and take a stand.
4
Only a veteran should call a helicopter a "bird". Williams tries to come across as war hardened veteran when he talks about the "chinook" he was in and the "bird" that was in front of him. Who is he kidding? He ought to stand next to Senator Kerry and have an eyebrow raising contest.
1
I've suspected for a long time that the mirrors in Brian Williams' homes have kiss marks all over them.
2
I find it funny that many people here don't seem to like him because he was not pro-liberal enough. Over at the WSJ comments section they skewer him as a wimpy liberal. I don't know. Maybe he was doing his job by not being too biased either way. Too moderate.
1
What's even more ridiculous is the ridicule itself, trying to make news about news about news, and citing social media and all the satirists as "serious stuff" is the biggest joke of all. You're all out of touch with the commoners, and the joke is not only on you, it's been told, unbeknownst to you, by you, so many times, the smarter-than-you-think pillars of society stopped laughing a long time ago. Old joke. Corporate news. Most all of it. Yours included.
Network news shows used to report news - happenings of international and national significance, a la Walter Kronkite. Even local news shows used to report happenings of national and local significance - but no more. Today "news" is entertainment, opinions, attitudes, only good feelings, made up stories, politicalization and first and foremost marketing. Most of the airtime of so-called "news" shows is devoted to advertising and marketing of various types, some of which is even in commercials. Most weather news is inscrutable to most viewers - multicolors swirling hither and yon - claiming to describe weather from New York City to Maine in a "one-size fits all" format which looks great but conveys little information. Recently the Weather Channel displayed a piece multi-color modern art with contours. No explanation of what the contours meant, except that when those curves are close together, it's "vey windy".
We have reached the point of too much information and too little understanding.
We have reached the point of too much information and too little understanding.
34
Back in the days of Cronkite, the three commercial networks had huge news services. The networks pumped a ton of money into their news organizations and that money came from other programming. They did it because they understood their responsibility to inform the public.
This is no longer true. The news must make money, so it is sensationalized. A big part of that is pumping up the anchors to celebrity, tabloid like status. It's all like middle school reality TV. The news is as much about the anchor as it is about the news.
Brian Williams has capitalized upon this reality. This is how he makes his money. He is part entertainer. He is the product the networks are selling. He pushed the envelope too far and he will be dumped because they won't be able to sell him anymore.
We created Brian Williams. He is just giving us what we want. If people wanted real news, PBS would have the highest ratings of any news show, and this paper would have 50 million subscribers.
This is no longer true. The news must make money, so it is sensationalized. A big part of that is pumping up the anchors to celebrity, tabloid like status. It's all like middle school reality TV. The news is as much about the anchor as it is about the news.
Brian Williams has capitalized upon this reality. This is how he makes his money. He is part entertainer. He is the product the networks are selling. He pushed the envelope too far and he will be dumped because they won't be able to sell him anymore.
We created Brian Williams. He is just giving us what we want. If people wanted real news, PBS would have the highest ratings of any news show, and this paper would have 50 million subscribers.
165
A person whom I call a wise man, told me not long ago to not listen to the news because it isn't true. I am now weaning myself off the many pundits' words and beginning to discover for myself the truth of what he said. However, it is a sad time to realize one has been taken for a sucker for many years.
25
Would Lou Grant have fired Ted Baxter for braying about his exploits in the field? Besides, Brian's got better hair than Ted.
1
Like the guy who loves telling stories about his love conquests. Williams forgot he wasn't in the locker room surrrounded by other guys who wished they was him. Should he be fired I say no. He should quit for his own honor.Now that would impress me and those guys in the locker room hanging around his locker waiting on the next story.
1
The point about the "news" these day is that "the medium is the message". The "anchors" reinforce the superficiality of American life and politics. It is not even good entertainment.
1
It is my view that anyone who turns to embellishment is simply bored with what they are doing and/or what is being done in general.
Given the quality and content of current overall news reportage I think it is safe to say that this situation indicates that this is indeed the case.
What is really needed in all reporting of the news is a competent editorial staff to edit all the copy available for broadcasting the news.
Where dear readers are the editors - masters of the craft of making news reporting viable, reliable, and valid.
Your guess is as good as mine.
Given the quality and content of current overall news reportage I think it is safe to say that this situation indicates that this is indeed the case.
What is really needed in all reporting of the news is a competent editorial staff to edit all the copy available for broadcasting the news.
Where dear readers are the editors - masters of the craft of making news reporting viable, reliable, and valid.
Your guess is as good as mine.
2
There for the grace of God, most claiming to be journalists go. Politicians get elected all the time these days because journalists of all kinds fail to fact ckeck information or question data dumps. We live in a world of "narrative " and spin much of it fiction. Speech is money and money is speech, truth does not have very good ROI.
2
Journalists are no longer fighters of truth decay. Instead, they rely on ridiculous gimmicks and teasers to boost ratings and profitability. They've become marketplace participants of voyeurism, fear, and sensationalism. Oh, how I yearn for those broadcast journalists of yesteryear -- Cronkite, Sevareid, and Mudd.
3
The last person I respected on the networks was Tim Russet. The remaining are either political hacks, or pretty faces with no substance, no intelligence. How foolish of him to think he can get away with it in a connected world.
Journalism is no longer a one way street.
Journalism is no longer a one way street.
3
Brian wants to be Richard Engel but Richard is super smart, multi-lingual and has the guts and cunning to get the information we need. Brian is a pretty boy with a parachute. Drop in, read his lines (lies) and get out of there.
Lester Holt deserves the job, we hope he stays. Of course we depend on PBS evening news. First rate reporters who share the work. They share the reporting and an anchoring. No superstar.
Lester Holt deserves the job, we hope he stays. Of course we depend on PBS evening news. First rate reporters who share the work. They share the reporting and an anchoring. No superstar.
2
A lot of people are sick of what the networks try to pass off as "news". Most of what is reported today is irrelevant fluff or 10 second "reports" that are as deep as a mud puddle. All of this, and not to mention the lying and covering what should be reported.
2
It is good that technology has given the viewing and reading public an outlet that gives us the clout to question what is being reported.
1
As a Brit used to investigative TV news journalists, I've never been able to understand why a guy gets paid millions of dollars a year to essentially do voice-overs to videos and handle the occasional soft-ball interview. Sadly, Williams was basking too much in his own and his talented daughter's celebrity for it to last. The Greeks called it 'hubris'.
I always considered Brian Williams to be a decent, intelligent sort of person. If he was, in fact, a Hemingway wannabe, another bubble just burst. I don't want to believe that he is a narcissist but, still in all, I have to wonder about his telling of a story of an attack on the helicopter he was in even if it was true. It somewhat gilds the lily.
1
Hunter Thompson summed it up perfectly: "The TV business is uglier than most things. It is normally perceived as some kind of cruel and shallow money trench through the heart of the journalism industry, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free and good men die like dogs, for no good reason."
The only thing NBC is working out now is the price of Williams' golden parachute and finding a new square-jaw haircut to put in his place.
Lester Holt, who apparently doesn't wear underwear (judging from his stand-ups for Dateline), seems to be in line for the lead role. He has several acting credits under his belt, including a role in "The Fugitive". Maybe they can send him on a "dangerous" assignment to bump up his street cred.
The only thing NBC is working out now is the price of Williams' golden parachute and finding a new square-jaw haircut to put in his place.
Lester Holt, who apparently doesn't wear underwear (judging from his stand-ups for Dateline), seems to be in line for the lead role. He has several acting credits under his belt, including a role in "The Fugitive". Maybe they can send him on a "dangerous" assignment to bump up his street cred.
3
"They're part of the entertainment, branding and cross-promotion business."
In our Brave New World we have only intuition to figure out what's really going on. Lots of luck!
In our Brave New World we have only intuition to figure out what's really going on. Lots of luck!
Thank you, Maureen, for your apt and sad description of TV news and your insider's perspective on the personalities involved.
3
Really? A celebrity journalist boosts his image to make millions and we even care? Why don't we go after the shabby journalism and lies at Fox and legs first?
8
Integrity is essentially unfashionable in today's world. Brian Williams is just one of many to 'conflate' (lie) stories, or 'mis-remember' (faux apology). In fact, even apologies these days aren't even really apologies, but scripted just like most TV shows that are fictional, so as to make sure image is more important than actual content or truth. We see this every day in our President, who is all about his IMAGE, and certainly not about the truth. We see this is every single politician. We see it in sports professionals who have no problem cheating, taking PED's, whatever they want to make themselves look good (again IMAGE). And unfortunately we see it in our everyday financial institutions and businesses, and even the stock market. Where the stock market is made to look good by Central Bank purchases of futures and monetary injections of printed QE (quantative easing is a fancy name for debasing or debauching our currency) so it LOOKS like (IMAGE) our economy is doing better than it really is. We've suspended mark-to-market accounting rules, so it LOOKS like (IMAGE) that banks are solvent. We all know they are not. And then lastly, corporations make it LOOK LIKE they are doing well, meanwhile showing pumped up earnings that are a result of all sorts of financial accounting chicanery, buybacks of their own stock, and massaged ' beat by a penny' fiction. So a Brian Williams INFLATING his image and stories, (lying) is now all a part of our fabric of a fake society.
3
NPRs Steve Innskeep described the National Guard entering New Orleans, post Katrina, with their AK47 assault rifles at ready. A different type of fantasy but fantastic all the same
3
He, they, all recite "news" from a teleprompter. How can or did anyone find him credible in the first place? Great movie, Broadcast News, depicts a similar character, several actually.
2
Brian Williams is just a very good reader. I don't know but I bet he read aloud better than anyone else in his third grade class! Sadly for him, he has proved to be too imaginative and creative to be a good reporter. He should have stuck to the script that was handed to him on the nightly news. Why did he ever feel the need to tell such tall tales about himself?
1
If you watch the nightly news on all the networks, the only 2 that are serious are Bret Baier on Fox and PBS. The others are not serious and only last less than a half hour. Fox and PBS give the hard news stories as well as analysis. I know Times readers won't dare watch Fox but they should. They might even learn something that challenges long held assumptions or at least have a better idea what the other side thinks. That is why I watch Fox and PBS as I get both sides and can then decide for myself what the truth is.
2
Pretty boy poseur prattles persistently to pacify puny ego.
2
Time to re-watch the terrific film "Broadcast News" with Holly Hunter, William Hurt, Albert Brooks and Jack Nicholson. Almost thirty years later, network news lies gored and gutted by the beast that is the entertainment division, which now plucks idly at the last few shreds of the carcass beneath its claws.
5
You nailed it. Cat videos and anchors as their own boring stories. Instead of journalism. "Fusion of entertainment and enlightenment. This is the Glenn Beck Program". A far cry from Walter Cronkite's upstanding nightly news.
2
Brian Williams was an undistinguished reporter on the local New York CBS affiliate, WCBS, for a number of years. He was not one of the best reporters on that station. I remember being shocked when he was chosen to replace Tom Brokaw. My own feeling was that he was not an equal intellectually to Brokaw, Dan Rather, or Peter Jennings. It was obvious that he was chosen not for his ability but for his looks. or the image they thought he would convey. The honchos at NBC were interested in making the most money. In that sense I suppose they made the right choice though I will confess a little satisfaction seeing it come back to haunt them.
5
Didn't these tall tales used to be called "war stories," and didn't everyone know that they were self-serving and inflated? I never watch Brian Williams -- I don't like high-gloss network news, and was totally turned off by the media's offensive, pandering acquiescence to the disinformation campaign disguised as a rationale for the Bush/Cheney invasion of Iraq -- but come on already, a war correspondent exaggerating his exploits -- is this really new news? They were beating (and baring) their chests long before social media.
The first commandment in television news is "never let facts get in the way of a good story."
1
Growing up in the early 80's, I knew who the anchors were for all network news programs. Peter Jennings, Dan Rather and Tom Brokaw were super stars. My dad preferred to tune into Peter Jennings. I guess it says a lot about the state of network news today that I did not know any of the current anchors Maureen mentioned except for Brian Williams. Apparently, more than 8 million people watch NBC Nightly News. Who are these people?
4
It should be said that David Muir, along with Diane Sawyer, did a yeoman's service to the country with their several pieces on "Made In America".
2
Let's put someone in the chair with academic and ethical qualifications- Rachel Maddow :)
5
Does anyone really care weather or not a news anchor lied about coming under fire? The man reads off cue cards (in a very handsome manner) but does his puffery effect his ability to do that? Will he read off the cue cards with less conviction? Its like when the American Sniper dude lied about beating up Jesse Ventura in a bar ... everyone has a bar brawl story made from whole cloth (even perhaps Ms. Dowd), and I am sure every war correspondent has inflated a war story or two. Why don't we focus on lies that actually make a difference ... like when Vice President Cheney told us Saddam Hussein attacked the WTC, or when the Republicans continue to insists that Obamacare has failed b/c it costs too much and no one will sign up when in fact 20 million people benefit and costs are at a 60 year low. Those lies mean life and death. A news anchor telling a tall personal tale ... just doesn't make a difference in anyone's life.
3
You nailed it Maureen! I love this part: "But TV news now is rife with cat, dog and baby videos, weather stories and narcissism. ... The nightly news anchors are not figures of authority. They’re part of the entertainment, branding and cross-promotion business." I neatly sums up what I have been thinking about the network news programs for quite awhile.
6
I'm a lot less concerned with a cookie-cutter, infotainment face-man puffing his cred that I am a presidential candidate doing the very same thing. You know, like HRH did in '08? I'm just sayin'....
2
Our network 'news' consists of what corporate heads think we 'deserve' to know - not much. Cable 'news' is ratings and agenda driven. No wonder so many people in this country vote against their own self-interest! Where are they supposed to get any truthful information? In his condemnation of the Vietnam war, Cronkite went against what was expected of him as a prominent tv journalist in order to say something to the public he believed was absolutely morally necessary. Cronkite earned the right to make that call because of his outstanding work as a war correspondent. No one in journalism has that kind of authority (or courage) today.
The junk we're offered instead: David Muir, Joe Scarborough, Chris Cuomo, Chuck Todd, the FOX NEWS idiots. None of them dare speak the truth. They're careerists or partisans. At some point, tv news became entertainment/public relations and wholly driven by corporate interests and ratings.
Print fairs no better. The decimation of The Washington Post continues under the ownership of Jeff Bezos. Bezos could afford to buy the Post in order to 'save' it - but the current version is no one's idea of a newspaper. Was it too much for the Graham family to ask if Bezos was really the right person to own the Post? Greed drives all of these decisions.
Too bad for us, the public.
The day that news/information is no longer driven and controlled by corporate interests/money is the day we get real news coverage back. Don't hold your breath.
The junk we're offered instead: David Muir, Joe Scarborough, Chris Cuomo, Chuck Todd, the FOX NEWS idiots. None of them dare speak the truth. They're careerists or partisans. At some point, tv news became entertainment/public relations and wholly driven by corporate interests and ratings.
Print fairs no better. The decimation of The Washington Post continues under the ownership of Jeff Bezos. Bezos could afford to buy the Post in order to 'save' it - but the current version is no one's idea of a newspaper. Was it too much for the Graham family to ask if Bezos was really the right person to own the Post? Greed drives all of these decisions.
Too bad for us, the public.
The day that news/information is no longer driven and controlled by corporate interests/money is the day we get real news coverage back. Don't hold your breath.
4
A different news correspondent named Williams, Holly Williams, and her colleague, Elizabeth Palmer also of CBS, and Richard Engel of NBC, constantly take extraordinary risks to get the story. They do this not only because they are courageous, but because they seek the real story, the truth. Anchormen who fictionalize the story to gin up their own credentials do a disservice to the countless correspondents who actually do place themselves in harms' way. Brian Williams has lost something that is indispensable for anyone in the news business: credibility.
1
I am so glad that I got to be a child and a teenager in the Walter Cronkite era. Talk about trust. He also made you feel comforted and safe, even when the news wasn't good. But he also governed the news in a simpler era, lacking of computers, cell phones and depersonalization. It is times like these, when I realize that Mr. Williams allowed his ego to get the best of him and, when embellishment trumps the truth, that I really miss "that's the way it is".
68
I appreciate the recognition given to John Stewart. He claims the Daily Show is a fake news show, but there's nothing fake about it.
3
Maureen Dowd is a great writer, despite her ruling class credentials. Her most quote-able observation in this piece: "Social media — the genre that helped make the TV evening news irrelevant by showing us that we don’t need someone to tell us every night what happened that day."
1
The BBC calls people like Brian Williams "news readers" and doesn't pretend that they are journalists, but merely talking heads that read the output of journalists. Thus there is nothing to inflate with false tales of glory. Truth in advertising.
2
The best thing about telling the truth is you don't have to remember it.
4
"Social media — the genre that helped make the TV evening news irrelevant by showing us that we don’t need someone to tell us every night what happened that day...". Sounds insightful but which social media do you go to for the focal points, the summaries, with access to spokespeople at the White House, etc.? Social media is usually a mess of gibberish. Not that American TV and radio news are very good, as when compared with the BBC for instance. I imagine the BBC would never have let Sen. McCain get away with his appalling stupidity about the killing of our ambassador in Benghazi. Ten minutes of research and a minimum of insight should have led the press to reveal that with more than 40,000 Foreign Service around the world, he was inviting ISIL to kill more and more US embassy personnel so to cause even more political turmoil in the US. The man is an idiot and the clueless press lets him get away that for the sake of easy reporting--he and Graham can be counted on a daily nonsensical attack on the Obama administration.
3
I met Brian W at Fort McHenry. We were working as stretcher bearers while the fort was being shelled by the British Navy. He seemed okay at the time. But that was 200 years ago. I may have misremembered the facts.
2
I think it's as simple as this. In our private lives, stretching the truth to tell a good story is common. It is hardly worth criticism. Williams's mistake was to engage in the practice in his professional life. In that way, he confused being a newscaster named Brian Williams and being Brian Williams broadcasting the news. By wrongly concluding that it was all about him, he lost sight of the fact that it is all about the news.
Did we even go to war in Iraq
or was it all just a sick big joke played on the world.
or was it all just a sick big joke played on the world.
1
The television news people are a bunch of parrots repeating what they hear and they disgust me with their false equivalence. You could say the earth was flat and they wouldn't challenge you. They don't challenge anything because they don't know anything. "Reporters" like Williams are a mouthpiece to an empty shell.
1
Embellishment? Please. It's called lying. And enhanced interrogation is torture. Enough with the wishy washy politispeak.
5
Ms. Dowd writes that the change in Mr. Williams' recount of his memory of the traumatic event, in which he participated, is indefensible. Yes there is an ample body of research that shows that memories of traumatic events do change over time (see for instance, Am J Psychiatry. 1997 Feb;154(2):173-7), often in ways that are self-enhancing. Because Mr. Williams had no compelling motivation to purposely change his recount of the event, I believe he didn't so purposely.
5
"One anchor exerted moral authority once and that was Walter Cronkite, because he risked his career to go on TV and tell the truth about the fact that we were losing the Vietnam War". Sorry Maureen, we won the Tet offensive and Wally lied.
Here is how life really works.
You can analyze any problem, find the solutions, implement the necessary steps to preempt the bad consequences and enjoy life afterwards.
Or, you can refuse to publish the analyses that point out at the structural faults, be indifferent and pay the bloody consequences after the problems become too big to be controlled.
For example, the current crisis in the Middle East is just a sign that we failed to implement the correct measures a quarter of century ago…
Is Brian Williams really guilty of that? He wasn’t an anchor in 1990…
You can analyze any problem, find the solutions, implement the necessary steps to preempt the bad consequences and enjoy life afterwards.
Or, you can refuse to publish the analyses that point out at the structural faults, be indifferent and pay the bloody consequences after the problems become too big to be controlled.
For example, the current crisis in the Middle East is just a sign that we failed to implement the correct measures a quarter of century ago…
Is Brian Williams really guilty of that? He wasn’t an anchor in 1990…
The hardest job that those of us who wish to stay informed have, is finding news and information that reflects the truth. I don't need information that is slanted to the right or to the left, or nuanced, or spun. Like Joe Friday, I want the facts, and only the facts. Unfortunately, far too many of us have decided that we prefer our news packaged and delivered by people who only look trustworthy, or sexy, or camouflaged by the glitter of multiple on-screen graphics and "breaking news" flashings across the bottom left corner of our TV screen. We created Brian Williams. He is our Frankenstein monster.
2
Missing from most of these stories about his current "hiatus" and "fall from grace" is that he is also now being taken to task over his Katrina reporting, where he claimed to see a dead body float past his 5-star hotel in the French Quarter (except there was no flooding there) and where he also claimed to spend that hellacious night in the Dome watching everyone go Lord of the Flies (except he left there before all that happened to camp out in the powered NBC van where he filed his reports). If we dig further, we'll undoubtedly find even more of this "romanticizing of suffering" that he inserted himself into. Hopefully then he won't just take a three-day vacation and come back with all forgiven for this one "misremembering."
4
The only reason these nice (and cute) boys and girls get paid tens of millions is that they still get the numbers (networks are not charities). So stop tuning in and then they will see that they may really have to go to the theater to make a living.
If there is anyone to be blamed for these childish nonsense it is the audience. These guys laugh all the way to the bank, and the banks of French Riviera.
If there is anyone to be blamed for these childish nonsense it is the audience. These guys laugh all the way to the bank, and the banks of French Riviera.
3
Complexity of life on Earth is increasing geometrically! One's existence whizzes by at lightening speeds. It's easy to lose a sense of self. But his network has the responsibility of reigning him in.
2
It takes a lifetime to build a reputation and a second to destroy it. Fact fiddling and truth muddling will never win the day. It happens over and over in our society but those that live their lives in this way are doomed to fail. Whatever happened to living principled lives no matter what the cost?
1
The word "Professional" used to incorporate two concepts. First, that the individual was compensated for their endeavor and second that the Professional" adhered to a standard of behavior.... a code of conduct. In the field of journalism, one of the standards of conduct was telling the truth. Query, if the veracity of mainstream journalists are suspect; how do we ensure that the citizenry is well informed? The first Amendment to the constitution guarantees freedom of the press. The intent, as I understand it, was a free exchange of ideas. I don't think the purpose of the Amendment was to protect those who just , for whatever reason, DECIDED TO MAKE IT UP..... Journalists, heal thyselves. PLEASE. (At least for our kids.)
2
Splendid piece, Maureen. Once again, the line between news reader and journalist becomes blurred and subject to "photoshopping". Witch-hunting has become quite the vogue - it has certainly been around for centuries - but nonetheless journalists have a code of ethics, the cornerstone of which is honesty and integrity, to which they need abide. This is indiscretion and breech of trust that can be forgiven, but his job should be handed to someone who lives up to the letter of ethics.
30
It appears that Williams is in the process of enacting a forced exit strategy designed to let NBC avoid the overt firing announcement, sort of like other large corporations do when their executives when they "resign" to "spend more time with their families."
It could be that the broadcast company is frantically maneuvering behind closed doors to avoid the initials NBC becoming an internet meme where the NB stands for "Not Believable."
It could be that the broadcast company is frantically maneuvering behind closed doors to avoid the initials NBC becoming an internet meme where the NB stands for "Not Believable."
29
Inflating your experience in combat scenarios in order to inflate your public persona is old hat. That master of prevarication, Lyndon B. Johnson, did much the same as Brian Williams has done in his telling and retelling throughout his 1948 senatorial campaign in Texas of his allegedly dangerous "combat experience" in the Pacific theater during World War II. See Robert Caro's masterful biography "The Means of Ascent." in which the story is told.
What is most relevant here are two things. Johnson's lying helped propel him into the U.S. Senate, and beyond. Once he ascended to the White House following most tragic circumstances, his ability to continue shaping public opinion via lying about the alleged attack of the USS Maddox in the Tonkin Gulf led to the escalation of the Vietnam war, with disastrous ramifications which we must still deal today. Ask any Vietnam vet, or his family. His lies caught up with him, but the consequences for others were far worse.
In Brian Williams's case, truthfulness in reporting about current events are the stock-in-trade of any journalist. And yet, he long ago traded in his dedication to the task of honest reporting when he chose to become a celebrity/team player, and pass along unquestioned hokum from the Bush/Cheney White House regarding the alleged weapons build up in Iraq.
His combat survival story has been on a par with Johnson's. We are still living with consequences of his shilling to power. Ask any Iraq was vet or his/her family.
What is most relevant here are two things. Johnson's lying helped propel him into the U.S. Senate, and beyond. Once he ascended to the White House following most tragic circumstances, his ability to continue shaping public opinion via lying about the alleged attack of the USS Maddox in the Tonkin Gulf led to the escalation of the Vietnam war, with disastrous ramifications which we must still deal today. Ask any Vietnam vet, or his family. His lies caught up with him, but the consequences for others were far worse.
In Brian Williams's case, truthfulness in reporting about current events are the stock-in-trade of any journalist. And yet, he long ago traded in his dedication to the task of honest reporting when he chose to become a celebrity/team player, and pass along unquestioned hokum from the Bush/Cheney White House regarding the alleged weapons build up in Iraq.
His combat survival story has been on a par with Johnson's. We are still living with consequences of his shilling to power. Ask any Iraq was vet or his/her family.
The destruction of the news industry over the last 30 years or so has been one of the most devastating event to watch. An industry that at least had more than a few journalist, ie Mike Wallace asking the hard questions have been replaced by a series of yes men, no different than the so called "journalists" of Pravda or Saddam Hussein nightly news. So called journalists such as Brian Williams utterly failed to ask the tough questions about the Iraq war and failed to question the republicans about their policies. When FOX and their henchmen made a mockery of Al Gore and questioned the science of global warming, people like Williams literally stopped reporting on the concept in the face of overwhelming scientific evidence that man made climate change was contributing to the destruction of our environment. People like Williams became spokesman for their corporatocracy and have long since given up on journalism. Many have mentioned how Brian Williams is a liberal however if he was once he has long since sold his soul to the corporation. This man and journalist like him have disgraced a once glorious and so vital profession and should retire into oblivion. America deserves better than him.
With education becoming pervasive and with levels of education rising dramatically; with the profound expansion of media and media accessibility- what's a throwback super star to do? Regress to the mean? Fade to oblivion?
2
What a sky full of flak challenging whether any flak hit Williams helicopter a decade or so ago. Who is there with a detailed inventory of every piece by piece bit of flak that hit or did not hit Williams plane? Is there anyone who has the specific knowledge of whether a bit of flak hit the plane or not? In the first place, how would anyone know unless is was a very large piece. The surprise is that the social media has blossomed out with surprising claims of flak knowledge and identification some decade ago and it seems highly improbable that anyone even ten years ago would have total knowledge of all bits of flak that bounced off the plane to allege one way or another.
The flak incident is seemingly an example of the kind of contrived petty attacks that flourish amid the "social" media and its devotees for want of anything better to do.
The flak incident is seemingly an example of the kind of contrived petty attacks that flourish amid the "social" media and its devotees for want of anything better to do.
1
The higher we go the harder the fall; humility is scarce when we most need it, when our insecurity 'demands' a filling, such the case of many folks seeking authority without having earned it. A sad chapter, no doubt, but there may be redemption if a 'mea culpa' is genuine. Brian Williams may have fabricated a piece of history, but he is not alone in puffing things up, in pretending that the news are incidental to the announcer (and if there remains any doubt about it, just tune into Fox Noise, and listen carefully to the bluster, to the sorry mix of news with opinion, confusion galore).
Walter Cronkite did not tell the truth that we were losing the war in Vietnam. In fact we were winning it and were days from a surrender (as the documents have shown since) when Nixon was forced to stop bombing because of the anti-war publicity.
1
We live in an age of self promotion. We live in an age where that promotion is shameless, unbridled. In fact, some of it is required.
Everyone immediately jumped to the conclusion that Brian Williams was completely wrong about Iraq. This is another unfortunate aspect of our times: hanging by an Internet explosion of outrage. Whatever the truth is, decency requires a bit of self restraint. That's an old fashion notion, but we are all subjected this new dangerous trend and each of us, one day, might wish we could have mercy.
I don't know Brian Williams, I have never worked along side him. I did know in a passing fashion his predecessor, Tom Brokaw and I know he was prone to misstate some details of events if it made him look better, more important, more of an accomplished journalist. Meanwhile, NBC News went tabloid during his anchor-dom and terrorist attacks on America were pending, unnoticed.
Is it possible most of us misremember events when we tell the stories so they get better each time in our favor? I have a relative who tells stories about his encounters with the world and each and every time, guess what?, he comes out the hero. Every time.
It might be fun to play judge and jury on Brian Williams, but I would suggest we all need to slow down. A lot. If he is fundamentally dishonest, which I doubt, the truth will come out. Truth is often elusive, a mixture of memories and mistakes. Many quickly judging Williams have lied about important matters themselves.
Doug Terry
Everyone immediately jumped to the conclusion that Brian Williams was completely wrong about Iraq. This is another unfortunate aspect of our times: hanging by an Internet explosion of outrage. Whatever the truth is, decency requires a bit of self restraint. That's an old fashion notion, but we are all subjected this new dangerous trend and each of us, one day, might wish we could have mercy.
I don't know Brian Williams, I have never worked along side him. I did know in a passing fashion his predecessor, Tom Brokaw and I know he was prone to misstate some details of events if it made him look better, more important, more of an accomplished journalist. Meanwhile, NBC News went tabloid during his anchor-dom and terrorist attacks on America were pending, unnoticed.
Is it possible most of us misremember events when we tell the stories so they get better each time in our favor? I have a relative who tells stories about his encounters with the world and each and every time, guess what?, he comes out the hero. Every time.
It might be fun to play judge and jury on Brian Williams, but I would suggest we all need to slow down. A lot. If he is fundamentally dishonest, which I doubt, the truth will come out. Truth is often elusive, a mixture of memories and mistakes. Many quickly judging Williams have lied about important matters themselves.
Doug Terry
5
What is this propensity for deception and self-delusion among so many (formerly) respected public figures? Richard Blumenthal, a senator from CT, and formerly Attorney General for the state, was caught out during his senate run for lying about having served in Vietnam. Is it a moral blind spot in these seemingly intelligent, highly successful, high profile people? (It would be less surprising among lesser mortals). They have it all, and live in an age when the veracity of every statement can be crowdsourced virally. Are their egos so inflated that they believe their every utterance unimpeachable? Brian saw what happened to Dick and didn't make the connection to himself.
Brian Williams is a professional story teller. But our world is nonfiction; Brian's is not. Americans appear surprised to learn that this man - considered trustworthy by so many - is actually a complete fraud.
They should not be.
As lead anchor and managing editor of NBC Nightly News, Mr. Williams directs a big budget infomercial for Washington. He not only reads untruths - he helps craft and manage the whole propaganda product.
Consider just one story parroted by his program, the US unemployment rate. Brian Williams' TV show told America a happy tale, crafted by Washington and packaged by NBC: unemployment had dropped to 5.6%. Truly a fantastic story, but almost certainly not true.
Earlier this week, Gallup CEO Jim Clifton called such claims "the big lie." As detailed by Mr. Clifton, an out-of-work engineer who spends one hour per week mowing someone's lawn, for $20, would not be considered unemployed by Washington. This is the sort of wool that Williams omits in telling the unemployment tale.
A child pretending to be a journalist - compete with notepad and fedora labeled "PRESS" - could challenge this story with one Google search.
Gallup does its own very extensive surveys. And their unemployment rate is wildly different than Washington's.
Despite this, Williams' celebrates and repeats Washington's ridiculous stories, verbatum. He is a peddler of untruths. That is why we should not be surprised to learn he, himself, is a phony.
They should not be.
As lead anchor and managing editor of NBC Nightly News, Mr. Williams directs a big budget infomercial for Washington. He not only reads untruths - he helps craft and manage the whole propaganda product.
Consider just one story parroted by his program, the US unemployment rate. Brian Williams' TV show told America a happy tale, crafted by Washington and packaged by NBC: unemployment had dropped to 5.6%. Truly a fantastic story, but almost certainly not true.
Earlier this week, Gallup CEO Jim Clifton called such claims "the big lie." As detailed by Mr. Clifton, an out-of-work engineer who spends one hour per week mowing someone's lawn, for $20, would not be considered unemployed by Washington. This is the sort of wool that Williams omits in telling the unemployment tale.
A child pretending to be a journalist - compete with notepad and fedora labeled "PRESS" - could challenge this story with one Google search.
Gallup does its own very extensive surveys. And their unemployment rate is wildly different than Washington's.
Despite this, Williams' celebrates and repeats Washington's ridiculous stories, verbatum. He is a peddler of untruths. That is why we should not be surprised to learn he, himself, is a phony.
3
The fact that Mr. Williams was allowed to keep lying for years is just a symptom of a network that is out of control and dysfunctional. The situation is akin to an alcoholic family where no one wants to step in and confront the alcoholic.
I worked in a place where the boss was too weak to discipline an unethical employee, despite a large number of complaints. The employee finally did something so outrageous that an outside agency had to step in and take action. When will bosses learn that it is always better to nip the problem in the bud then allowing it to go unchecked?
Also, New York Times, the soldiers who were shot down say they have been making complaints to NBC about Mr. Williams' false stories since 2003, and their complaints were ignored. I would be interested to see a timeline from your paper as to how many complaints were lodged with NBC over the last 12 years.
I worked in a place where the boss was too weak to discipline an unethical employee, despite a large number of complaints. The employee finally did something so outrageous that an outside agency had to step in and take action. When will bosses learn that it is always better to nip the problem in the bud then allowing it to go unchecked?
Also, New York Times, the soldiers who were shot down say they have been making complaints to NBC about Mr. Williams' false stories since 2003, and their complaints were ignored. I would be interested to see a timeline from your paper as to how many complaints were lodged with NBC over the last 12 years.
4
One of the helicopters near the one Brian Williams was flying in did get hit. So it wasn't as if he didn't have physical courage being there. More courage than I would have. So him lying or embellishing doesn't seem like such a big deal to me. More significantly of course is him being a mouth piece for corporate power and deceit, and a propagandist for US aggression around the world. Standing up to that takes a different kind of courage. That kind he clearly doesn't have. The same is true of Maureen Dowd. She is quick and nasty and insightful within a very narrow terrain, but at the end of the day she functions essentially to keep power and oppressive social structures in place. Irreverence is often a very deceptive form of compliance.
5
I don't understand why people are feeling so betrayed by Williams's inflation of his own derring-do; he's not an elected politician, and he's not your daddy. Like anyone in his job, he's a haircut whose marketable skill is that he can read simple subject-verb-object sentences off of a teleprompter. He doesn't establish foreign policy or make decisions about troop mobilization.
These people are called "anchors" in an attempt to bestow upon them an ersatz gravitas that belies the reality of what they do. If Williams disappears, another Ken doll will pop up in his place and receive ten million dollars a year for his ability to read simple words out loud. Basketball players, those vital contributors to society's well-being, can make many times that amount for throwing a ball into a hoop. Meanwhile, a cancer researcher can't get his hands on a $40,000 grant to work on a cure.
Our anger is simply a conversion of our own embarrassment at how screwed up our priorities are, and how clearly Williams has demonstrated that fact.
These people are called "anchors" in an attempt to bestow upon them an ersatz gravitas that belies the reality of what they do. If Williams disappears, another Ken doll will pop up in his place and receive ten million dollars a year for his ability to read simple words out loud. Basketball players, those vital contributors to society's well-being, can make many times that amount for throwing a ball into a hoop. Meanwhile, a cancer researcher can't get his hands on a $40,000 grant to work on a cure.
Our anger is simply a conversion of our own embarrassment at how screwed up our priorities are, and how clearly Williams has demonstrated that fact.
15
This is a tempest in a teapot, important more to other media personalities who see a future littered with verbal land mines than the public. Brian Williams was never Walter Cronkite, and it was apparently a while ago that he felt pressed to be more and more entertaining; hence Jimmy Fallon appearances and witty asides on newscasts. He is good when he is good, but he was never one of the great hero journalists. Perhaps his inability to influence events in the way those that came out of the world war is exactly what led to the embellishments.
I'm just a little surprised anyone really believed them.
I'm just a little surprised anyone really believed them.
1
"One anchor exerted moral authority once and that was Walter Cronkite, because he risked his career to go on TV and tell the truth about the fact that we were losing the Vietnam War."
Walter Cronkite was a liar too as America had soundly defeated and had destroyed the Viet Cong in their Tet offensive. The democrats used his lie to defund the war and thus the North entered the fray and we pulled out. This led to millions of innocents dying in Vietnam and Cambodia which can be laid at Walter's feet.
Walter Cronkite was a liar too as America had soundly defeated and had destroyed the Viet Cong in their Tet offensive. The democrats used his lie to defund the war and thus the North entered the fray and we pulled out. This led to millions of innocents dying in Vietnam and Cambodia which can be laid at Walter's feet.
3
There isn't a news broadcaster or reporter dead or alive who hasn't/doesn't exaggerate. If it is not done with overblown facts it is done with dramatic vocalizations. In Williams' case, the exaggeration factor plus the likelihood that 12 years intervenes with precision are good enough reasons to just let it go. Tearing a man, or woman, apart seems to be the favorite pastime of too many pompous, pontificated verbal snipers whose own integrity has to be questioned.
8
The "Romanticization" of news, especially war, has been getting worse and worse since Desert Storm. All scrambling to be up there reporting on the horrendous occurrences and the exciting action of it all, in hopes of elevating themselves in their broadcast journalism profession. Few reveal the real story but rather a dramatization of such while starring themselves "on the front". All of it is so bogus.
In the 1991 Persian Gulf episode, I told Paula Zahn's crew to "Go the hell away! We're busy here!" Although I did receive quite the reprimand, I've never regretted that action.
Bryan Williams, good as he is, got trapped into this on-going, but silly, news paradigm. He should have known better.
In the 1991 Persian Gulf episode, I told Paula Zahn's crew to "Go the hell away! We're busy here!" Although I did receive quite the reprimand, I've never regretted that action.
Bryan Williams, good as he is, got trapped into this on-going, but silly, news paradigm. He should have known better.
3
In broadcast news as in professional sports, if you can't respect your audience and your profession you don't belong in the chair or the lockerroom. Brian Williams has soiled his own nest and has shown disregard for his viewers' trust. You might have been there, Brian, but you weren't, were you. So you stole some real mojo for some pretend mojo to advance your career potential. Poor choice. Take a time out.
12
We watch CBS. Scott Pelley may not be Cronkite or Murrow, but the news show seems to be primarily news.
14
"Former ABC News anchor Diane Sawyer trended on Facebook for reportedly scoring the first interview about Bruce Jenner’s gender odyssey."
I guess I'm shallow because I think that an iconic US Olympic athlete explaining the personal journey that took him to transitioning late in life is an important and fascinating story.
I guess I'm shallow because I think that an iconic US Olympic athlete explaining the personal journey that took him to transitioning late in life is an important and fascinating story.
9
Let's not for get that Edward R. Murrow, Walter Cronkite, et al. were who they were in our minds in part because they did not have to contend with social media. The world changes. If social media can take down a government as it did Egypt in 2011 it surely can alter the trajectory of an anchor's career.
75
I saw the piece featuring the Rangers game and cringed to see that Mr. Williams chose to make himself so much a part of the story. A humble, truthful apology would have gone far to repair the damage of this embarrassing debacle. The whole thing flies in the face of common sense (to say nothing of common decency), and can be summed up in one word, the word that always attends these sad spectacles: hubris.
108
Tell a lie long enough it becomes truth. I find it interesting many voters listening to comics for serious news and believing it is facts. I have stopped listening to the zombie status quo reporting from the main stream news years ago, when every day (under Bush 2) endless reports of soldiers life loss, endless reports on the gas prices, daily coverage of unemployment, endless coverage of agenda driven news slants. Since no vetting by msm on BHO, no daily reports of soldiers dying, no endless reports on gas prices, no reports on QE1,2,3,4, no reports on communicable diseases increasing as the illegals flood into our country and dispersed by our government throughout. Brian Williams wouldn't have been caught in his lie in Walter Cronkite time, what busted Williams is the internet, more ppl are able to call out a fabrication from someone "to big to fail". Ppl are able to research for the truth and not rely on 100 year old, established, to big to fail, news outlets.
8
There are real journalists (not pretty boy anchor eye candy) who have lost careers for much less. I recall specifically an AP photojournalist who was fired a few years ago for editing a photo by switching out the part of a photo showing a soldier guarding some Iraqui prisoners with a part of a shot taken a few seconds earlier or later which showed the soldier in a more estheticaly pleasing position. There was no substantive lie or misrepresentation involved, at worst the photographer'so attempt to create a possibly more prize worth image, at best just a misguided effort to make the picture more artistically pleasing. However, I don't remember any significant argument about whether he should be fired. New reporters are supposed to tell the truth. At least, they are if they are one of the working stiffs. Sadly, I have a feeling that is not going to apply to Mr. Williams. The'crown jewel' positions at NBC are pretty obviously reserved for those who are most adept at providing flash and glitz and probably sucking up to the brass (for example, David Gregory and the Chuck Todd for Meet the Press, twice passing over the superb Gwen Ifill.). Canning Williams woul require the brass to admit they were wrong in choosing and keeping him despite his known contained failings. Rich, powerful people don't much like admitting they were wrong.
18
I think a great deal of embellishment goes on in our minds. The problem with Williams is that he's in an industry whose sole objective - or at least it's supposed to be - is to present the facts.
But ever since the cruel televised media hounding of Richard Jewell and the subsequent hounding of the Ramseys, I've been leery of believing much of what is reported. And media frenzies go back a long way. There's a mean streak in many reporters to which Williams didn't appear to be exempt. As much as Williams would sound disapproving and self-righteous with regard to some of his subjects, delivering every detail with indignation about the latest fall from grace, there is certainly a King Learish irony that Williams himself should become the media's latest victim.
But ever since the cruel televised media hounding of Richard Jewell and the subsequent hounding of the Ramseys, I've been leery of believing much of what is reported. And media frenzies go back a long way. There's a mean streak in many reporters to which Williams didn't appear to be exempt. As much as Williams would sound disapproving and self-righteous with regard to some of his subjects, delivering every detail with indignation about the latest fall from grace, there is certainly a King Learish irony that Williams himself should become the media's latest victim.
10
Recent brain research has shown that for all of us, the memories we have are likely not exact copies reflecting the exactly the situation that existed when the memory was formed. Much like the way computer memory works, when recalled, human memories are read and then rewritten each time they are recalled. Small changes or errors may then be coded into the rewritten memory during the recopying process, and it may even incorporate bits of other memories. Thus for every reader of this column (except for this reader, of course...), it is likely that some memories that they hold as accurate really contain embellishments or errors that have been introduced over time. Researchers have been able to readily implant false memories in a surprisingly large percentage of study participants.
So since Mr. Williams appears to have incorporated what happened to an adjacent helicopter into his telling a story, it could be that he just has a memory rewriting process that is particularly prone to copy errors by incorporating related information. Or, of course, it could be that he just wanted to create a really compelling story....
So since Mr. Williams appears to have incorporated what happened to an adjacent helicopter into his telling a story, it could be that he just has a memory rewriting process that is particularly prone to copy errors by incorporating related information. Or, of course, it could be that he just wanted to create a really compelling story....
3
This, sadly, reflects how far our culture has fallen and strayed from the values that once sustained us. It is the public to blame for much of it, of course, as it laps up this drivel and would rather hear the latest about one of the Kardashians or which football player is in domestic troubles or which "monster" weather event is fated to destroy humanity as we know it. If it bleeds it leads. Revenue is more important than newsworthiness.
We've even carried this tripe into our politics where candidates and politicians are viewed and assessed by celebrity criteria, how do they dress, where do they vacation, arrayed as good versus bad guys/gals, and hailed as a "media president" or whatever nonsense. Look at the utter embarrassment of the White House correspondents dinner - would you have seen Cronkite or Murrow at this self-congratulatory slop, partying with the people they are to report on? Style and facade is more important than substance to far too many, for its ego salving as it's just so much easier.
The adults have left the room!
We've even carried this tripe into our politics where candidates and politicians are viewed and assessed by celebrity criteria, how do they dress, where do they vacation, arrayed as good versus bad guys/gals, and hailed as a "media president" or whatever nonsense. Look at the utter embarrassment of the White House correspondents dinner - would you have seen Cronkite or Murrow at this self-congratulatory slop, partying with the people they are to report on? Style and facade is more important than substance to far too many, for its ego salving as it's just so much easier.
The adults have left the room!
12
This seems to be yet another huge overblown scandal of the moment. As far as I know it is normal to embellish stories and anecdotes are they are told and retold.
More than that, both literary (Proust), filmic (Rashomon) and psychological investigations of memory make it clear that memories of any given incident vary and that individuals do not necessarily recall their first impressions, but rather a narrative into which they have fixed an event, and then in subsequent recall remember not memories but memories of later recollections.
Lawyers know this, and that is why they tell clients to *write down what they recall about an incident as soon as they can* rather than wait for later deposition or appearance in court.
I have no particular liking for Brian Williams, but the howling vituperation and vindictiveness of each American scandal is horrible to watch.
More than that, both literary (Proust), filmic (Rashomon) and psychological investigations of memory make it clear that memories of any given incident vary and that individuals do not necessarily recall their first impressions, but rather a narrative into which they have fixed an event, and then in subsequent recall remember not memories but memories of later recollections.
Lawyers know this, and that is why they tell clients to *write down what they recall about an incident as soon as they can* rather than wait for later deposition or appearance in court.
I have no particular liking for Brian Williams, but the howling vituperation and vindictiveness of each American scandal is horrible to watch.
9
I dare say, John Stewart and Bill Maher aren't doing very "serious stuff", since neither one is steeped in much of what they discuss. All you have to do is go watch Maher's most recent discussion of vaccines to see that.
Colbert broke real ground explaining election financing shenanigans. John Oliver surpasses snark and actually informs.
Williams is pathological. And I think his problems began with his predecessor, Brokaw, who decided that he was the documenter of the "greatest generation". He morphed into a celebrity journalist, making rounds, hawking his book for what seemed forever, after growing tired of sitting in that chair. What was there for Williams to do?
He was too young for WWII fetishism and no one would think of him as a war correspondent. So his brief forays outside his fishbowl became more important than they really were.
Remember when he flew to Egypt and ended up standing awkwardly in a two shot with Richard Engel or some other "boots on the ground reporter", saying nothing and looking out of place in the frame?
The kind of competitive, CNN, live in the round reporting, with multiple anchors trying to make points, simultaneously is not Williams métier. Giving the fictional account of the shoot down he wasn't involved in was his attempt to be relevant in that environment. Why is what needs to be understood so others can avoid similar breakdowns in the future.
Colbert broke real ground explaining election financing shenanigans. John Oliver surpasses snark and actually informs.
Williams is pathological. And I think his problems began with his predecessor, Brokaw, who decided that he was the documenter of the "greatest generation". He morphed into a celebrity journalist, making rounds, hawking his book for what seemed forever, after growing tired of sitting in that chair. What was there for Williams to do?
He was too young for WWII fetishism and no one would think of him as a war correspondent. So his brief forays outside his fishbowl became more important than they really were.
Remember when he flew to Egypt and ended up standing awkwardly in a two shot with Richard Engel or some other "boots on the ground reporter", saying nothing and looking out of place in the frame?
The kind of competitive, CNN, live in the round reporting, with multiple anchors trying to make points, simultaneously is not Williams métier. Giving the fictional account of the shoot down he wasn't involved in was his attempt to be relevant in that environment. Why is what needs to be understood so others can avoid similar breakdowns in the future.
6
Though I agree with M. Dowd's assessment of the growing immateriality of the evening news, I disagree with the conflating of it and Mr. Williams' story. What I see is a man who has spent a large portion of his career covering our endless wars. As it's currently a requirement for all serious news anchors to put their loafers on the ground while reporting on these events, Mr. Williams has spent years surrounded by our modern day centurions and cowboys. For a man that then returns home, puts on a suit and tie and has makeup applied to his face before sitting in front of a desk and telling the stories of those who wear bullet proof vests instead of Hermes button downs, I imagine a bit of an existential, emasculating, crisis can ensue. I don't see a man trying to manufacture professional relevance; I see a man trying to manufacture personal relevance. I wish that, in this day, the archetype of a "true man" was no longer imbued with the specters of physicality and aggression, but that is clearly not the case. I suspect that, despite all of our intellectual advancements, it will never be the case. Millions of years of evolutionary need has selected and permeated those qualities throughout a man's DNA; and if we're to be honest, a seeking out of those qualities has been embedded in a woman's as well. Mr. Williams is, perhaps, the modern equivalent of the Roman aristocrat watching the gladiatorial combat from his suite while dreaming of his own glory in the ring.
7
Thank God! Finally people are beginning to realize what I've been saying for years. The entire media conglomerate, made up mostly of white males, don't reflect the real America and the lives of Americans, who are the most diverse on the planet. These same stuffed shirts with their expensive suits and well coiffed hair are deciding for us what is right and wrong, what is acceptable, and what we should "evolve" to, regardless of long held and serious convictions that are the results of centuries of history and tradition. Now you can get crucified for holding opinions your parents or your religion ingrained in you simply because these "moral" arbiters don't want to offend any group that will purchase the products of their corporate masters.
Though I like Brian I don't feel sorry for him. He's getting what he deserves. Especially since the media is known for crucifying others, especially politicians, when they embellish their war experiences.
Though I like Brian I don't feel sorry for him. He's getting what he deserves. Especially since the media is known for crucifying others, especially politicians, when they embellish their war experiences.
9
Can't agree that Uncle Walter exercised any true moral authority. His reporting was instrumental in smoothing the way for US intervention in Vietnam in 1965. He turned around at Tet, when from a tactical perspective we were in fact closer to defeating the enemy than at any time before or after. His predictions about Vietnam leading to a "cosmic disaster" were overblown, to say the least. He was certainly a better journalist than Williams, but he was a journalist, period. Remember that those who can, do; those who can't, report.
9
Clearly Mr. Williams' effort to "conflate" his experience with that of a true soldier under fire, was calculated to advance his career at a time (2003) when he was being considered to take over the head anchor position, which he ultimately did the following year. Shouldn't this revelation then be completely analogous to that of the executive or coach who lies about an important job or event on his/her resume in order to land a new position? In that case, the only answer is to fire the executive because if s/he had the compunction to lie about that event, what else must they have lied about? In this situation, the matter is far worse in that we, as the viewing public, must rely on the absolute candor and credibility of the journalists delivering our news. Consider what would have occurred had Walter Cronkite misled the American public about the Vietnam War. Having strayed far outside the boundaries of accepted journalistic credibility, there really is no other solution than to fire Mr. Williams.
18
I'm frustrated at the way Brian Williams' statements are being covered. I've been to Iraq 5 times, since 2004. In fact, I actually fly out tonight for my 6th trip, this time for 10 days and will be in Baghdad within 36 hours. On one of my trips, I cannot recall which one, our C-130 dropped from 4,000 feet to 2,000 feet after launching countermeasures due to detected enemy fire. I was sitting in the back, helmet and body armor on, ear protection in, and felt like the floor dropping out of an elevator in the pit of my stomach. I could see the flare flashes through a small porthole window on the other side of the aircraft. I asked the pilot, later after we landed, and he said they had to take evasive action due to an alert of possible enemy fire. Bottom line is, if you're like Brian Williams, flying in a sortie of helicopters and changing direction and landing in unexpected locations, and hearing soldiers talking of taking small arms fire and evasive action, and having no control or true situational awareness other than what you hear or are told... well, then, "been there, done that." You can put it on your resume.
133
Mo, while nobody is expecting another Cronkite, I think people do expect the truth. This just solidifies how NBC is not credible in delivering the news.
They should clean house at 30 Rock. If NBC has to keep him due to contract obligations then move him to MSNBC where no one in their right mind believes any of the drivel coming out of those people. Well there is always Al Jazerra or SNL for Brian.
Who can believe anything this weasel says on the news from today on and anything he has said in the past (Katrina).
They should clean house at 30 Rock. If NBC has to keep him due to contract obligations then move him to MSNBC where no one in their right mind believes any of the drivel coming out of those people. Well there is always Al Jazerra or SNL for Brian.
Who can believe anything this weasel says on the news from today on and anything he has said in the past (Katrina).
20
seems to me that we are seeing a true example of the news is the entertainment and the entertainment is the news. so many of our reps in congress distorting the truth . anything to get re-elected. anything for ratings. there used to be more investigating journalists, a term heard so little these days with the exception of the nyt. thank you for the this forum and the opportunity to comment
21
I can only remember vaguely, but with distaste, Brian Williams hogging the camera from Richard Engel at some place on some occasion in Iraq when he went over to grab the limelight during a fiery event. He took the credit and all the money for his melodrama, while Richard continues to place himself courageously, ducking sometimes in the thick of it for, I bet, a pittance of what Williams earns.
U.S. news programs are about one third advertising, mostly by Big Pharma with equally bland protagonists sitting in a bathtub.
Watch CBC news (Canada) for more accuracy, especially about America.
U.S. news programs are about one third advertising, mostly by Big Pharma with equally bland protagonists sitting in a bathtub.
Watch CBC news (Canada) for more accuracy, especially about America.
44
The PBS Newshour is the best available newscast. Period. Walter Cronkite would be ashamed of today's TV news programs and anchors.
61
Ms. Dowd puts her finger on the real problem here, and it isn't only or even primarily Brian Williams. You can't be both a celebrity entertainer, whose job is to be as colorful as possible and a journalist, whose job is to get the facts right. Yet Williams was marketed as, and expected to be, both of those things. In his role as an entertainer -- a guest on Letterman's show -- he was expected to tell interesting stories about his experiences. It's a lot more interesting to have been in a helicopter that was hit by ground fire than merely to have been somewhere in the vicinity of where it happened . So the temptation to embellish was great.
Real journalists don't make themselves the story. They report the news, rather than trying to be the news. The insistence of the broadcast networks on blurring the line between news and entertainment is a big reason for what appears to have happened here, and I'm sure it won't be the last time.
Real journalists don't make themselves the story. They report the news, rather than trying to be the news. The insistence of the broadcast networks on blurring the line between news and entertainment is a big reason for what appears to have happened here, and I'm sure it won't be the last time.
36
Maureen Dowd really nails it with this column. I've long been disgusted by the trend of the news reporter becoming a celebrity, and especially the cross promotion of the news as entertainment. It almost seems like a conflict of interest in some ways, but I guess it drives up ratings and ad revenue to have the Today Show talk about the Kardashians within the first 30 minutes of the show, or devote a ridiculous amount of coverage to premier of the "Fifty Shaded of Gray" movie. It seems to be a reflection of the dumbing down of 'Merica' I don't need the news anchor to stand in the way of the story or try to cloak himself in other people's tragedies. I'll stick to the PBS News Hour or even Jon Stewart and the Daily Show when I need a dash of entertainment with my news.
37
Anyone truly interested in the news would not be watching any of the nightly network news shows, no less Brian Williams, who I have seen more on late-night talk shows than anything else.
20
I love Maureen Dowd. She's smart, quick-witted, sharp tongued and gorgeous.
17
The ABC evening news has become a vehicle for banal weather stories, and to make quotidian winter weather more interesting it regularly promotes the "wind chill factor," a faux condition (in terms of temperature, that is) that is scientifically bogus and, if you're properly dressed, all but meaningless. See, e.g.:
http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Rough-Weather-The-Misused-Wind-Chill-...
http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Rough-Weather-The-Misused-Wind-Chill-...
3
Anchors like Williams, local and national, are intrinsic to society's lingering patriarchy, and need to become extinct.
3
The absolute first person that Brian Williams should offer an apology to, on behalf of all journalists (if that is in fact what he is when he is not, in fact, merely reading the news), is Bob Woodruff, who was actually grievously wounded by an IED as he rode with the US Army in an armored vehicle. He suffered a TBI, and his struggle and ultimate recovery have been documented by ABC. That's the shameful part of Mr. Williams' 'conflation'; it obscures the genuine story of a real journalist who was legitmately injured when covering a story in a war zone. Sorry, but from this point on, he's just aother news reader. He's lost his journalistic credibility, and whatever hiatus he's going to take isn't going to change that fact.
39
May have been before your time, Mistress Dowd, but I seem to recall Walter Cronkite had as much to do with the encouragement of the enemy during the Vietnam War, as he did with 'reporting' the daily body count. He was a closet Communist, in my view, who had, Pied Pieper-like, snowed Middle America into believing he was America's Grandfather.
2
What's upsetting is that the so-called apology is a continuation of the lie. I will never forget the car accidents that I was involved in -- even those that involved minimal damage. A civilian reporter would never forget being on an aircraft under enemy fire. Let's be thankful that Williams didn't claim "To Kill a Mockingbird" as his own work this past week.
15
when someone is paid 10 million dollars per year for essentially reading a telepromptor it is not out of the realm of possibility that inflating "war" stories is a way to rationalize this wholly unproportional paycheck. Successful actors, bankers and other over compensated individuals whose actual pay checks are totally out of whack to their societal value sometimes struggle with this and occasionally "fabricate" stories which provide a better narrative backdrop and try and fulfill their deep underlying sense of inadequacy. It boggles the mind that someone at the pinnacle of their profession should feel the need to do this, but the mind Is a strange thing. But doing it by stealing others valor is the worst kind of this pseudo narcissistic personality disorder. All that being said, Mr. Williams has committed a cardinal sin of journalism. Never make up or perpetuate a false story. For that reason alone he is toast. His credibility and integrity are shot and he should have known that these two qualities are a condition precedent to his job description. NBC promotes him ad nauseousm as someone who can be trusted. NBC needs to cut the chord immediately to keep whatever credibility and ethics its news division has left. And those who knew about these fabrications and took no action should be let go also.
17
And Brian Williams leaving the news is news?
9
Mr. Williams, I am sure, has falsified much throughout his life, not just during his vastly overpaid career as a television news reader. No surprises here. Nor any surprise that NBC executives, who certainly know of all the rumors, have been loath to jettison him because he makes money for NBC operations. The executives will continue to dither, but Mr. Williams' days are numbered. The last number in that numbering is low. He will be gone soon. And good riddance.
Thank god for the Jon Stewart Leibowitzes and John Olivers of the world, although Jon Stewart is fully capable of pandering often and remorselessly. He has pandered already to Mr. Williams in particular in the past several times. Perhaps Mr. Williams is a "personal friend" as the now disgraced Anthony Weiner was a "personal friend".
Thank god for the Jon Stewart Leibowitzes and John Olivers of the world, although Jon Stewart is fully capable of pandering often and remorselessly. He has pandered already to Mr. Williams in particular in the past several times. Perhaps Mr. Williams is a "personal friend" as the now disgraced Anthony Weiner was a "personal friend".
9
I can tell you exactly when I stopped watching NBC News. It was the night a year or two ago when Williams made a big gushy announcement over their hiring Chelsea Clinton as a special correspondent. Nice young woman to be sure, but why? I have not watched him, or the Today Show, or MSNBC since. Not once.
The good news for Williams now is if he loses his job he can cash in that favor by being Mom's spokesperson, or media consultant or some such thing.
The good news for Williams now is if he loses his job he can cash in that favor by being Mom's spokesperson, or media consultant or some such thing.
25
Only really unserious people would find this hoo-hah about Williams newsworthy or investigation worthy. We had a president, Bush, and a vp., Cheney, who lied the country into a war in Iraq that killed 4000 military personnel and maimed another 40,000 of them and neither one of them have been "investigated" for their lies or tried for war crimes committed in their name including torture which they approved and condoned. We live in a world in which Fox pretends to be a "news" network and is filled with non-journalists pretending to be journalists while spreading lies, misinformation and disinformation 24/7 as they attempt to undermine the current president and his administration. Now media outlets like the NYT and others who don't have the guts to call Fox out for the lie machine that it is want to be part of a witch hunt in regard to Brian Williams inflating an incident from 2003 that doesn't matter a whit in the larger context nor did it cause any harm to anyone other than himself.
This whole thing is much ado about nothing.
This whole thing is much ado about nothing.
72
Lucky for us we can count on the NYT give us the news unfiltered by govt policy, like during the run-up to the Iraq invasion.
Right Maud?
Right Maud?
46
This is why smart employers hire college graduates who have at least had a course in ethics, and have knowledge beyond reading a teleprompter. Dowd's article would have been much harsher were it bill oreilly lying nonstop.
16
It's worse at Fox news because they regularly criticize our President.
16
Very good column that lays out the difference between journalism, which was what broadcast news used to be about, and whatever the heck it is now and has been for a long time - entertainment tonight where the talking heads are the news. Just please say a prayer for journalism (actually democracy) that is it not forever shrunk and softened, just the talking heads. Perhaps someday there will be real reporters on TV again (and not comedians), ones that when someone says they "misremembered" being shot down in a war zone - they respond with "you mean, you lied?".
34
mainstream media is the propaganda are of the government and corporations . That is the reason the voters are considered stupid by the political class.
28
I'd just like to mention Brian's "stories" on his daughter Allison's lead in Peter Pan.
Because I watch him every night I'm pretty sure I'm right about this. There were three stories, none of which ever mentioned her name. First story was right after she was cast in the part and he showed her picture as a little girl wearing her Peter Pan hat and outfit. Second story was a couple of nights before the show aired and was, I THINK, a "behind the scenes" story about the place they were working. (And I might mention here that because it was an NBC production, ALL the NBC shows were pushing it, just like they do everything else - Olympics, Sports, Interviews - whatever. From Today to Jimmy Fallon. they push it.) The third story he did on Peter Pan was a couple of days afterward; I'm not sure he was on the night directly after. Talked about the ratings, etc. Just to be as honest as possible, he MIGHT have mentioned her name, but I don't think so, as everybody was spending most of their time talking about/knocking Christopher Walken. I'm not going to talk about how all the awful things being said about Brian Williams hurt those of us who really DO trust him, but I DO know that he was a truly proud father over Allison's part and I do not believe he ever said his name. No aggrandizement to be found anywhere.
Because I watch him every night I'm pretty sure I'm right about this. There were three stories, none of which ever mentioned her name. First story was right after she was cast in the part and he showed her picture as a little girl wearing her Peter Pan hat and outfit. Second story was a couple of nights before the show aired and was, I THINK, a "behind the scenes" story about the place they were working. (And I might mention here that because it was an NBC production, ALL the NBC shows were pushing it, just like they do everything else - Olympics, Sports, Interviews - whatever. From Today to Jimmy Fallon. they push it.) The third story he did on Peter Pan was a couple of days afterward; I'm not sure he was on the night directly after. Talked about the ratings, etc. Just to be as honest as possible, he MIGHT have mentioned her name, but I don't think so, as everybody was spending most of their time talking about/knocking Christopher Walken. I'm not going to talk about how all the awful things being said about Brian Williams hurt those of us who really DO trust him, but I DO know that he was a truly proud father over Allison's part and I do not believe he ever said his name. No aggrandizement to be found anywhere.
4
There are people in the print media who remind me of Brian Williams. Look in the mirror, Maureen.
32
If network news is as irrelevant as Ms Dowd says - and if she's not right about that at this exact moment in time, she is certainly correct that network news is trending that way - why be so worried about Williams being a "performer"? He is clearly smart, articulate and good at the news. Should he be slow jamming on the Tonight Show? Probably not, but the days of a Walter Cronkite type god is over. Social media won't allow anyone to NOT be seen warts and all. Let those of us who have never punched up a personal story to make it better throw the first stone. My guess is that almost none of us will get to throw any.
7
One nit: Cronkite gets more credit. In addition to Vietnam, I would say he turned the tide on the Watergate story. He got up, went to a chart, and showed how the trouble went to the top. As a friend of mine said, it was the first time we knew he had legs.
33
What? A news anchor embellished a story about his experience in the Iraq War?
I'm not sure that's as bad as a US President lying about his experience in WW II. Ronald Reagan claimed to have accompanied World War II film crews to liberated Nazi death camps, when in reality he spent the war in California.
And W can't account for his time in the Air National Guard.
Both got us into wars. At least Brian Williams hasn't done that.
I'm not sure that's as bad as a US President lying about his experience in WW II. Ronald Reagan claimed to have accompanied World War II film crews to liberated Nazi death camps, when in reality he spent the war in California.
And W can't account for his time in the Air National Guard.
Both got us into wars. At least Brian Williams hasn't done that.
95
No, not yet. But what if shoddily researched reports result in false findings that get governments, ours and/or others, riled up and triggers some kind of reaction? False journalism can have consequences.
Anybody remember Jon Lovitz's "liar" character on Saturday Night Live? He would embellish his stories until we all laughed at his outsized fibs.
Well, it appears Brian Williams lied about what happened during Katrina, during the Iraq war, and about being shot at by missiles when he was in a helicopter in Israel.
Of course we all new Jon Lovitz's was lying.
Well, it appears Brian Williams lied about what happened during Katrina, during the Iraq war, and about being shot at by missiles when he was in a helicopter in Israel.
Of course we all new Jon Lovitz's was lying.
17
Hasn't anyone seen "Broadcast News"
I suspect we'll learn that Williams is prone to exaggeration. We all know people like this and lying doesn't seem to hurt them.
I suspect we'll learn that Williams is prone to exaggeration. We all know people like this and lying doesn't seem to hurt them.
6
Once again, it all boils down to lying. Does anybody remember "I never had...with that..." Our anchors have become not only the equivalent of Hollywood actors, but also history analysts. What ever happened with simply reporting on what happened vs. the spin of a half baked history chapter? I am sorry for poor Brian, particularly because he was stupid enough to think he would not be caught. And one thing I cannot forgive in our entertainment industry is stupidity!!!
8
While driving to a business meeting last week when the Brain Williams mis-remembering was being gone over by the news media, I was listening to the radio when someone from the military on board his helicopter during the incident was interviewed. It seems that because of the noise of the engines, Mr. Williams wouldn't have known what was happening to his aircraft during the flight short of something catastrophic. His helicopter did take quite a bit of non-lethal small arms ground fire, but the heavier rpg damage happened to others in the flight. All he would have known about damage to the aircraft he was on was what was reported to him by military personnel after it was all over and the aircraft was inspected on the ground. So it boils down to him having some of his facts wrong during an incident when his aircraft did take fire. If it wasn't for his dramatic retelling of the story over the years I don't know if anyone would care at this point.
167
Your explanation would make sense - except that Williams got the story exactly right in the months and years immediately following the incident. It was only more recently that it started morphing into an attack by an RPG.
3
Evening news should not be about generating revenue. As for late night comedians covering real news it is really a travesty. For example, Comcast NBC merger was approved by FTC by a 5-4, with FTC chair woman voted in favor of merger. She then resigned her position at FTC and became the vice president of the joint company. When I heard this in one of the Daily Show episodes I first thought he was joking. But it was true and to best of my knowledge none of the major news outlets mentioned that aspect of it. I sure hope that this saga is a true wake-up call and TV-news adopt new standards. For example: No Emmy for news, salary cap for news anchors, strictly no advertisements only underwriting like in NPR etc. We (at least those ready NY times) think that unregulated money corrupt politics. But in reality unregulated money will corrupt everything. Race to get # 1 rating, which will lead to higher revenue, is the primary reason for both Williams and Muir are acting this way.
16
And then there is the Maureen-like media set who feast on the mainstream carrion. If you knew all about Williams all along, Mo, as your article implies, how is it we only now hear from you?
76
Williams morphed the humble-brag into the humble-lie.
5
I must applaud Maureen Dowd. I have read many nasty comments and articles about Ms Dowd. I am a Libertarian, yet I read her columns. Well sports fans, this lady is a pro. She thinks well and writes well. Whereas I do not believe the NYT merits any praise at all, a despotic democrat and liberal blog at best, I hope she is allowed to carry on.
5
Generally, news "anchors" such as Brian Willaims are really "News Readers" who introduce "reporters" and their stories. Seldom do they venture into in-depth commentary (as Cronkite did about Vietnam). The "30 minute" newscast is whittled down by commercials, and editorially there's a need to find safe, short human interest (or cat interest) bits so the broad-cast can appeal to a broad audience. Although the Sunday news-talk shows are longer, they rely on the same-old same old guests, ignoring the fact that there are many truly wise and interesting human beings from whom viewers and listeners could benefit and even be entertained by in the process.
But then, as Maureen Dowd and others know, our presidents follow the same constricted approach, protected in The Bubble and unwilling to really
listen to other voices giving controversial or just plain wise advice. Our major networks (and most presidents) would never hire someone like Bill Moyers or even permit many of his kinds of guests to appear. NBC news will be the same old "show," even if Williams has to go.
Doug Giebel
Big Sandy, Montana
[email protected]
But then, as Maureen Dowd and others know, our presidents follow the same constricted approach, protected in The Bubble and unwilling to really
listen to other voices giving controversial or just plain wise advice. Our major networks (and most presidents) would never hire someone like Bill Moyers or even permit many of his kinds of guests to appear. NBC news will be the same old "show," even if Williams has to go.
Doug Giebel
Big Sandy, Montana
[email protected]
13
Plastic people do plastic things. Poor ole Ron, losing his mind while President, had his war stories, never in the war, Bush/Cheney, both thought it was harder to send soldiers to war than to go fight themselves, and the people that vote them to office, makes you wonder, how far can the USA go. People like Williams, makes you believe nothing you hear an only half of what you see. But that wind that has been blowing lately, not even those weather people talking about it, they will bring a change. As Bob sang, you don't need a weatherman to tell you which way the winds blowing.
7
I feel sorry for Brian Williams. If the bosses knew this story they should have told him to shut-up and absolutely no more lies. Studies show that we all lie on a pretty regular basis. It is just a matter of how tall to our tales get. Think about that fight you had in the past with a significant other. I'll bet there are two tales. They both can't be true. Didn't a woman thinking about running for President of the USA talk about bullets flying. See even those we greatly admire sometimes get carried away with their stories. We all do it. the guy is probably going to loose his job, so give him a break.
7
"I asked Williams if he was an anchor android."
I'm probably showing my age, but can remember when the operative term was "meat puppet."
I'm probably showing my age, but can remember when the operative term was "meat puppet."
6
Debra you will know wind chill when it hits you. I'm Canuck. We are used to temps below freezing. When the wind chill hits take layering to heart.
As to Mr. Williams he rode a wave of popularity. No one was stopping him until now.
As to Mr. Williams he rode a wave of popularity. No one was stopping him until now.
4
Williams should resign. Journalists who plagiarize, fabricate, use non-existent or unreliable sources, are not credible and will cause news organizations to lose even more viewers. If NBC wants to make money....and that is its primary objective....it would get rid of Williams.
6
Disturbing as Brian Williams's "Walter Mitty moments" may be; NBC, in returning Dr. Nancy Snyderman to her medical expert news chair after a brief time-out when she violated the Ebola quarantine she was under in early December, is despicable. Disobeying the quarantine to go to shopping was arrogant beyond excuse and could have put many innocent lives at risk. And she is now back telling us how to protect our health. NBC has more than an appearance problem; it has a real ethics problem.
52
My issue is with the extent to which NBC crews and executives covered up their knowledge of Williams' exaggerations or distorted the story to support his lies. As more fabrications become unearthed, it will be interesting to see what NBC says to justify corporate complicity in Williams' prevarications.
17
Isn’t it interesting when you watch the nightly national news that ABC, NBC & CBS have the absolute identical news stories….every single night. In a world so full of news, I have found this so hilarious I could cry, and not for the comedic reasons.
Why anyone would suspect that the national news has become anything other than another for profit entertainment and propaganda venue, Brain Williams included, as just another actor for hire, needs their head examined.
I stopped watching this charade years ago, post internet, and will never tune into this comedy show again.
Why anyone would suspect that the national news has become anything other than another for profit entertainment and propaganda venue, Brain Williams included, as just another actor for hire, needs their head examined.
I stopped watching this charade years ago, post internet, and will never tune into this comedy show again.
13
INSECURITY AND COMPENSATION
Ms. Dowd, over the years I have noted that no matter the accomplishments and intelligence of a person, if they lack at least a college degree they feel that they are missing something and tend to overcompensate. Mr. Williams attended three post high school institutions: a community college and two universities -- but was never obtained the degree.
During the days of "Murrow's boys" to be just a broadcast reporter one had to be an intellectual. On up to "the most trusted man in America." But, TV news since 60 MINUTES has evolved from a responsibility -- not expected to earn monies... To a profit center. So as Bill Maher said on Friday the half hour
network news broadcasts have devolved to three minutes of important news followed by what I'll refer to as "cute animal stories."
The three "news" broadcasts at 6:30 are clones of each other. I stopped viewing them and find that the PBS/NEWSHOUR (now on seven days a week) and the BBC newscasts offer real and significant reporting.
Yes, Mr. Williams lied. But look at the folks at Murdoch and Ailes' Fixed News Channel. They do far worse: they manipulate and lie about the very events of the day.
We all make mistakes -- but rarely a whopper like Brian Williams. In December of last year he signed a $10M a year contract for a decade. But, I actually feel sorry for him.
Ms. Dowd, over the years I have noted that no matter the accomplishments and intelligence of a person, if they lack at least a college degree they feel that they are missing something and tend to overcompensate. Mr. Williams attended three post high school institutions: a community college and two universities -- but was never obtained the degree.
During the days of "Murrow's boys" to be just a broadcast reporter one had to be an intellectual. On up to "the most trusted man in America." But, TV news since 60 MINUTES has evolved from a responsibility -- not expected to earn monies... To a profit center. So as Bill Maher said on Friday the half hour
network news broadcasts have devolved to three minutes of important news followed by what I'll refer to as "cute animal stories."
The three "news" broadcasts at 6:30 are clones of each other. I stopped viewing them and find that the PBS/NEWSHOUR (now on seven days a week) and the BBC newscasts offer real and significant reporting.
Yes, Mr. Williams lied. But look at the folks at Murdoch and Ailes' Fixed News Channel. They do far worse: they manipulate and lie about the very events of the day.
We all make mistakes -- but rarely a whopper like Brian Williams. In December of last year he signed a $10M a year contract for a decade. But, I actually feel sorry for him.
21
"...over the years I have noted that no matter the accomplishments and intelligence of a person, if they lack at least a college degree they feel that they are missing something and tend to overcompensate."
Do you mean like Walter Cronkite, who also never got a college degree? You don't even want to get into the names of incredibly successful people without college degrees, to you? Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Henry Ford, Thomas Edison, David Plouffe (senior advisor to President Barack Obama), Maya Angelou and on and on and on.
What I have noted, sir, is that intellectuals with multiple college degrees are incredibly condescending about successful people without those degrees, despite their own lack of financial, social, or intellectual recognition.
Do you mean like Walter Cronkite, who also never got a college degree? You don't even want to get into the names of incredibly successful people without college degrees, to you? Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Henry Ford, Thomas Edison, David Plouffe (senior advisor to President Barack Obama), Maya Angelou and on and on and on.
What I have noted, sir, is that intellectuals with multiple college degrees are incredibly condescending about successful people without those degrees, despite their own lack of financial, social, or intellectual recognition.
I think, though, that the content Internet skews about the same in terms of the ratio of "cute animal stories" to valuable content.
Brian Williams is a small potato in the field of broadcast journalism …
I don't care a whit about this… anyone who confuses a network TV anchor with a journalist deserves to keep his his innocence: I'm willing to let it go with a reprimand.
Here's ' what I mind: your repetition … now with the patina of decades… of the Walter Cronkite myth: the man who stuck his body in the dyke of corruption and death, taking his life in his hands to TELL THE TRUTH ABOUT VIETNAM!!
And keeping the heroic journalist banner flying (at least until "embedding" arrived with nary a journalistic protest).
Yep… he sure did speak out.
Except, alas, about a decade late.
Because unfortunately Walter told the truth after dutifully reading those body counts aloud to his adoring audience for perhaps 1 decade.
Every Thursday, like clockwork, as the earth turned around the sun: the Body Count, Viet Cong, 3000 dead,, 2,000 missing…
U.S. 4 dead, 2 missing, 1 wounded…
If my 10 year old kid knew it had to be a fantasy, it did, and it still does make we wonder why dear old Walter didn't know it.
REAL damage done there, Maureen.
Brian only hurt himself.
So again… Brian Williams was never revered.
He was undoubtedly admired : good looking, pleasant.reassuring voice, and with great delivery.. everything someone who is expected to be reading the news from a tele promoter should be.
We;re not speaking of Edward R. Murrow here.
If we ever were.
15
"Because unfortunately Walter told the truth after dutifully reading those body counts aloud to his adoring audience for perhaps 1 decade.
Every Thursday, like clockwork, as the earth turned around the sun: the Body Count, Viet Cong, 3000 dead,, 2,000 missing…
U.S. 4 dead, 2 missing, 1 wounded…"
Funny, we haven't had body counts since January 2009. Of course, the body counts have existed since the first day Obama took office, but not a peep from any of our watchdog news sources. No reporting on the thousands of civiliams killed by Obama's drones either. Coincidence? I think not.
Every Thursday, like clockwork, as the earth turned around the sun: the Body Count, Viet Cong, 3000 dead,, 2,000 missing…
U.S. 4 dead, 2 missing, 1 wounded…"
Funny, we haven't had body counts since January 2009. Of course, the body counts have existed since the first day Obama took office, but not a peep from any of our watchdog news sources. No reporting on the thousands of civiliams killed by Obama's drones either. Coincidence? I think not.
Brian Williams has always reminded me of a certain highly regarded varsity-team basketball player at my college back in the halcyon days of my youth.
That tall, good-looking, highly regarded (and highly self-regarding ) fellow ran with what was considered an elite, exclusive crowd of business school majors - "stuffed shirts," as they were heartlessly called n those days - who everyone knew should flunk out of college, but never did because of they were such skillful athletes.
After I graduated, that basketball wizard somehow obtained my unlisted phone number - and that of dozens of other graduates whom he never knew, or for that matter, never wanted to know while we were all still at college.
He called me up, and spoke to me for the first time ever, in lofty intonation, greeting me - by my nickname - in an ever-so-slightly condescending manner - and then tried to sell me an insurance policy sold by a fly-by-night insurance company I'd never heard of (headquartered, as I later discovered, in the Cayman Islands). I declined the offer, and hung up on him quickly.
Because of that unfortunate association, I have never, ever watched more than the first few seconds of a Brian Williams newscast.
Nevertheless, I wish Mr. Williams all the best in his future career endeavors - provided that he doesn't plan to sell insurance - or, heaven help us all, to return to his version of television journalism.
That tall, good-looking, highly regarded (and highly self-regarding ) fellow ran with what was considered an elite, exclusive crowd of business school majors - "stuffed shirts," as they were heartlessly called n those days - who everyone knew should flunk out of college, but never did because of they were such skillful athletes.
After I graduated, that basketball wizard somehow obtained my unlisted phone number - and that of dozens of other graduates whom he never knew, or for that matter, never wanted to know while we were all still at college.
He called me up, and spoke to me for the first time ever, in lofty intonation, greeting me - by my nickname - in an ever-so-slightly condescending manner - and then tried to sell me an insurance policy sold by a fly-by-night insurance company I'd never heard of (headquartered, as I later discovered, in the Cayman Islands). I declined the offer, and hung up on him quickly.
Because of that unfortunate association, I have never, ever watched more than the first few seconds of a Brian Williams newscast.
Nevertheless, I wish Mr. Williams all the best in his future career endeavors - provided that he doesn't plan to sell insurance - or, heaven help us all, to return to his version of television journalism.
13
Hey Maureen - I was with ya the whole way on this opinion piece. Until I saw your head-shot photo in the banner of this site. Now that's not a natural pose or what they say is a "candid shot". (candid - adj. "expressing opinions in an honest and sincere way.") No, that's a professional job. Hair and make-up done special for the photo shoot. Why all the pomp? And why wear make-up at all? Are you not attempting to embellish your self? Yet you see much fault (and I agree) in others you excoriate for similar deeds although in Williams' case much bigger in scale and importance and all the more troubling coming from a supposed journalist whose NUMBER ONE RULE is tell the truth. But GET REAL, Mo. Everyone has embellished something at some point in their life. Williams went WAAAAAY beyond that...he flat out lied multiple times. Why bring Muir and others into the fray? Do you have specifics on any embellishments from him of the same magnitude of Williams'. If so, do tell. But if not, don't tie him to the "anchor".
16
Who's going to keep politicians honest if the reporters aren't even honest? I'm less concerned with Williams' quest for glory than I am with his lack of concern for the truth.
44
Without the reporter actually sticking with Jefferson's dream of the truth being told to voters, we are left with a mishmash of biased tripe and shiny-object diversions while the real empire-building goes on.
Wait, I think we're onto something here....
Wait, I think we're onto something here....
Why are people shocked?? NBC is getting quite irrevalent. Cant stand morning either w Al or Matt with his 10 min questions it would b e nice if people just said cant understand question. They have lost some of the best women in news and yes I do like Charlie and Nora in am. I like PBS and can watch it at 10p if I miss the 6, 6:30 or 7 show.
NBC and MSNBC are too full of themselves but people are realizing and not watching what else is new?
Funny MSNBC I used to watch and now very dull and being a senior they are only news I cannot get without paying for more than economy pricing. think some of these other failures would consider who they want to reach.
NBC and MSNBC are too full of themselves but people are realizing and not watching what else is new?
Funny MSNBC I used to watch and now very dull and being a senior they are only news I cannot get without paying for more than economy pricing. think some of these other failures would consider who they want to reach.
6
When you lie long enough your grip on reality slips. He was put in the big chair at NBC precisely because he could make lies sound like truth. Let him be, Brian is just be true to himself.
7
One good thing about the overinflated contribution that both Hilary Clinton and Brian Williams (and I expect countless others) have made to our military's efforts is the realization that our service men and women are fully supported by our citizens and our media.
Contrast this with the 60s, when, for example, recordings such as the 4 Seasons' "Toy Soldier" and B.J. Thomas' "Billy And Sue" dealt with a soldier overseas losing his loved one back in the US. She didn't want to wait for him.
Today, with "American Sniper" packing them in at multiplexes and news anchormen wanting to be right in the thick of the action, recognition of the efforts of our military is sky high.
Contrast this with the 60s, when, for example, recordings such as the 4 Seasons' "Toy Soldier" and B.J. Thomas' "Billy And Sue" dealt with a soldier overseas losing his loved one back in the US. She didn't want to wait for him.
Today, with "American Sniper" packing them in at multiplexes and news anchormen wanting to be right in the thick of the action, recognition of the efforts of our military is sky high.
6
My lasting impression of cub-reporter-for-life Williams will be the incredibly unprofessional ending to the First Family's tour put on for Williams and his camera team, which ended with a hesitant shot who looked for all the world like Williams was about to ask Mr. Obama to read him a nite-nite story before putting him to bed.
Were Williams' anchoring deliveries converted to sundaes from a Dairy Queen, they'd all look like a horse stepped in them. (Thanks to fellow band-member April for that visual image circa 1970.)
Were Williams' anchoring deliveries converted to sundaes from a Dairy Queen, they'd all look like a horse stepped in them. (Thanks to fellow band-member April for that visual image circa 1970.)
3
Thank goodness for Judy Woodruff, Gwen Ifill, Jeffrey Brown, Hari Srinavasan and all the rest of the folks at the News Hour. I happily contribute to my PBS station because of them. Every other "news" station and "news" person out there is just for entertainment and about the personalities on the air. At the News Hour, the journalists are well-informed, ask intelligent questions, and don't make themselves the news. Plus, I know that I would most likely never hear the name Kardashian on one of their newscasts. Good riddance to Mr. Williams and he can take the overly earnest and sappy David Muir along with him. Oh and the swashbuckling and over -exposed Anderson Cooper as well.
64
I watch PBS for good solid news reporting, like reading the Times every morning on line. Fox, the major networks, and MSNBC are for entertainment, just like the so called business channels whose most honest statement is don't use this program for investment advice. Likewise don't use these channels for political advise.
They are all about same. Don't be fooled.
Why would anyone watch any of the commercial network evening news programs? There can be only one reasonable answer: there is no PBS station available to them.
Is the "hair apparent" an intended pun? Sorry but I couldn't resist :-)
But seriously, I believe that most people have the sort of memory flaws that Brian Williams, Hillary Clinton, Paul Ryan and others are accused of. It's just the way our brain works. The 2010 book by cognitive scientists Christopher Chabris, and Daniel Simons "The Invisible Gorilla: And Other Ways Our Intuitions Deceive Us" explains it too well. We should cut Mr. Williams some slack.
But seriously, I believe that most people have the sort of memory flaws that Brian Williams, Hillary Clinton, Paul Ryan and others are accused of. It's just the way our brain works. The 2010 book by cognitive scientists Christopher Chabris, and Daniel Simons "The Invisible Gorilla: And Other Ways Our Intuitions Deceive Us" explains it too well. We should cut Mr. Williams some slack.
9
Williams should be fired because he has shown his lack of integrity. He is a cheat and has been so at least since 2003 in Iraq. The fact that he made about $50 million during that time is sufficient to stay alive on food stamps. To keep him will further make the news, on all channels, an entertainment for the really bored.
16
Edward R. Morrow, Walter Cronkite, Huntley and Brinkley, Eric Sevareid, Brian Williams. Who doesn't belong and why? Sorry Brian. It is time to go and redeem yourself.
16
Hopefully Williams' s story will teach all big-time TV executives and VIPs a lesson about staying true to the mission of news and honoring the American people instead of vaulting their own egos.
12
Does anyone really watch these 20 minute (after commercials) nightly news shows for any other purpose than to see what the powerful want us to believe?
24
I hate to admit it but I agree with Ms. Dowd on her every point. It is odd though that she really was pretty easy on Williams considering the diatribes she has leveled at others for lessor crimes. Makes one wonder.
In a way it is good that Williams did what he did. In one way it has pulled the curtain back on network news and exposed it for what it really is, entertainment. Perhaps now people that rely on the networks for the so called "truth of the day" will realize that these networks are selling a product and the their anchor is their top sales person. These are networks are corporations that have stockholders that are in business for only one reason and that is to maximize profits. What they consider news is any commodity they believe can be packaged and sold to the viewing public. This is one reason why we see these celebrity anchors at disaster backdrops attired in work shirts and hiking boots, or mingling with movie stars in a tuxedo. It's all about the packaging and selling the product - bottom line.
In a way it is good that Williams did what he did. In one way it has pulled the curtain back on network news and exposed it for what it really is, entertainment. Perhaps now people that rely on the networks for the so called "truth of the day" will realize that these networks are selling a product and the their anchor is their top sales person. These are networks are corporations that have stockholders that are in business for only one reason and that is to maximize profits. What they consider news is any commodity they believe can be packaged and sold to the viewing public. This is one reason why we see these celebrity anchors at disaster backdrops attired in work shirts and hiking boots, or mingling with movie stars in a tuxedo. It's all about the packaging and selling the product - bottom line.
42
In his wonderfully enlightening book, "Amusing Ourselves To Death", Neil Postman draws some stark comparisons between Orwell and Huxley that are appropriate here...
"Orwell feared that the truth would be concealed from us...Huxley feared that the truth would be drowned in a sea of irrelevance."
"Orwell believed we would become a captive culture...Huxley feared we would become a trivial culture, preoccupied with some equivalent of the feelies, the orgy porgy, and the centrifugal bumblepuppy."
Brian Williams, NBC News and the rest of the corporate media have proved that Huxley's Brave New World is actually here and that Huxley, not Orwell, was right.
"Orwell feared that the truth would be concealed from us...Huxley feared that the truth would be drowned in a sea of irrelevance."
"Orwell believed we would become a captive culture...Huxley feared we would become a trivial culture, preoccupied with some equivalent of the feelies, the orgy porgy, and the centrifugal bumblepuppy."
Brian Williams, NBC News and the rest of the corporate media have proved that Huxley's Brave New World is actually here and that Huxley, not Orwell, was right.
54
But Orwell is what comes after the truth is made irrelevant.
Not at all surprising. Most of those tv anchors, prime timers or not, with 10M salaries, are inflated empty of content but surely "good communicators". Blah-blah-blah. Commodities for entertainment, not for news and thoughtfulness.
16
I'm not defending Williams, but in a way, how can you blame him? It's all an absurd, the fake-est fairy tale, this TV news. And I believed it, every word. I remember when I couldn't get through the day without the "Nightly News". I was upset if Williams was sick or absent, replaced by another anchor. I trusted him and I hung on every word he said. But then he started grand standing, promoting himself, trying to be funny, popular and famous. Even when people compared him to Walter Cronkite, it wasn't enough. But, I understand, Mr. Brian Williams, was just as packaged, fake and phony as the industry that created him. He was bought and paid for by the very same corporate corruption that destroyed our Government and our country. Brian Williams is dead, the rotting corpse of a dead industry, once designed to package lies and deceit on a nightly basis. Good riddance, I say.
41
I see your point, but Williams needed the gravitas and discipline not to be absorbed by the celebrity culture. He wanted that, or he wanted to be a credible journalist. Obviously he chose the former.
1
Ms. Dowd's most serious allegation is this: "NBC executives were warned a year ago that Brian Williams was constantly inflating his biography...."
If true, this shows a character flaw which will not go away after some soul-searching. This is difficult to understand except if Mr. Williams really wanted to be a talk-show host, or a comedian all the long. If this is the case, after a cooling off period, he may be able to do so. Show business is forgiving of almost any misdeed if the person is well liked, which Mr. Williams is.
I disagree there is no place for the nightly news on TV anymore. Only media and tech elitists say such things. Plenty of older Americans still watch TV news. I am not one of them, but I'd hate to see a time when we are required to get our news only from social media. Twitter is great if you know how to use it, and know the right industry leaders to follow on it. Keeping up with this stuff is a lot of work, and many of us don't want to be bothered.
We need many sources of news for all kinds of people. We are blessed to live in an age where this is possible. Newspapers still have some game left in them in local marketplaces. Warren Buffet, who lives in Omaha, knows this. And the nightly news on TV still has its place, if much reduced, in our splintered media age. It is only the blinkered, Big-City provincialism of Big-Media writers which makes them say otherwise. There is an entire, beautiful country between New York City and Los Angeles,
21
1. Hillary Clinton dodging fire in the former Yugoslavia
2. Paul Ryan's 2-something marathon
3. Brian Williams' shoot down.
All cut from the same cloth. Why do we respect, elect or support these pathological narcissists?
2. Paul Ryan's 2-something marathon
3. Brian Williams' shoot down.
All cut from the same cloth. Why do we respect, elect or support these pathological narcissists?
35
Because we do not live in a democracy, we live in a representative democracy. The "Godlike" founding fathers never really wanted regular people to vote.
More "journalists" need to be fact checked. If you did you would find out that most of them "exaggerate" news stories.
10
The Grand Mystery is why anyone should take Mr. Brian Williams so seriously for any reason at all. My apologies for that uncharitable put-down because I really have no hostility to Mr. Williams, but he is merely a 'talking head' as they say in the media business.
Talking heads do not need to have any intellectual or moral qualities at all (why should they?) but only a dazzling set of perfect bright-white teeth, a full head of hair as Ms. Dowd wittily indicates, and be able to read teletype without stammering. That is it - nothing more. If a talking robot can be manufactured to read the script then all the better.
Mr. Williams can walk down Broadway in his underwear if it will get him more publicity - it really is not important. If I want serious in-depth reporting I go to print media (increasingly available online) and if I want politically savvy entertainment I will watch Stewart, Colbert, and Maher. During the last twenty years mainstream networks lost credibility as the Voice of God dictating reality to the masses. Technology and society have rapidly evolved past the network dinosaurs.
Talking heads do not need to have any intellectual or moral qualities at all (why should they?) but only a dazzling set of perfect bright-white teeth, a full head of hair as Ms. Dowd wittily indicates, and be able to read teletype without stammering. That is it - nothing more. If a talking robot can be manufactured to read the script then all the better.
Mr. Williams can walk down Broadway in his underwear if it will get him more publicity - it really is not important. If I want serious in-depth reporting I go to print media (increasingly available online) and if I want politically savvy entertainment I will watch Stewart, Colbert, and Maher. During the last twenty years mainstream networks lost credibility as the Voice of God dictating reality to the masses. Technology and society have rapidly evolved past the network dinosaurs.
25
Twitter is nothing more than a line of people gossiping and spreading rumor. It is not news. And, never will be. Williams has now lost all credibility, and I see no way for him to recover it. It a reader or listener must wonder, "Is this really true," the source is finished.
15
Brian Williams has become the drunk at the end of the bar telling the story of the field goal he kicked with :02 left on the clock. Retelling it over and over again he increases the length of the kick during near blizzard conditions and the fact that he did it with two broken ankles. He needs to realize that his job is simply to read the news, not make it. The NBC News Division should watch BBC News for tips on presenting the news of the date.
47
Brian who? I thought he was a bit guy that shows up on Daily Show and The Tonight Show. Dang! I didn't know he did "real" news.
18
real news? what is that anymore and did it ever exist outside of a concept. Yes there are events and then there are the reports about the events. Which is the real news?
This is difficult for me to say but I agree with Ms. Dowd on every point. I am surprised however that she was so gentle with Williams - perhaps she's mellowing in her old age? The bottom line is that TV is entertainment, and it is entertainment that drives their bottom line - period!
9
If the story follows the usual Amercan fall-from-glory story arc, soon we'll learn that Brian is bi-polar, has a substance abuse problem, or was sexually abused playing Little League 48 years ago by a coach in New Jersey. Stay tuned. Victimhood is his only way out. And what about his lovely daughter, Peter Pan?
25
As when Dan Rather was caught lying, Brian Williams' peers will probably honor him with an award dinner.
1
While his daughter played Peter Pan, Brian Williams surely has the Peter Pan complex (partial description below) :
(...) avoids responsibilities, would rather live in their head than the real world, focuses on fantasies more than reality, gets attention through negative behavior(...).
(...) avoids responsibilities, would rather live in their head than the real world, focuses on fantasies more than reality, gets attention through negative behavior(...).
6
I didn't know networks had "anchors" anymore. how utterly absurd. almost as absurd as anyone thinking brian williams newsworthy. when i was teenager watching watergate unfold there were a handful of news sources. now there are thousands, and dozens of good ones. everything's on-line. use it.
5
Maureen: you own me. "Hair apparent" says it all. Nice column!
12
I happened to be watching Letterman the night Mr. Williams was a guest.
I do not recall the entire interview he gave, but I do remember feeling uneasy as he so glibly recounted his exploits, and his false modesty as Letterman defined him in heroic terms. Now it seems he's caught in his own quagmire, Does the television bright-eyed readers of the news (over=reacters to the news, do they really believe they are taken seriously?
So much blather from so many experts on so many subjects, all day, every week, might drive seekers of truth to despair.
Mr. Williams is a showman, as are all of his ilk.
I do not recall the entire interview he gave, but I do remember feeling uneasy as he so glibly recounted his exploits, and his false modesty as Letterman defined him in heroic terms. Now it seems he's caught in his own quagmire, Does the television bright-eyed readers of the news (over=reacters to the news, do they really believe they are taken seriously?
So much blather from so many experts on so many subjects, all day, every week, might drive seekers of truth to despair.
Mr. Williams is a showman, as are all of his ilk.
8
Well no news person is a hero, unless they do something for others directly which risks their lives outside of their job. He never has and never will, not made that way at all.
Sorry chums...a lie may be purely a lie and not mitigated by any euphemism nor mea culpas.
But the emoted horror of this particular lie expressed by public outrage and calls for resignation is distorted and smacks of hypocrisy and the virtual stoning of Williams.
Those of us who watch the networks so-called "News" are complicit ...we know it's all about sound bites and the latest Kardashian gaffes...but like lemmings we turn the tv on and seemingly buy in.
So yes, a lie is a lie...Williams screwed up...analysis paralysis...take that rage and disgust and foist it on those lies that really have consequences...begin with Murdoch...hit on Dubya and Cheney and yes, too often of late, the NY Times.
But the emoted horror of this particular lie expressed by public outrage and calls for resignation is distorted and smacks of hypocrisy and the virtual stoning of Williams.
Those of us who watch the networks so-called "News" are complicit ...we know it's all about sound bites and the latest Kardashian gaffes...but like lemmings we turn the tv on and seemingly buy in.
So yes, a lie is a lie...Williams screwed up...analysis paralysis...take that rage and disgust and foist it on those lies that really have consequences...begin with Murdoch...hit on Dubya and Cheney and yes, too often of late, the NY Times.
28
Classic blame shifting. The story is one guy, who speaks to many people, lying his butt off. It looks compulsive.
A local surgeon retired last year due to hand tremors. Would you let him work on your heart?
Why let Williams back into our living rooms as a "managing editor" and mouthpiece?
A local surgeon retired last year due to hand tremors. Would you let him work on your heart?
Why let Williams back into our living rooms as a "managing editor" and mouthpiece?
It's easy to focus on Brian Williams's errors but, as your column aptly shows, his misdeeds are merely a symptom of a much broader shortcoming of current TV network news. Once you let the news department become market driven, you lose the constraints of good and responsible journalism. Boy, if there was ONE TV network that offered to broadcast real, no frills news, I'd watch it. But it doesn't exist anymore.
12
PBS(and NPR).
1
It does exist in the form of the NewsHour on PBS with Gwen Ifill and Judy Woodruff as co-anchors. It offers exceptional, straight forward, in-depth reporting and analysis on important new items of the day while leaving the superfluous behind for the networks and cable to report on.
Network news broadcasts last a grand total a grand total of one half an hour each evening. Having a pig/goat story seems to sum up the state of affaires in some news rooms these days. When so many great events are churning across the worldstage these days it would have seemed unimaginable for serious anchors like Croncike, Chancellor, or Reasoner to give such a facile story a moments notice. If you want a starting point as to why Americans today are so uninformed and immature William's unnutritious bowl of fruit loops served every evening is a good starting point.
12
All he does is read the "news," half of which are lies anyway.
To hold him to a standard of truthfulness is ridiculous.
To hold him to a standard of truthfulness is ridiculous.
9
While real journalists were being shot, at a hotel somewhere over there, by our own military, for trying to tell us the real Iraq war, Brian Williams and many others were flying with the generals and pretending to be war reporters.
27
Individuals at NBC who knew about Williams's fabrication should be held accountable as well. Sounds like a good house cleaning to me!
BTW, Williams's mea culpa in the form of a memoir will be out in a few years after this blows over.
BTW, Williams's mea culpa in the form of a memoir will be out in a few years after this blows over.
28
Frankly, this is a minor story. Instead, it should be seen as just another small piece in the, probably, 3 decades long decline of broadcast 'news.' Subtracting a news reader from NBC or CBS or ABC or wherever changes exactly 'what?' What added substance do they actually contribute to a piece of news or other information? What research or important nuance - gained by historical or technical knowledge (which they don't have) - do they add to the 'news?' Frankly, I see no difference between them and what they do with entertainment 'reporters.' The real story in the news is not the 'anchors' but total lack of substance and knowledge that has disappeared from the broadcast airwaves. Is there really a coincidence that a network like Faux News ever developed in this vapid landscape? Since the 'anchors' no longer provide 'news' or 'information' why not have the propagandists and purveyors of ignorance step up?
8
Like Brian Williams but this is a major screw up.
As Maureen says he already has the top job and earns millions, so what's the point? Especially with an all volunteer military ( lots of poor folks ) , we don't need rich guys stealing glory. And leaving himself open to be skewered by MD.
Now he's really in the trenches. Sad.
As Maureen says he already has the top job and earns millions, so what's the point? Especially with an all volunteer military ( lots of poor folks ) , we don't need rich guys stealing glory. And leaving himself open to be skewered by MD.
Now he's really in the trenches. Sad.
11
The sad part of this story is, who cares? I was a news freak years ago when news was actually, well.....l guess. news. That was before CNN and especially FOX pontificated every minor event into a precursor to WW III.
I just do my painting now. Which is what the zealots want me to do, I suppose. Just stay out of the way, and let them take over. But you know what, I have guns too....
I just do my painting now. Which is what the zealots want me to do, I suppose. Just stay out of the way, and let them take over. But you know what, I have guns too....
3
Well Maureen, here I am reading you online on a Saturday night and not watching "the news." In fact, you're right that I get more news from Jon Stewart on "The Daily Show" and from John Oliver who's about to return with "Last week Tonight" than the networks catering to corporate sponsors and corporate owners. When giant corporations control the media, the search for truth (aka the news) is harder to get because they don't really want us to know what the corpocracy is up to. So, now that Brian Williams got caught with his flight pants down in his "Mission Accomplished" moment, we know how false the entire enterprise is.
13
Now why was Dan Rather fired ?
Oh wait, he reported a negative story on W while Bush was the President.
Now W is no longer the President how about NBC hire Mr. Rather to replace Brian Williams.
Oh wait, he reported a negative story on W while Bush was the President.
Now W is no longer the President how about NBC hire Mr. Rather to replace Brian Williams.
36
My, oh my. What in the world would possess a man... so steeped in the flash-bang worldwide communications industry and tethered to the throne with only the aura of credibility..... be so arrogant and insecure so as to risk it all by concocting false stories in order to enhance his credentials?
It is truly mind boggling to think that even after being warned about these fictional tales that he not only continued but had the chutzpah to embellish them even further.
In this day & age of instant connectivity, every word, every utterance is poured over by friend and foe alike. And the higher the individual profile, the more likely one is to be shot down. What would compel someone in that position to risk it all over something so easily scrutinized and fact checked and do it on national TV to boot!
To me...that's the real head scratcher in all of this.
It is truly mind boggling to think that even after being warned about these fictional tales that he not only continued but had the chutzpah to embellish them even further.
In this day & age of instant connectivity, every word, every utterance is poured over by friend and foe alike. And the higher the individual profile, the more likely one is to be shot down. What would compel someone in that position to risk it all over something so easily scrutinized and fact checked and do it on national TV to boot!
To me...that's the real head scratcher in all of this.
157
If I want soft news I watch Rachel Maddow. If I want hard news I watch The Daily Show. That doesn't leave much room for empty news, so I can't say Brian will be missed.
20
Unfortunately, self-aggrandizement and egotism have long been the order of the day on Williams' broadcast. He aggressively injects himself into new stories. Tornadoes in the Midwest? He lived there once! Interviews with Boston Marathon victims? Let's get some closeups of Brian! His daughter playing the lead in an NBC musical? Here's her baby picture! He is not the only one in TV news who reeks of pomposity and self-importance, but he is a chief offender.
39
If he had any class or an once of dignity, he'd resign.
21
Can you imagine the outrage and insanity if a Fox News Channel anchor did this?
21
Ms. Dood you are roasting Williams and even Muir but skipped CBS anchor Scott Pelley .
Guess what that's whom I listen to in the evenings !
Guess what that's whom I listen to in the evenings !
5
I agree with the gist of your column. The major network news programs are not motivated by journalistic standards to inform but by ratings. Thirty minutes was never enough to cover news of the world and advertising reduces that time to less than 20 minutes. The TV "news" has morphed into a magazine format featuring stories about panda births, celebrities, animals-do-the-darndest-things videos, obnoxious remarks by politicians, and the weather. They have discovered that cold, snowy, inclement weather occurs in the winter. Who would have guessed? So, credibility is no longer important in the TV "news"
business because no one cares whether such fluff is real or imagined.
As for Brian Williams, Fox News beckons...
business because no one cares whether such fluff is real or imagined.
As for Brian Williams, Fox News beckons...
8
It's a sheer joy to read this column by Maureen. Not only is it incisive about the cheapening of network journalism, but it also provides a broad context to Brian Williams's underlying need to inflate his exploits. There's something deeply unsettling when a news journalist so desperately needs stolen glory, stolen from those who rightfully earned their accolades. When the anchor needs to become the news, it's time for him to move on.
Having seen the best, I cannot help but hold all journalists to the Walter Cronkite standard of trust, and Brian Williams has violated the integrity entrusted to him. With his reputation in tatters, Williams is unlikely to recover from this revelation of dishonesty.
It's also a pleasure to read a column in which Maureen has moved on from the President whom she has treated rather shabbily for reasons not clear to her readers. It remains a mystery, but perhaps she would take time to write about that in greater depth. In the meantime, I hope that Maureen continues to write columns as excellent and relevant as this one.
Having seen the best, I cannot help but hold all journalists to the Walter Cronkite standard of trust, and Brian Williams has violated the integrity entrusted to him. With his reputation in tatters, Williams is unlikely to recover from this revelation of dishonesty.
It's also a pleasure to read a column in which Maureen has moved on from the President whom she has treated rather shabbily for reasons not clear to her readers. It remains a mystery, but perhaps she would take time to write about that in greater depth. In the meantime, I hope that Maureen continues to write columns as excellent and relevant as this one.
11
News flash! Ms. Dowd.
The faux moral authority of Cronkite was as bogus as Brian Williams. Cronkite didn't put his career on the line to report that we were losing the war in Vietnam. He put his career on the line to force the media meme that we were losing the war. Without Walter Cronkite selling America out every night on the news? America would have won the war in Vietnam. We had it won until those like father Cronkite began aiding the Vietnamese communist with their propaganda war against an American populace that was too stupid to realize they were being played for fools.
The faux moral authority of Cronkite was as bogus as Brian Williams. Cronkite didn't put his career on the line to report that we were losing the war in Vietnam. He put his career on the line to force the media meme that we were losing the war. Without Walter Cronkite selling America out every night on the news? America would have won the war in Vietnam. We had it won until those like father Cronkite began aiding the Vietnamese communist with their propaganda war against an American populace that was too stupid to realize they were being played for fools.
8
This is rich. I've heard from the generals in the 60s and 70s who saw "light at the end of the tunnel." I don't hear much from anyone now days who believe that we should have kept on slogging in the jungles, interjecting ourselves in what was a civil war. We in the U.S. buy clothing made in Vietnam and thousands of U.S. citizens have visited this Communist country. And you blame it all on Walter Cronkite, as if we citizens had no other recourse but to take whatever Mr. Cronkite said as gospel. Maybe we could have declared "victory" with another 58,000 U.S. dead and maybe also dropped a nuke on Hanoi. Would that have been the formula for success. I don't think so.
Maybe but we can't blame him for losing Afghanistan and Iraq can we. Also we lost Vistnam years before Walter announced it. nd besides we now know we did need to fight it
In a time where people just want to be famous for the sake of celebrity, rather than actually accomplishing anything, it is not a surprise that Williams appropriated a story and made it his own. The problem was that with the passage of time social media made it possible for such lies to be exposed. That is why we found out. He lied and continued lying knowlingly. It was not a mistake or a lapse. If he is indeed anguished now, it is because this has been exposed, not because he has any sense of having done something wrong. If he did, there would have immediately been a more fulsome and forthright apology instead of the lame one he offered.
Perhaps his time off will give him the opportunity to reflect on what he has done and how to find a way to regain the trust of his colleagues and the viewers of NBC news.
Perhaps his time off will give him the opportunity to reflect on what he has done and how to find a way to regain the trust of his colleagues and the viewers of NBC news.
3
Brian Williams never HAD credibility. The "NEWS" lost all credibility when "interviews" of actors, writers and others promoting something for sale became "news".
News programs are just entertainment by YOUNG, GOOD LOOKING, ETHNICALLY DIVERSE talking heads. There is more happy repartee than news.
All it is now is sound and video "bites" with misrepresentations, exaggerations and out right LIES. If it is on the news, it is no where near the truth.
News programs are just entertainment by YOUNG, GOOD LOOKING, ETHNICALLY DIVERSE talking heads. There is more happy repartee than news.
All it is now is sound and video "bites" with misrepresentations, exaggerations and out right LIES. If it is on the news, it is no where near the truth.
17
"Williams felt compelled to try to steal the kind of glory that can only be earned the hard way."
That pretty well sums it up. Williams is a wanna-be-hero, and he is willing to lie to achieve that.
I don't feel any joy in seeing a career ended, but there are some things you just can't do if you're part of some professions. Williams will soon be inducted into the Reporters Hall of Shame taking his place with Dan Rather and Sabrina Rubin Erdely, the author of the Rolling Stone rape hoax story.
That pretty well sums it up. Williams is a wanna-be-hero, and he is willing to lie to achieve that.
I don't feel any joy in seeing a career ended, but there are some things you just can't do if you're part of some professions. Williams will soon be inducted into the Reporters Hall of Shame taking his place with Dan Rather and Sabrina Rubin Erdely, the author of the Rolling Stone rape hoax story.
7
Great story. In Thailand they have an off-used saying: som nom na! It means, Serves him right!
Nevertheless it's so entertaining. We should be grateful to Brian Williams and Bruce Jenner for adding a measure of levity to our lives, amid the gruesome tales of be headings and burning men alive.
Nevertheless it's so entertaining. We should be grateful to Brian Williams and Bruce Jenner for adding a measure of levity to our lives, amid the gruesome tales of be headings and burning men alive.
3
Lying or embellishment can be a symptom of a much deeper problem. Some individuals embellish stories to feel more important or to attract attention and recognition for themselves. This can be part of a personality disorder known as narcissism. Mr. William's stories seem to fall into this category. More serious lying can be seen in individuals who lie in an attempt to hurt others. I find this much more egregious. I think Mr. Williams and NBC should be open about his problem, seek help for him and re-establish him as the fine newscaster that he is capable of being. Let NBC be the leader of the right thing to do for an employee who needs some help.
2
The downfall of nightly news started years ago with 60 Minutes. Once CBS realized it could turn news into cash, its much-revered news arm was compromised, as every other broadcaster followed suit. Suddenly, looks, presentation, and the inevitable "gotcha" moment became more important than any in-depth news story. It's ironic that this time, the gotcha moment got the most popular anchor on TV.
11
I don't care about what Brian Williams said. It's show biz. Most "news" is on t.v. It is sorry we seem to celebrate war like we do, justifying violent and hateful behavior on a grand scale. What about the fathers, mothers, grandparents, children and babies on the other side? Are they all dispensable human beings because their leaders and country have something we/our money people want? I don't give Brian Williams a thought as he is simply trying to "sell" a macho feeling so many people seem to need and want. It's too bad, but right now, until we evolve futher, this is human nature to want this stuff. He merely provided what the crowd and his job demands. Sickening as it is I have some sympathy for him. Just pretend that every news night, it is a trailor for a movie we'd like to see.
8
NBC has become the network of nepotism-- the untalented Chelsey Clinton and Jenna Bush, Luke Russet- who at least seems to have some talent, Brian promoting his daughter and synergies like Chris Matthews' books that he swears weren't ghost written. It's hard to find anything that even resembles the news there anymore.
28
As I recall, the Doonesbury character Roland Burton Hedley was created to parody "Gunga Dan" Rather's exploits in Afghanistan. Now, it's as if Brian Williams is parodying Roland Hedley. Network (and cable) news has become more about the reporter and less about the actual reporting. That's why I rely on public broadcasting for my on-air news.
16
Mr. Williams' much belated mea culpa comes too late for any restoration in public trust in his ability to honestly deliver the news. Ms. Dowd's excellent column accurately conveys this unfortunate saga of Mr. Williams' hubris.
16
Best piece you have written in years Ms. Dowd. The nightly news has been irrelevant for years. Weather is the top story two nights out of five. Feel good, health and fluff stories. If I want the real news I go to the NY Times web site or watch the BBC at night. The best news comes from the comment boards. Brain Williams is a guy who had it all,yet still felt the need to lie. Lie not embellish. I suspect the reason so many want him gone now is because in the working world of us little people, offenses much less harmful would be the grounds for immediate removal. Life is not fair.
32
Bravo on a self critical article! Encore! Encore!
3
I did enjoy him slow-jamming the news with Jimmy Fallon. Do you think he might continue doing that? ;-)
4
Further complicating the analysis of network anchors and correspondents is the fact that a reporter who showed real bravery during the Persian Gulf War, Arthur Kent (the "Scud Stud"), quickly disappeared from the network scene, while his ducking and cringing counterpart remained on air for quite some time after that. What was that about?
6
Bruce Jenner will become a woman before Brian Williams will be back on the air. The end of his career as an anchorman is a mere footnote in the rapid decline of traditional network news since the beginning of the Iraq war. Collectively, the network news operations bought Bush's big lie and lost whatever credibility they had. The fact that Brian Williams felt the need to puff himself up in said war only adds to the networks' complicity in the larger tragedy.
22
Clever wording there Maureen. Let me translate it for the non-compliant reader.
"But the media executives with any integrity who once roamed the land were gone, and “there was no one around to call him out on his lies,” as one NBC News propagandist put it."
There, that's better.
"But the media executives with any integrity who once roamed the land were gone, and “there was no one around to call him out on his lies,” as one NBC News propagandist put it."
There, that's better.
10
We also get columnists writing so many cute take-downs of public figures, even though it has all been said and done before so many times, instead of meaningful commentary.
7
I work in TV news. I've seen people FIRED for making an HONEST MISTAKE. (As in they inadvertently pushed the wrong button.) NBC should make William's "hiatus" permanent.
17
Maureen you seem to be making progress as you did not put any blame on Obama for the present news anchors who are all a bunch of egotists. I stopped watching evening news a long time ago, I rely mostly on comics to give me the true news.
20
Maureen's doing her imitation of Gunny Hartman in "Full Metal Jacket": "Brian, show me your war face!"
I served in Vietnam as a medical corpsman at a base hospital. But we did get hammered several times in the Tet Offensive of 1968. During a rocket attack, I actually prayed to God, and I asked Him if it wouldn't be too much of a hassle, I would really appreciate it if He would make me invisible. Just temporarily. Until the attack was over. So I've never been a big fan of Papa Hemingway's "grace under pressure." And even now I find my war to be an absurd mix of Robert Altman's "M*A*S*H" with a pinch of Joseph Heller"s "Catch-22" thrown in for good measure during the horrific moments of absolute panic that only lasted, perhaps, five or ten minutes. Needless to say, one can easily see my cynical attitude toward this cult of faux machismo still prevalent among males in our society. Even though the draft was just another casualty of the Vietnam War and the ideal of the citizen/soldier from the Second World War is a nostalgic relic we dusted off every year on Pearl Harbor Day.
So I find it hard to condemn Brian Williams doing his remake of "Rashomon" during that flight on a Chinook helicopter reporting on the Iraq War. And I still have difficulty trying to see with clarity what I experienced and did during my moments of panic because even now my mild case of PTSD can play mind games with me.
So, Maureen, could you please tone down the schadenfreude against Brian?
I served in Vietnam as a medical corpsman at a base hospital. But we did get hammered several times in the Tet Offensive of 1968. During a rocket attack, I actually prayed to God, and I asked Him if it wouldn't be too much of a hassle, I would really appreciate it if He would make me invisible. Just temporarily. Until the attack was over. So I've never been a big fan of Papa Hemingway's "grace under pressure." And even now I find my war to be an absurd mix of Robert Altman's "M*A*S*H" with a pinch of Joseph Heller"s "Catch-22" thrown in for good measure during the horrific moments of absolute panic that only lasted, perhaps, five or ten minutes. Needless to say, one can easily see my cynical attitude toward this cult of faux machismo still prevalent among males in our society. Even though the draft was just another casualty of the Vietnam War and the ideal of the citizen/soldier from the Second World War is a nostalgic relic we dusted off every year on Pearl Harbor Day.
So I find it hard to condemn Brian Williams doing his remake of "Rashomon" during that flight on a Chinook helicopter reporting on the Iraq War. And I still have difficulty trying to see with clarity what I experienced and did during my moments of panic because even now my mild case of PTSD can play mind games with me.
So, Maureen, could you please tone down the schadenfreude against Brian?
29
Couldn't agree more. I was drafted in 67: Marines, infantry, machine gunner (I was the biggest guy in the squad). I lived with the terror of firefights and the subsequent and consequent task of picking up (sometimes assembling) the dead bodies. I see no problem with Williams' embellishment of the incident to better convey the horror of war. Was it necessary that he be shot to be qualified to report?
2
My parents and grand parents all served from WWI through WWII and Japan. None of them were heroes but they were honorable. They never embellished their tales of war. They didn't have to. They were all proud and satisfied with what they did and they never envied or tried to match what others did. Jack Siegel was wounded in the Battle of Meuse Argonne. Charging from the trenches he watched as others beside him fell from German machine gun fire; then came the gas. Bill Weis was a Marine in that war and a Navy Corps man at Normandy. He took care of the wounded from all sides as they sailed back to England on an LST. Mom was one of the first United States Navy WAVES. She never saw action but had a wonderful time and met my dad while both were in uniform. Dad served in the Pacific. None were brave or heroic or ever told tall tales. They were just Citizen Soldiers and they were all very proud of their service. I served briefly during Viet Nam and I too was no hero. More than 32 of my classmates from High School also served during Viet Nam. No matter how we served or if we saw combat or not we all did our part and we didn't make up stories to build our selves up. A few guys and gals went to Europe, or Japan or Okinawa. Others served in Korea and some were just Reserve or National Guard. What makes our service honorable is that we did serve and no matter what part we played, small or large we accepted it the way it was. No one sought glory or recognition to promote ourselves.
1
I liked Brian Williams better when he was Ed Murrow.
4
Bland handsome news anchors are horse and buggy reading their teleprompters; Google news and social media sites are quicker sources of news and more up to date.
Say good-bye Brian Williams. Next to go, it is to be hoped, all those banal, blond Faux Noise talking heads.
Say good-bye Brian Williams. Next to go, it is to be hoped, all those banal, blond Faux Noise talking heads.
10
Liars usually suffer from low self-esteem. Is it possible that BW saw himself, the top of the pyramid of NBC, as actually being less worthy than the soldiers he was reporting on?
12
He's making millions for "reporting" what they are doing, he knows he's less worthy. Not unlike Hollywood actors needing to describe how dangerous their film shoot was.
2
This is a terrific column that should be read by everyone who considers themselves informed by network news.
12
Is there no end to this man's hubris in the wake of multi-allegations of deceitful reporting to say that he has decided to temporarily leave the anchor seat? Brian, if you have any decency at all, you will go permanently and leave the reins to perhaps a less charismatic but honest anchor willing to keep his or her ego at the door.
13
Ours is an era that celebrates narcissism. These anchors are merely a symptom of the era. But outing them is the only healthy thing we can do to stop the rampage. Humility is the antidote for narcissism and the outing produces boatloads of humiliation, if not outright humility.
does anyone really think this is a big deal? it was embellisment for personal elevation. he did not really misbroadcast real news. fox does much worse everyday and they are number one, fwiw.
the last gasp effort to save whats left of his career. the several days will hopefully dull the truth expecting the so called 15 min brain span of americans. that might work but you have been blovating that incident at cocktail parties and in spoeeches and beers with the boys. by the way for what you get paid a janitor could be doing what you do nightly as a matter of fact even obama could do it he's a master of the scrolling words!
Remember the phrase "Lies, damned lies, and statistics"?
What about Lies, damned lies and news-anchors . . . . .
What about Lies, damned lies and news-anchors . . . . .
Williams will probably slither off and spend his time polishing his self-awarded chest of "phony" medals. Our troops can take comfort knowing that in spite of earning millions upon millions, it was not enough for Williams. Life's true riches are the courage and valor which he tried to steal from them and which they alone so richly deserve. The big and powerful Brian Williams turned out to be a very small, pathetic man with no honor. For those who try to defend his actions remember this....he gave us the sword!
He always seemed so pleased to be on the Daily Show, as though it was validation of his celebrity to be the guest of a real newsanchor (and I'm not being sarcastic about that - Stewart's credibility as a journalist is higher than a number of "real" ones.)
You're on point, Maureen. Thanks for saying what I'm feeling.
David Muir's coif, Scott Pelley's pecs, and Brian Williams' world-weary Weltanschuuang pale in comparison to the avuncular gravitas of yesterday's Cronkite and today's Schieffer.
I'd prefer a plain and fancy journalist such as CNN's Barbara Starr over this trio of male beauty queens.
David Muir's coif, Scott Pelley's pecs, and Brian Williams' world-weary Weltanschuuang pale in comparison to the avuncular gravitas of yesterday's Cronkite and today's Schieffer.
I'd prefer a plain and fancy journalist such as CNN's Barbara Starr over this trio of male beauty queens.
The new Nightly News must see is Larry Wilmore. A whole half hour, one subject. Entertaining and honest.
It looks like being caught in a lie will take down another nationally recognized person with a puffed up resume. One can only hope that Hillary Clinton is also shamed out of the public's eye and we are spared the possibility of another unqualified Presidential candidate.
Can you imagine Brian Williams saying Cronkite's closing line, "That's the way it is" and anyone believing him?
Surely there must be other nice looking, middle aged men who can read a teleprompter with a strong baritone voice.
I'm reasonably certain that most/all of them would jump at the opportunity to replace 'Tail Gunner' Williams for something well shy of ten million per annum?
I'm reasonably certain that most/all of them would jump at the opportunity to replace 'Tail Gunner' Williams for something well shy of ten million per annum?
Oops--just read the rest of the paragraph about the "hair apparent." Now I get it. I'm a little slow to the punch line.
Well, maybe. But I'm not really sure why people think they know why Brian Williams said what he said. Since the internet's anger with him is part of the shallow, celebrity-obsessed culture Dowd is complaining has infected the news, we could also give him the benefit of the doubt and drop it. Maybe if we stop acting like we want to see fake baby goat videos, the media will give us less of them.
Maureen, if you knew that Brian Williams was inflating his his biography, "sometimes to the point where it was a joke..." why didn't you write about it? Why aren't you taking on serious subjects like John Oliver? Why are you giving a pass to the egregious and idiotic pronouncements made by the latest round of "I want to be President" yoyos? Why are you letting politicians spew scientifically-illiterate nonsense? Jon Stewart is funny. John Oliver is funny. You are, occasionally, funny. But they use humor to make important points to point out the hypocrisy and foolishness of people in power. You just throw "Barry" around now and then to make the point that ... what, exactly?
Although Williams was always fairly harmless, I'm not surprised that NBC would screw this up. The network that brings us the likes of Chuck Todd, Matt Lauer, and Nancy Snyderman presented as authorities on anything is close to worthless anyway. One really needs to look to find any kind of real reporting these days. I can't imagine who they'll tag next as ringleader for their circus.
All we have in this world is worthless when compared to the value of our good name and the good deeds we have accomplished. The revered 15th Century morality play "Everyman" is a case study of the illusory belief that what we acquire in this world has any lasting meaning. When we face our maker, "Everyman" teaches us, we cannot take our riches, our family, our friends, our possessions--none of them. All fall away like dried husks. All that we can take with us are our good name through our good deeds. Once we squander these, we have given away the most priceless core of who we are. In lying to appropriate the reflected glory and bravery of others, Brian Williams sacrificed the most precious gift of all: his good name.
Narcissism and nepotism to boot. With the Luke Russerts, Allison Williams, Chelsea Clintons and Willy Geists of the world, the rest of us have stopped believing integrity is something earned instead of inherited. Another reason we stopped watching
Talking head to comedic raconteur is a good trick and Williams pulls it off . The swift, whiplash inducing change back to the gravitas required for the managing editor and anchor of the NBC evening news seems easy for him.That's the problem maybe it's too easy for him to change back and forth between "talking head" and observational comedian-type.Who knows?
I have to say when he announced on the national news broadcast that his daughter had won the role of Peter Pan I remember thinking :why did he just do that? The answer is the same as it has always been when powerful, white men do things others wouldn't be allowed to do : because they can. Who would be powerful enough to speak up or stop them. Twas ever thus.
(Bill cosby must be sighing with relief to be out of the line of fire this week ).
I have to say when he announced on the national news broadcast that his daughter had won the role of Peter Pan I remember thinking :why did he just do that? The answer is the same as it has always been when powerful, white men do things others wouldn't be allowed to do : because they can. Who would be powerful enough to speak up or stop them. Twas ever thus.
(Bill cosby must be sighing with relief to be out of the line of fire this week ).
"Although Williams’s determination to wrap himself in others’ valor is indefensible, it seems almost redundant to gnaw on his bones..."
Oh, go ahead, Miss Maureen. Gnaw anyway. That's never stopped you before.
A columnist from a dead-tree newspaper calling TV network news irrelevant and outdated. Now, that's rich.
Oh, go ahead, Miss Maureen. Gnaw anyway. That's never stopped you before.
A columnist from a dead-tree newspaper calling TV network news irrelevant and outdated. Now, that's rich.
Had Walter Cronkite really showed moral courage, he would have come out much, much, much earlier with some kind of opposition to the war - not with a very belated statement that in essence merely said the war was being lost.
The kids in the streets, the war protestors, the mothers, the peaceniks, the Vets against the war - those folks showed moral courage. Many of them risked and lost their freedom.
Cronkite opened his mouth once and "risked" his job? Moral courage? Not in my book.
Until that time he was the theatrically avuncular mouthpiece for a war effort that was, itself, morally bankrupt.
The kids in the streets, the war protestors, the mothers, the peaceniks, the Vets against the war - those folks showed moral courage. Many of them risked and lost their freedom.
Cronkite opened his mouth once and "risked" his job? Moral courage? Not in my book.
Until that time he was the theatrically avuncular mouthpiece for a war effort that was, itself, morally bankrupt.
Maureen had a somewhat similar credibility issue after her column on marijuana edibles was published, and she, thankfully, survived being "upraided," as she put it. I wish Mr. Williams good luck.
I think Williams is just jealous of all the attention and glory that the real heroes of Iraq and the ISIS conflict are getting, and deservedly. The journalists who have risked their lives and the few who have been killed are the real heroes. The soldiers who willingly signed up and risked life and limb for a mission that was sketchy from the beginning are also heroes in my eyes. Williams knows he's just a pretty prop for the news media. It must be hard to sleep at night when you are paid millions of dollars to be the face of the news when deep down you know someone else is doing the real dangerous work of finding real stories and the truth of what is actually happening on the ground. I think it's time to retire the nightly news and pretty faces who regurgitate what we've already read online.
A wise person once said, "always tell the truth then you don't have to remember what you said.
This is no different than Hillary running through the airport under sniper fire. Let it go. What difference, at this point, does it make?
How would any viewer of NBC Nightly News, which I watch, ever repose unquestioned trust in Brian Williams, who I like, after this?
Why news anchors leave the tidy confines of their studios (Steven Colbert's barreling through the halls of Congress excepted) to head off to war zones, natural disasters, and even Supreme Court argument has eluded my grasp for most of my life and a question that's puzzled me. They have to don funny looking hats but still make themselves appear serious the way Margaret Thatcher tried to do when destroying the miners or invading the Falklands or Ronald Reagan on the ranch.
Male anchors mostly do this kind of thing (comedy takes on new meaning when you've seen Scott Pelley on TV in a tiny bucket hat in a helicopter) but there have been some pretty lame attempts by female anchors, too. I think it has to do with, for lack of a better word, machismo. They really think that they become the toughness of the soldier, the integrity of the firefighter, the concern of the physician, the selflessness of the spiritual person called to comfort or heal the wounded in the midst of disaster just by being there and talking about it.
It's pathetic really, but it's also dishonest. At one time or another, many of those who sit at that spot as a news anchor is tempted and some take the bait. When they are found out, it is embarrassing to us, but it ends careers and we forfeit our trust in them.
Why news anchors leave the tidy confines of their studios (Steven Colbert's barreling through the halls of Congress excepted) to head off to war zones, natural disasters, and even Supreme Court argument has eluded my grasp for most of my life and a question that's puzzled me. They have to don funny looking hats but still make themselves appear serious the way Margaret Thatcher tried to do when destroying the miners or invading the Falklands or Ronald Reagan on the ranch.
Male anchors mostly do this kind of thing (comedy takes on new meaning when you've seen Scott Pelley on TV in a tiny bucket hat in a helicopter) but there have been some pretty lame attempts by female anchors, too. I think it has to do with, for lack of a better word, machismo. They really think that they become the toughness of the soldier, the integrity of the firefighter, the concern of the physician, the selflessness of the spiritual person called to comfort or heal the wounded in the midst of disaster just by being there and talking about it.
It's pathetic really, but it's also dishonest. At one time or another, many of those who sit at that spot as a news anchor is tempted and some take the bait. When they are found out, it is embarrassing to us, but it ends careers and we forfeit our trust in them.
It's not just the evening news, it's also the paper Dowd writes for that's become irrelevant. Instead of continuing down the path of irrelevancy, maybe the NYTimes should include all the facts, not just the facts that fit its narrative.
To me, there is quite a bit of difference between a "supposedly" moral authoritarian anchor not buttoning the top button of his shirt and lying. Regardless of whether or not he's doing stories on Selena Gomez or piano-playing cats, the anchor needs to at least be credible. People still go to the network news because some still trust the authenticity of their reporting. Now this has been severely damaged.
Ms. Dowd has it right: none of these "anchors" are worth their feed bill. I love it that in Britain the job description is "News Reader" or "Presenter". Did one single "anchor" let us in on the Iraq war lies, the torture lies, the Wall Street lies. Nope! To find out what's really going on in this country we need to listen to hippies, comedians, and field-grade soldiers.
When the networks gave their news divisions over to the entertainment division, they insured that the credibility of TV news would be completely kaput sooner rather than later. Thirty years ago, the film "Broadcast News" summed up what was happening. How quaint Holly Hunter's angst in that film seems now. Brian looks a lot like the William Hurt character. The Devil has officially taken over, fake tear and all.
As a former free lance investigative reporter who worked for years on my first book and months on other stories, I think,
NBC News should take a page from Mark Twain in the Adventures of Tom Sawyer: " "Let us draw the curtain of
Charity over the rest of the scene" Just go Brain, just go. Ken Wooden
NBC News should take a page from Mark Twain in the Adventures of Tom Sawyer: " "Let us draw the curtain of
Charity over the rest of the scene" Just go Brain, just go. Ken Wooden
Watched "Network" a few weeks ago. Paddy Chayefsky in his screenplay was spot-on about where television news was headed -- 39 years ago. Like his fictional "Network News Hour," we get today a mash-up of current events, entertainment, and opinion all designed to generate ratings and ad sales.
Life imitates art. For years I've been saying that Williams was the resurrection of the William Hurt character in Broadcast News. Like that character, Williams has no college degree, had never done any serious reporting but was charming and a cool guy. I'm not surprised at all this happened - actually I'm shocked it took so long..
I agree that criticism from news sources about a news anchor should qualify the denigration against the decline of all news programming. News as entertainment and sound-bite propaganda have combined with society's short attention span to create an open field for those who would control our economy and our politics. Accusing everyone as liars does not help and throwing the baby out with the bathwater rewards no one except those who would abuse the compromised news systems. Last night Megyn Kelly led an hysteria-free discussion on the Brian Williams story from Fox's lofty position as the morality leader on fair and balanced reporting.
Brian Williams exaggerated his Iraq war experiences of 12 years ago.
And he's owned up to it. More than once.
It's not a betrayal of public trust. At least I don't feel betrayed.
Not a big deal. Move on and let's look at real news.
And he's owned up to it. More than once.
It's not a betrayal of public trust. At least I don't feel betrayed.
Not a big deal. Move on and let's look at real news.
I remember in my youth, at a small country church our family attended, the pastor lecturing on narcissism, "be ye not the first to enter, nor the last to leave."
Williams lied. Nobody died. Move on.
it seems a shame that williams is being crucified for one howler, when other networks (i'm looking at you fox news) lie as a matter of course without ever being challenged by dowd or anyone else in the media besides jon stewart.
"One anchor exerted moral authority once and that was Walter Cronkite, because he risked his career to go on TV and tell the truth about the fact that we were losing the Vietnam War."
Could Brian Williams have told this nation reporting from Iraq that we were losing the Iraq War? Is that too high a standard for journalism today? Is Maureen Dowd the only reporter who can say that the attention, the wealth, and the respect of being an NBC Network News Anchor "is the kind of glory that can only be earned the hard way"
Polled as "The most trusted man in America" Walter Cronkite set a standard for telling the truth that no one has measured up to, yet. But, first one has to have a sense of personal responsibility for telling the truth, and as an exceptional example, Maureen Dowd has a reputation for telling it like it is.
As a former ABC Television News Reporter, I have no sympathy for Brian Williams because it was his job to keep his head when others lost their minds, to be true when everything false beckoned him to self-agrandize and fib, and to deliver his messages in good faith that millions could count on, believe, and act on. And Williams error may force other anchors to straighten out and fly right.
Could Brian Williams have told this nation reporting from Iraq that we were losing the Iraq War? Is that too high a standard for journalism today? Is Maureen Dowd the only reporter who can say that the attention, the wealth, and the respect of being an NBC Network News Anchor "is the kind of glory that can only be earned the hard way"
Polled as "The most trusted man in America" Walter Cronkite set a standard for telling the truth that no one has measured up to, yet. But, first one has to have a sense of personal responsibility for telling the truth, and as an exceptional example, Maureen Dowd has a reputation for telling it like it is.
As a former ABC Television News Reporter, I have no sympathy for Brian Williams because it was his job to keep his head when others lost their minds, to be true when everything false beckoned him to self-agrandize and fib, and to deliver his messages in good faith that millions could count on, believe, and act on. And Williams error may force other anchors to straighten out and fly right.
Mr. Williams dealt another blow to the credibility to traditional media because he did not apologize honestly. It's an unnecessary shame.
Lying' Brian ...
Why does the media feel they need to decide who delivers the news to us? Why the "celebrity" anchors.
Ugh ... on CNN earlier today the media analysts seem to think that NO ONE can deliver (read) the news like good old Lyin' Brian. Why??
Why does the media feel they need to decide who delivers the news to us? Why the "celebrity" anchors.
Ugh ... on CNN earlier today the media analysts seem to think that NO ONE can deliver (read) the news like good old Lyin' Brian. Why??
Never liked this guy. Always thought he was full of himself and above all, not half as intelligent as he tried to sound. He needs to go and NBC needs to step up because in the end, Brian Williams is only the face of NBC's entire corporate culture.
Last month I wrote a letter to Brian Williams suggesting that what passes for news is awful. I wrote the letter after a terrible piece on generic drug prices that explained that they are now sometimes nearly 100 times more expensive and many people can't afford them. The reporter asked the industry spokesman why the increase and he said something about ingredient prices... Instead of grilling him, it was back to the tearful couple trying to pay.
I suggested that the public is owed better and that he and NBC should set up investigative units to do stories on serious issues where instead of listening passively, reporters could throw "sweat inducing" facts to industry shills and congressional enablers. NBC News might become relevant (can you say digital opportunities?) and the old time-y nightly news might even outlive its "youngest" audience, baby boomers.
I renew my plea - If Mr. Williams comes back from his pilgrimage, I hope he does so with a renewed sense of purpose. If he doesn't, I think his successor might want to think about a "new model" for news.
I suggested that the public is owed better and that he and NBC should set up investigative units to do stories on serious issues where instead of listening passively, reporters could throw "sweat inducing" facts to industry shills and congressional enablers. NBC News might become relevant (can you say digital opportunities?) and the old time-y nightly news might even outlive its "youngest" audience, baby boomers.
I renew my plea - If Mr. Williams comes back from his pilgrimage, I hope he does so with a renewed sense of purpose. If he doesn't, I think his successor might want to think about a "new model" for news.
There is a new documentary film coming out this spring called, "(Dis)Honesty ":
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1501481976/dishonesty-a-documentary...
In this film, Psychologist Dan Ariely suggests that we all lie and cheat, to one extent or another. Brian Williams did what we all do. He went too far
and he got caught.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1501481976/dishonesty-a-documentary...
In this film, Psychologist Dan Ariely suggests that we all lie and cheat, to one extent or another. Brian Williams did what we all do. He went too far
and he got caught.
I would say it does matter. When Fox's Shepard Smith translated the video of the Jordanian pilot being burned to death to the public, there was genuine sensitivity in finding the right balance between conveying what he saw and not overly disturbing the viewers. No bravado, just doing a craftsman's job of being a TV news person.
With fixed scheduled even on cable news channels, rather than 24 hours of live news, it's now more like six, repeated at different times. CNN used to have "Headline News" where the public had a virtual Associated Press ticker in their TV.
Now, CNN and Fox have given up this franchise, so we must go on major newspapers such as this to find breaking news. But even The Times seems to have down hours when the public does not have access to emergent events such as were available a few decades back.
As to Brian William's fate. Here's an admission: Since Cronkite has been gone, all of those perfect men who were so well parodied in "Broadcast News" have been interchangeable. I never leaned to tell one from the other.
AlRodbell.com
With fixed scheduled even on cable news channels, rather than 24 hours of live news, it's now more like six, repeated at different times. CNN used to have "Headline News" where the public had a virtual Associated Press ticker in their TV.
Now, CNN and Fox have given up this franchise, so we must go on major newspapers such as this to find breaking news. But even The Times seems to have down hours when the public does not have access to emergent events such as were available a few decades back.
As to Brian William's fate. Here's an admission: Since Cronkite has been gone, all of those perfect men who were so well parodied in "Broadcast News" have been interchangeable. I never leaned to tell one from the other.
AlRodbell.com
And now there's 11th Commandment - Thou Shalt Not Conflate. Huh? Why not? It sounds so much better than Thou Shalt Not Lie...
Down here in Australia we have the expression 'weasel words' which Australian politicians of all persuasions resort to in times of difficult questioning. It's surely just a matter of time before an Australian public figure utters the 'C' word on air.
And so thanks to Mr. Williams for adding 'conflate' to the avoiders lexicon...joining 'loss of buoyancy' for a sinking ship:
'horizontal folk dancing ' for conjugal joys and 'wallet thinning' for theft.
Tom
Down here in Australia we have the expression 'weasel words' which Australian politicians of all persuasions resort to in times of difficult questioning. It's surely just a matter of time before an Australian public figure utters the 'C' word on air.
And so thanks to Mr. Williams for adding 'conflate' to the avoiders lexicon...joining 'loss of buoyancy' for a sinking ship:
'horizontal folk dancing ' for conjugal joys and 'wallet thinning' for theft.
Tom
Some of those howling for Williams' scalp on TV lie every day of the week!
That being said, once news and entertainment were conflated on television, it was all over. Anchors are not reporters, but celebrities. And you are right--something closer to real reporting on TV is done by the comedy shows you mentioned.
By the way, do you think someone who looks like John Oliver would get a network anchor chair in 2015__or Walter Cronkite, for that matter?
www.newyorkgritty.net
That being said, once news and entertainment were conflated on television, it was all over. Anchors are not reporters, but celebrities. And you are right--something closer to real reporting on TV is done by the comedy shows you mentioned.
By the way, do you think someone who looks like John Oliver would get a network anchor chair in 2015__or Walter Cronkite, for that matter?
www.newyorkgritty.net
Too bad for Brian and for those of us who appreciate his warm presentations, and it must be cautioned that an exaggerated tale--even one that's repeated--does not render one an evil soul, nor one worthy of wholesale condemnation. Most viewers can sense his good heart and I hope Brian will come back and be the better man for all this. For whatever it is worth, he has this veteran's support, and by the way, I don't think any less of him. He made a mistake. That's it. At least he apologized, unlike Ted Cruz who lies unabashedly, with evil intent.
Remember the days when public figures used to be smarter that the average citizen? Politicians, newscasters -- even columnists -- were intelligent people.
Well, thank you, Ms. Dowd for calling out the hair styles, facial expressions, and questioning the circuitry of news people everywhere. Because you see, in your quest to appeal to people who believe -- as you do -- that "social media" is a good substitute for actual news and reporters, you're absolutely right: those things matter.
Yes, there are now millions of "journalists" on Twitter. Many of whom no doubt ask the hard-hitting questions that you ask: e.g. "Are you a robot?" Or that pay more attention to Mr. Muir's shirt buttons.
Thank you for not attempting to answer the only important question in this whole mythical "scandal" : why is it a lie when a reporter can't remember the events of 12 years ago with precision, while a pilot doing the exact same thing is a "hero"?
Have fun on "This Week." Always love your hair when you're on.
Well, thank you, Ms. Dowd for calling out the hair styles, facial expressions, and questioning the circuitry of news people everywhere. Because you see, in your quest to appeal to people who believe -- as you do -- that "social media" is a good substitute for actual news and reporters, you're absolutely right: those things matter.
Yes, there are now millions of "journalists" on Twitter. Many of whom no doubt ask the hard-hitting questions that you ask: e.g. "Are you a robot?" Or that pay more attention to Mr. Muir's shirt buttons.
Thank you for not attempting to answer the only important question in this whole mythical "scandal" : why is it a lie when a reporter can't remember the events of 12 years ago with precision, while a pilot doing the exact same thing is a "hero"?
Have fun on "This Week." Always love your hair when you're on.
Williams would be a perfect candidate to become a member of Congress. Among all those story-telling politicians, a few more fairy tales from Williams would go unnoticed...........
Dead right re Williams and his frequent "courting celebrity." I got very tired of watching him on shows like Jon Stewart's trying to match wits with the wittiest and out-cool the cool. He never seemed to be able to settle for being just one of the most visible. popular highly paid news anchors on TV. And soon enough, he will no longer have to.
The Milli Vanilli of Combat reporters
Cronkite was also a liar. We didn't "lose" the Vietnam War. We won every major battle, including the '68 Tet offensive.
The military defeat of North Vietnam's Tet Offensive in 1968 became a political victory for Hanoi thanks to anti-war protests and the sensationalism of the news media (particularly Cronkite who reported Tet as an American defeat). They regarded these events as evidence of weakness and believed that victory could be had if they stayed the course. Even General Vo Nguyen Giap (Commanding General of the North Vietnamese Army) said the Tet offensive was a defeat for North Vietnam. Both Giap and Col. Bui Tin wrote in their memoirs that Cronkite's reporting and the war protestors boosted morale and cemented their resolve.
The Nixon administration negotiated a 1973 Peace Agreement which was followed by the Democrat majority congress refusing to fund offensive military operations in Vietnam. Nixon subsequently pulled the troops out, leaving only security for embassy personnel and advisers who were turning over all military operations to the South Vietnamese Army (It was called Vietnamization). Two years later, North Vietnam violated the peace agreement with a full scale invasion and defeated the South Vietnamese military.
The military defeat of North Vietnam's Tet Offensive in 1968 became a political victory for Hanoi thanks to anti-war protests and the sensationalism of the news media (particularly Cronkite who reported Tet as an American defeat). They regarded these events as evidence of weakness and believed that victory could be had if they stayed the course. Even General Vo Nguyen Giap (Commanding General of the North Vietnamese Army) said the Tet offensive was a defeat for North Vietnam. Both Giap and Col. Bui Tin wrote in their memoirs that Cronkite's reporting and the war protestors boosted morale and cemented their resolve.
The Nixon administration negotiated a 1973 Peace Agreement which was followed by the Democrat majority congress refusing to fund offensive military operations in Vietnam. Nixon subsequently pulled the troops out, leaving only security for embassy personnel and advisers who were turning over all military operations to the South Vietnamese Army (It was called Vietnamization). Two years later, North Vietnam violated the peace agreement with a full scale invasion and defeated the South Vietnamese military.
Thank you, Ms. Dowd, for writing a story that so clearly articulates what is wrong, so very wrong, with "network news," a misnomer if there ever was one. When shows like Today and Good Morning America turned into plasticized giggle factories, I knew there would never be another Walter Cronkite (or Dan Rather, et al) to bring any real news back from the "journalistic" point of no return.
I've always been amazed at what passes for news in this country. All one has to do is watch Al Jazeera or the BBC or TV5 Monde or any other international news whose broadcasts reach the US to realize exactly how cheated we are as citizens of this country (and this world) when it comes to actual reporting of what is happening in the globe that could actually affect us (Middle East, anyone?), spin left at the doorstep.
Thanks again for reminding us that the news is just some cheap de facto entertainment gig that all those network "entertainers" (like Matt Lauer, et al) get paid tens of millions of dollars a year to tell us absolutely nothing of use, relevancy, truth or importance. And they're not even funny.
I've always been amazed at what passes for news in this country. All one has to do is watch Al Jazeera or the BBC or TV5 Monde or any other international news whose broadcasts reach the US to realize exactly how cheated we are as citizens of this country (and this world) when it comes to actual reporting of what is happening in the globe that could actually affect us (Middle East, anyone?), spin left at the doorstep.
Thanks again for reminding us that the news is just some cheap de facto entertainment gig that all those network "entertainers" (like Matt Lauer, et al) get paid tens of millions of dollars a year to tell us absolutely nothing of use, relevancy, truth or importance. And they're not even funny.
Dowd: Excellent job of going beyond the soon-to-be-fired male broadcasting model for the more important, timely and seriously needed criticism of network news.
Network news is trash. We all know it. Brian Williams has been atop that trash heap for years, delivering infotainment all while acting like a frivolous, pompous, comedian. HE TALKS ABOUT HIMSELF MORE THAN THE NEWS. I can't stress that enough. It's such a turn off.
May the entire trash heap all come down, unceremoniously.
Network news is trash. We all know it. Brian Williams has been atop that trash heap for years, delivering infotainment all while acting like a frivolous, pompous, comedian. HE TALKS ABOUT HIMSELF MORE THAN THE NEWS. I can't stress that enough. It's such a turn off.
May the entire trash heap all come down, unceremoniously.
Unbelievable. One of the anointed left falls from his pedestal. Perpetuating a lie for over 12 years is inexcusable. And if it weren't for the soldiers who were there tiring of his blatant lies Williams would still be sitting on Letterman's couch rehashing his "heroism."
And his apology was still flawed. Williams maintains he spent 2 "harrowing nights in the desert" when in fact he went back to Kuwait
Then he claims that he saw a body floating face down past his hotel when in fact it had not flooded there. Why NBC brass allowed this to continue is amazing. Given his star power and his ratings it's understandeable. But it's not an excuse. Williams knew what he was doing and for this has done irreprable damage to his reputation
But this is no different than Dan Rather' s pathetic conduct
Liberals are always so quick to invoke a moral supriority, an arrogance and self righteousness that they would never stoop to such conduct. Guess again. And wipe the egg off your face
And his apology was still flawed. Williams maintains he spent 2 "harrowing nights in the desert" when in fact he went back to Kuwait
Then he claims that he saw a body floating face down past his hotel when in fact it had not flooded there. Why NBC brass allowed this to continue is amazing. Given his star power and his ratings it's understandeable. But it's not an excuse. Williams knew what he was doing and for this has done irreprable damage to his reputation
But this is no different than Dan Rather' s pathetic conduct
Liberals are always so quick to invoke a moral supriority, an arrogance and self righteousness that they would never stoop to such conduct. Guess again. And wipe the egg off your face
This is like the pig who says, "boy it stinks here on the farm."
This episode puts a stink not only on Williams but his NBC handlers and bosses. We have no idea of what they knew, when they knew it or if they were in the dark about any of it. This stinky blanket should be spread not only on NBC and Comcast but the entire, I almost can't spit it out, the Fourth Estate.
The media has an awesome responsibility. They have the microphone and TV cameras. Their messages get plugged directly into our brains. For too long, to this viewer, they have not risen to the task. Too often we have been treated shabbily. A prime example has been exposed to verify that sentiment.
This episode puts a stink not only on Williams but his NBC handlers and bosses. We have no idea of what they knew, when they knew it or if they were in the dark about any of it. This stinky blanket should be spread not only on NBC and Comcast but the entire, I almost can't spit it out, the Fourth Estate.
The media has an awesome responsibility. They have the microphone and TV cameras. Their messages get plugged directly into our brains. For too long, to this viewer, they have not risen to the task. Too often we have been treated shabbily. A prime example has been exposed to verify that sentiment.
When Walter Cronkite declared on the CBS news in 1969 that the Tet Offensive was America's Waterloo in Vietnam, I stopped watching the news. That lie was never acknowledged by the executives of CBS. President Johnson and Secretary of Defense McNamara lost the war not the US.
NBC hasn't been offering serious, substantive news for a long time, if ever. It has lately become a self-obsessed cult, dishing out entertainment news as likely as anything to do with the actual news around the country or, hello? the world.
Somebody told Brian Williams that he was wonderful and he believed them. He is now an embarrassment and little as the other networks have to offer, at least we won't have to be reminded how awesome and wonderful Brian Williams is just for reporting what passes for news on NBC.
Somebody told Brian Williams that he was wonderful and he believed them. He is now an embarrassment and little as the other networks have to offer, at least we won't have to be reminded how awesome and wonderful Brian Williams is just for reporting what passes for news on NBC.
Almost all of us have a self-destructive side/nature to ourselves -- trying to get out at the worst possible time. Even those that are wildly successful in their fields, Brian WIlliams is a prime example of that now. Most people will embellish stories, make them sound more interesting than they are.... but embellishing/lying is not a trait that we find acceptable to those that are suppose to give us the straight facts (News Anchor). Unfortunately, the era of news reporters that their best (hard work, tireless digging and trying to report in an unbiased way) died with the last of the greats.... Tim Russert.
when I was in my late teens and early twenties I lied a lot about my supposed accomplishments. After all, I had not done much. And, people routinely caught me at it much to my embarrassment. Williams is not the first mature man to be so caught. Recall a prominent historian a few years ago. But these guys are famous and very successful. Is there some kind of arrested development at work here which makes them lie like this?
The Jon Stewart mention is interesting. Normally, Stewart would devour a story like this but I believe he and Williams are "outside the business" friends. It will be interesting to see how it is handled.
We have allowed the corruption of media with corporate buyouts..News used to be decided by news editors. Now corporate boardrooms require them to do commercials for their entertainment division. We watch softball interviews more notable for the questions that don't get asked, and read newspapers for the stories TV news is too lazy to cover. The 90 second story does not begin to cover Isil or Syria or healthcare.
Some of us truly miss real news. PBS, BBC and Canadian Broadcasting give us a taste of what it used to be and still should be. I have some sympathy for Mr. Williams because his news director is hardly more competent than he is. The learning curve is very steep in American newsrooms these days. Maybe instead of just throwing him under the bus, they need to see if they have a reflection of their own when they stand in front of a mirror.
Some of us truly miss real news. PBS, BBC and Canadian Broadcasting give us a taste of what it used to be and still should be. I have some sympathy for Mr. Williams because his news director is hardly more competent than he is. The learning curve is very steep in American newsrooms these days. Maybe instead of just throwing him under the bus, they need to see if they have a reflection of their own when they stand in front of a mirror.
Mo I love you -- you are a real Man Eater. You are so right about Blian Williams. The guy is a narcissist and a liar at that. Check out Katrina, the Dog Rescue, how his daughter got her gig. Getting tired....so I have to rest....
Brian Williams gets about 10 million viewers per night, comfortable with his style and folksy way of presenting the news. While 10 million is tiny compared to more than 300 million Americans, his viewership is large compared to other 'anchor' network 'news' programs.
You're absolutely right about this kind of news delivery being an arcane dinosaur of American television. At the same time, we should all recognize when real news comes on while being extremely rare, it can fire the imaginations of the public. Think about 9/11 or to a lesser extent, the Boston bombing and major news networks were stellar in their coverage of both incidents.
There is a place for network coverage of major news events. Maybe not every night.
You're absolutely right about this kind of news delivery being an arcane dinosaur of American television. At the same time, we should all recognize when real news comes on while being extremely rare, it can fire the imaginations of the public. Think about 9/11 or to a lesser extent, the Boston bombing and major news networks were stellar in their coverage of both incidents.
There is a place for network coverage of major news events. Maybe not every night.
No deal. This column is a low blow all the way around.
Newspaper sorts have been wishing and hoping for the demise of those evil television types ever since the first feeble 15 minute newscast was put on the air. I ain't buying the premature eulogy. It seems Ms. Dowd has done some conflating of her own.
ALL NEWS SOURCES, traditional, big time and small time, are being roped to the ground by the ability to get news instantly and through self selection. Everyone is under siege.
The big deal news organizations had inherent advantages they didn't even understand they had. They (CBS, NBC, ABC, The NY Times, the WashPost, etc.) thought they were owners of the news universe because they were so smart, clever and hard working. The television networks rested on the exclusivity of the local station's channel allocations and the ability to pay for international satellite time. Newspapers, after a point, were almost impossible to start up in major cities because of distribution and printing costs. These factors have little or nothing to do with how wonderful the people running those places were.
Whatever their quality, the three evening network newscasts have something the NY Times does not have: an audience millions paying attention at the same time. One day the evening newscasts might find the means to become irrelevant, but for now they still count. The Internet beckons, but if we lose the sense of a national experience and conversation, we lose a great deal.
Doug Terry
Caveat emptor (loosely - buyer, reader, watcher, listener beware) applies to all "news media" now.
Somehow we find ourselves having to wait several days until we can confirm the "truth" of any report, yet we pride ourselves on instant information.
The Onion, Jon Stewart, John Oliver, Stephen Colbert, et.al. have always been "real" - hence the irony and humor of it all.
Somehow we find ourselves having to wait several days until we can confirm the "truth" of any report, yet we pride ourselves on instant information.
The Onion, Jon Stewart, John Oliver, Stephen Colbert, et.al. have always been "real" - hence the irony and humor of it all.
Nice phallic imagery Mo.
"As his profession shrinks and softens, Williams felt compelled to try to steal the kind of glory that can only be earned the hard way."
"As his profession shrinks and softens, Williams felt compelled to try to steal the kind of glory that can only be earned the hard way."
"Social media — the genre that helped make the TV evening news irrelevant by showing us that we don’t need someone to tell us every night what happened that day — was gutting the institution further."
Irrelevant? This is utter nonsense. Social media proves that people will believe any piece of garbage posted.
Among a great many things, it is the job the evening news to expose the Internet fairy tales rampant on social media with hard facts by people who really know what it going on so regular people can get an accurate picture of the world around them.
This is another media created story. Brian Williams has covered-- literally-- thousands of stories since 2003. It is very possible things have run together. Ninety percent of the commenters cannot remember things they did two months ago with precise accuracy--let alone 12 years ago.
Yet, here we are. Suddenly, NBC is investigating everything.
Clearly, there is a behind the scenes power struggle which has brought this contrived nonsense to the surface. Only a fool fails this realization.
Meanwhile, the other networks-- especially the right-wing nutters who regularly flog the 'liberal media' conspiracy-- are only too happy to push the story in vain hopes of boosting their rating and revenues.
Such is our "fourth estate" today. It is as owned by monied interests as every other branch of government.
Irrelevant? This is utter nonsense. Social media proves that people will believe any piece of garbage posted.
Among a great many things, it is the job the evening news to expose the Internet fairy tales rampant on social media with hard facts by people who really know what it going on so regular people can get an accurate picture of the world around them.
This is another media created story. Brian Williams has covered-- literally-- thousands of stories since 2003. It is very possible things have run together. Ninety percent of the commenters cannot remember things they did two months ago with precise accuracy--let alone 12 years ago.
Yet, here we are. Suddenly, NBC is investigating everything.
Clearly, there is a behind the scenes power struggle which has brought this contrived nonsense to the surface. Only a fool fails this realization.
Meanwhile, the other networks-- especially the right-wing nutters who regularly flog the 'liberal media' conspiracy-- are only too happy to push the story in vain hopes of boosting their rating and revenues.
Such is our "fourth estate" today. It is as owned by monied interests as every other branch of government.
Of course he embellished. It's a matter of guilt.
He and I were born at a time when the original draft no longer held any threat. For me, I turned 18 the year the draft died, and I may have the last draft card issued, even though no lottery was run in 1973. Bryan is four years younger than I, so we didn't even have any wars going on when HE turned 18. By the time we did again, both of us were too old to be of any interest to our armed services. Both of us became men and aged in a world in which other men not that senior to us served and went off to wars. And he's a journalist: the lack of that cred must have been damaging, emotionally.
My guilt, really for all my adult life, is that I just got busy with a career and didn't join a reserve outfit, as I should have those many years ago. His must have been that he had no war stories to share with Ben Bradlee or others at scribblers' get-togethers. I try to assuage my guilt by buying young soldiers breakfasts in diners; and his was an exaggeration that was finally exploded and left him in a very dicey position.
Frankly, I prefer my guilt.
I imagine that to some, the sudden deflation of an icon is as disheartening as what's been happening to Bill Cosby is to me -- he's been a hero to me for many years. But it's been ages since I've watched network news, so Bryan Williams doesn't mean a lot to me.
Inevitably, though, this experience is going to compel focus on Hillary, particularly if NBC severely castigates Williams.
He and I were born at a time when the original draft no longer held any threat. For me, I turned 18 the year the draft died, and I may have the last draft card issued, even though no lottery was run in 1973. Bryan is four years younger than I, so we didn't even have any wars going on when HE turned 18. By the time we did again, both of us were too old to be of any interest to our armed services. Both of us became men and aged in a world in which other men not that senior to us served and went off to wars. And he's a journalist: the lack of that cred must have been damaging, emotionally.
My guilt, really for all my adult life, is that I just got busy with a career and didn't join a reserve outfit, as I should have those many years ago. His must have been that he had no war stories to share with Ben Bradlee or others at scribblers' get-togethers. I try to assuage my guilt by buying young soldiers breakfasts in diners; and his was an exaggeration that was finally exploded and left him in a very dicey position.
Frankly, I prefer my guilt.
I imagine that to some, the sudden deflation of an icon is as disheartening as what's been happening to Bill Cosby is to me -- he's been a hero to me for many years. But it's been ages since I've watched network news, so Bryan Williams doesn't mean a lot to me.
Inevitably, though, this experience is going to compel focus on Hillary, particularly if NBC severely castigates Williams.
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Why do you feel any guilt? You were not called on to serve. You did not run away and hide in another country. The men and women who have served, fought, and died since 1973 were and are volunteers. The tradition of voluntary service is centuries-old in the Anglo-Saxon world; a peacetime draft was unknown before 1940. Those who chose to serve did so with open eyes, knowing the benefits and the possible consequences.
Guilt in your situation is a misplaced emotion.
Guilt in your situation is a misplaced emotion.
This is pigsty thinking having been (one A) in 1964 and did a four years hitch in the USCG the absence of conscription is not the cause of guilt or embellishments. It is the flaws of humans in the egnomanious accidents of birth and culture. Mr. Williams is flawed exactly as the fictional Judge in Robert Penn Warren's famous story and Ms. Dowd is only the first to pounce editorially. Mr. Williams will suffer the consequence of the ruthless print industry as everyone despises media personalities that loose control of their inflated biographies. Imagine if Ms. Dowd stumbled and fell she likewise would be tarred and feather.
I have not watched network news in years and, in any event, would stay as far away as possible from this particular news face. The best news station is Al Jazeera which I assume is subsidized because the money is in infotainment, especially the sleezy kind.
...Walter Cronkite, because he risked his career to go on TV and tell the truth about the fact that we were losing.....
The above comment, mention in the article, is FALSE! After the Tent Offense the VC & NVA were defeated, repeat DEFEATED. The war was won by the U.S. & allied military. Cronkite & people like Cronkite, falsified the Tet Offense outcome as if we lost. NYT is no different from Williams by providing false information!
The above comment, mention in the article, is FALSE! After the Tent Offense the VC & NVA were defeated, repeat DEFEATED. The war was won by the U.S. & allied military. Cronkite & people like Cronkite, falsified the Tet Offense outcome as if we lost. NYT is no different from Williams by providing false information!
Was he shot at? Well, he was a lot closer to flying bullets than most of his critics, even if his memory and ambition got the better of him. Before Walter Cronkite, the gold standard of anchors, became "Uncle Walter, he was a combat journalist during World War II and sought out dangerous flying missions over Nazi-occupied Europe. Cronkite also had a humanity that came across to his viewers, and those two elements--journalistic talent and television chops--created the most trusted name on television. No one over a certain age can forget Cronkite taking off his dark framed glasses as he composed himself to announce the death of President Kennedy. Everyone after Cronkite has been in his shadow, as he was in the shadow of Ed Murrow, who gave us live audio news from the tops of buildings under attack by the Luftwaffe in the Fall of 1940. No one disputes that Williams was in a war zone, did fly in a chopper into the area of enemy activity and did come "under fire;" it seems the real dispute is if the fire was aimed at him or not.
This is all much ado about not much IMO. So Brian Williams exaggerated a little bit. Some of those complaining seem to have pretty thin skins. Pardon my sacrilege, but in this particular operation at least, it's not like any of these guys were landing at Normandy or on Iwo Jima.
Speaking of authentic news broadcasters, it's interesting that the two most commonly seen foreign correspondents in Syria, Iraq, Turkey (you name it) on CBS TV News are women.
"Williams told friends last week that he felt anguished, coming under fire for his false story of coming under fire." Anguished? How about "ashamed"?!
Too bad Ann Curry and NBC reportedly severed ties less than three weeks ago. As for Williams, now he can focus on building his career as a rap artist.
I don't want to be mean but just as Dowd commented on another "White" male anchor I would suggest that Dowd is just another "White" privileged female providing lame comments on a topic most have already formed an opinion on. Is anyone really eager to hear what either Williams or Dowd have to say about anything? I'm not the least interested in the news or opinion either of the people bring because there are many news outlets, and I'm quite capable of forming my own opinion!
I can't see him getting past this...he's damaged merchendise
TV and radio (NPR/Rush) 'news' is simply hot shot, blow and go entertainment. Read the NYT for in depth or go on internet sites for multiple angles to test for truth. But televison has ceased to be the main course of late breaking news for many years. Times change, tastes change, I think for the better. Williams got so full of himself he blew up. I say he should move on...
Many of us want to be seen as bigger than we are. It seems to be a disease of the ego that afflicts certain unfortunate souls. An informed source seems to have punctured Brian's puffer fish. I believe Chris Christie will be next up. He too is of the impression that people believe everything he says.
muir, another empty suit, forgo to the mention the hand on chin, and noddies listening modes
ex network tv news producer
ex network tv news producer
"They’re part of the entertainment, branding and cross-promotion business."
Ms. Dowd could very easily be describing herself.
Ms. Dowd could very easily be describing herself.
The evening news has become irrelevant because it is so slanted to the left. No one watches it anymore because they can go to cable news juggernaut Fox News and get the truth.
There are still national news anchors and reporters who dignify their profession every time they present the news. They neither care about nor covet having their Hollywood star. They are the ones who present the news every evening on public television. They convey in-depth knowledge of each news topic they address. Their interview questions are serious and probing, never superficial or theatrical. And they always leave their viewers truly informed about the leading issues confronting our nation and around the world. They don't suffer from fragile self-esteems so tender they must re-create themselves as larger than life through deception and lies.
Those of us who remember the advent of "happy news" put in during the early 70's in reaction to Agnew's "nattering naybobs of negativism" all the way down the wormhole of "fair and balanced", network news is essentially propaganda spewing garbage. As to Williams, who cares?
They can all just go away, the alphabet channels are dead. Even cable news is unwatchable, CNN, MSNBC, FOX. Just more dribble concocted by the status quo and fed to the dolts in insipid bites.
Any talking head in that key position would try to make himself more substantial for ratings' sake. I'm disappointed, but I know he's not "Uncle Walter" (nor was Dan Rather, no matter how many cardigans he wore on air to make himself more avuncular.)
The real problem is NBC "suits." If they think the way to get the drumbeat to die down is to yank him off the air for a few days they've got another thing coming. What was a problem is now a PROBLEM. Just ask Matt Lauer about how well they handled the Ann Curry fiasco.
The real problem is NBC "suits." If they think the way to get the drumbeat to die down is to yank him off the air for a few days they've got another thing coming. What was a problem is now a PROBLEM. Just ask Matt Lauer about how well they handled the Ann Curry fiasco.
I'm a newspaper reporter. If my editors learned I lied in print I'd be fired that second. The New Republic fired Stephen Glass for just that reason. Broadcast standards must be different.
Winthrop Quigley
Staff Writer
Albuquerque Journal
Winthrop Quigley
Staff Writer
Albuquerque Journal
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I never saw anything like this on FOX NEWS you liberals hate so much
I vividly recall the many times my chopper was not shot down in Iraq, as well as the times I never went to Iraq. And as long ago as it was, I still recall the times I never went to Vietnam. Ever. Many of my colleagues were with me on the occasions when I never went there - they can attest to my claim, which I will stand by no matter how ferociously the media, social or otherwise, attempts to debunk my story. I was not there.
Superb analysis by Ms. Dowd. Could have been rightly subtitled, "Where Have All the Journalists Gone/To Comedy Central Every One."
Terrific column, Maureen!
So true about the evening "news" ... even PBS has become contaminated.
So true about the evening "news" ... even PBS has become contaminated.
Try and find the sound of even one incoming round in Richard Engels so called battle footage. Everything looks staged to me.
People like Williams and Engel are spinning the myths about 9/11 and the Iraq war that the government wants them to spin. They are onboard with the cult of the hero, even if the so called hero in uniform only flipped eggs in the mess hall of Emerald City as a Pfc.
Does anyone actually believe that all of the footage showing our boys kicking down doors in order to root out Qaeda was for real? ISIS has perpetrated a few vicious killings of hostages in order to promote ISIS productions, which are designed to suck the United States into fighting Saudi Arabia's Wars,and the obvious connection between ISIS and Saudi Arabia goes completely overlooked by all networks. The Taliban were created by Saudi Arabia and the Pakistani ISI, but never is that fact mentioned by any of our network anchors of stature.
Williams is but the tip of the iceberg of a consolidated media which is all in with the Pentagon and their version of events. It is very hard for me to believe that so many Americans cannot see through what is really very simply conceived propaganda. We all want to think that our government would not lie to us in such grave matters as war making and resource acquisition on the cheap, but they are.
Tom Brokaw and Ms. Warner of NBC and PBS respectively are members of the Council on Foreign Relations. Yet, have you ever seen a disclaimer. No of course not.
People like Williams and Engel are spinning the myths about 9/11 and the Iraq war that the government wants them to spin. They are onboard with the cult of the hero, even if the so called hero in uniform only flipped eggs in the mess hall of Emerald City as a Pfc.
Does anyone actually believe that all of the footage showing our boys kicking down doors in order to root out Qaeda was for real? ISIS has perpetrated a few vicious killings of hostages in order to promote ISIS productions, which are designed to suck the United States into fighting Saudi Arabia's Wars,and the obvious connection between ISIS and Saudi Arabia goes completely overlooked by all networks. The Taliban were created by Saudi Arabia and the Pakistani ISI, but never is that fact mentioned by any of our network anchors of stature.
Williams is but the tip of the iceberg of a consolidated media which is all in with the Pentagon and their version of events. It is very hard for me to believe that so many Americans cannot see through what is really very simply conceived propaganda. We all want to think that our government would not lie to us in such grave matters as war making and resource acquisition on the cheap, but they are.
Tom Brokaw and Ms. Warner of NBC and PBS respectively are members of the Council on Foreign Relations. Yet, have you ever seen a disclaimer. No of course not.
So Brian Wiliams told/retold a lie, and is suffering consequences. Dan Rather told a story that appears to have been true, but based it questionable or perhaps fraudulent documents, and suffered consequences. In marked contrast, leaders of our biggest financial institutions told a lot of lies, and suffered no consequences -- none went to jail and only a handful paid anything from their own pockets to their innocent victims. In even more marked contrast, elected and appointed leaders of our nation told a lot of lies that led the nation into a protracted, expensive and deadly war -- a war that led directly to the flourishing of Al Qaeda and its progeny like ISIL -- and those leaders suffered no consequences. Is the message here that media people should tell the truth but Wall Street and elected/appointed leaders don't have to worry about whether they do or not? That's pretty sad, but I think it may be our current reality.
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The firestorm engulfing Brian Williams and his facts v. fiction folly brings NBC to the brink of a painful choice:
Does the network let Williams go in an attempt to maintain the dubious assertion that network news is about "journalism" and "credibility"?
To me, that would be hypocritical and erode further any remaining shreds of credibility.
Or does NBC keep him on and by doing so admit the obvious: that network news is mostly about the ratings and money generated by glitzy celebrity news "performers" like Brian?
I think all parties concerned have known this in their heart of hearts for some time now. By publicly acknowledging this fact of big-media life, NBC might win back some of its lost credibility.
Does the network let Williams go in an attempt to maintain the dubious assertion that network news is about "journalism" and "credibility"?
To me, that would be hypocritical and erode further any remaining shreds of credibility.
Or does NBC keep him on and by doing so admit the obvious: that network news is mostly about the ratings and money generated by glitzy celebrity news "performers" like Brian?
I think all parties concerned have known this in their heart of hearts for some time now. By publicly acknowledging this fact of big-media life, NBC might win back some of its lost credibility.
To this day I miss the old guard: Dan Rather, Peter Jenkins, Walter Cronkite...... those were the days when we looked forward to hearing the news from a few trusted persons.
Today the public is split into many different factions and people become less informed and cannot talk about the latest news at the water cooler and have to resort to the one thing they share in common : superbowl-- ugh.
Today the public is split into many different factions and people become less informed and cannot talk about the latest news at the water cooler and have to resort to the one thing they share in common : superbowl-- ugh.
At times like this, I cant help but think of the Swift Boat campaign against John Kerry, at the behest of AWOLer, George Bush, Jr. That a standing president would smear an authentic hero and a leading newsman would fake heroism are deeply disturbing.
This is what happens when you believe your own publicity...
People are acting as if this is some monumental fall from grace for both Williams and NBC News. People, he LED the show two weeks ago with a "deflategate" story!!! I've seen his exhaustive coverage of missing pretty girls, celebrity x-in-trouble, irrelevant social controversy of the day, and so on. As Ms. Dowd points out, this isn't news, it's entertainment. Fool me twice ... you can't get fooled again!
And like her, I get much of my news from Twitter and can't wait for the John Oliver premiere Sunday. Oliver has built on Stewart's legacy, but rather than simply - and hilariously - skewing the preposterous Fox News, he's doing biting, aggressive, thought-provoking investigative journalism. Love it.
And like her, I get much of my news from Twitter and can't wait for the John Oliver premiere Sunday. Oliver has built on Stewart's legacy, but rather than simply - and hilariously - skewing the preposterous Fox News, he's doing biting, aggressive, thought-provoking investigative journalism. Love it.
Glenn Greenwald's been on Williams' case forever, showing over and over again why these characters are no more than mouthpieces for their "sources," aka the US Gov't. That BW would do something like this is hardly surprising. In fact it's called the Stockholm syndrome. And it's their sense of entitlement that allows them for the most part to get away with it. (Not that Mo herself has been exempt from GG's broadsides against the establishment press.)
I read the news of Brian Williams in the NYT on line! It is telling.
David Brinkley and Peter Jennings are the only two guy guys I could ever stand. George Stephanopoulos is great, too. The Sunday program on ABC is the only news I watch on TV. I get news non stop during the day on my computer and I don't watch the news on TV anymore. In the old days I never care for CBS and especially NBC.
David Brinkley and Peter Jennings are the only two guy guys I could ever stand. George Stephanopoulos is great, too. The Sunday program on ABC is the only news I watch on TV. I get news non stop during the day on my computer and I don't watch the news on TV anymore. In the old days I never care for CBS and especially NBC.
Dowd is correct. I was cringing 3 weeks ago watching Williams' promos on demand. And wondering why he seems to be in Page Six nearly every week often at the newest restaurant. I think there are still Cronkited and Brinkleys out there and I would not give up on the evening news. Lastly Maureen you need some introspection on the mix of media and celebrity.
The old, hard news pretended to give objectivity and facts, but did not question official reality. It took years of anguish for Walter Cronkite to admit to himself and to us that the Emperor was naked.
The problem with official reality was not so much that it was false as that it contradicted itself. We were a land where all men were created equal, but we had segregation. We were a land that valued democracy but opposed and subverted democratic movements we did not like. These contradictions should have been worked out on the nightly news. Now they should be being worked out on the Internet. But official reality (or realities, for we now have two of them) block this.
The problem with official reality was not so much that it was false as that it contradicted itself. We were a land where all men were created equal, but we had segregation. We were a land that valued democracy but opposed and subverted democratic movements we did not like. These contradictions should have been worked out on the nightly news. Now they should be being worked out on the Internet. But official reality (or realities, for we now have two of them) block this.
1
A lesser news anchor might weather this, but Williams is too big. Like Rather, he is toast. Can't feel too sorry for him tho, he likely has enough geetus for a comfortable retirement
Many of our celebrities and heroes have feet of clay. So do the rest of us, Maureen.
I don't disagree about the growing irrelevance about the news anchor. In fact, it also applies the syndicated newspaper opinion writer since everyone and his mother-in-law can have a blog now. Those people aren't restrained by editorial or legal departments which sanitize the news or under-report it - like not linking to a Jordanian pilot being immolated by ISIL - in the alleged interests of civility. Such sentiments would have mattered in the past, but it's that lack of bringing realism home that 1) lead to public support of bad policy and 2) is leading to the decline of the established news journalists. The real relevant and respected opinion pieces are part of the new wave of raw journalism that threatens both NBC and the New York Times.
Brian Williams is about to enter early retirement. He's been collecting a $10 million annual salary, so I don't feel too bad for him.
Oedipus punished himself for his hubris. What will Mr. Williams do to make amends?
Who knows how conflation happens. I mis-remembered taking over legal responsibility of my grand father in law. In actual fact my husband was the legal guardian. I set it up and did most of the legwork and was the more outgoing partner in the marriage. After about ten years I forgot the details. For some reason I had to contact the attorney again and he set the facts straight. But I didn't have to share my experiences with the world so my error meant little. I have sympathy for most people who end up in these circumstances. Every night we sleep and dream. And dreams rehash what we experience and conflate it with what did not happen. It can be hard to tell what is real in our history after a few years. One reason we may only "remember" the broadest outline of our history.
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I agree with laughingdragon. I conflated my own husband with a neighbor once, and a lot of messiness ensued. I think that you have to not think about your husband right before you go to sleep, so the conflation mechanism doesn't turn him into somebody else, like a wounded helicopter, or David Letterman.
Interesting piece. I only regret you didn't include a comment on the irony of one of the Fox News guys moaning about Brian Williams' lack of accuracy and integrity in reporting the news.
It does, however, seem a little bit surreal that Williams is castigated (correctly) for this but Cheney, Rumsfeld, et al who lied about the entire Iraq situation (which is what took Williams to Iraq in the first place) are still not shunned politically and socially.
Brian, is one of too many, including Nixon, both Clinton's. Rather, Blumenthal, Warren, Weiner and Obama. who prove the bible adage, ' what does it gain a man to gain the whole world and lose your soul". This passage should be taken literally ( spiritually) and earthly figuratively. Anyone of quality should rather have the most " menial" of work, that to reach a career " pinnacle" and be so miserable inside that you feel compelled to be a liar. Telling the truth is something we all should demand, if not we will continue to get more of this.
I'm glad Lester Holt is taking over. Hope it's permanent.
Wiliam's gaffe(s) should come as no surprise. The daily craze for instant gratification is like a disco ball fascinating and showering notoriety on each person who dances it's tune.. In America the spin is what's for diner.
...And' it's not real.
...And' it's not real.
Maureen's first paragraph signals the end of Williams' career:
"THIS was a bomb that had been ticking for a while.
NBC executives were warned a year ago that Brian Williams was constantly inflating his biography. They were flummoxed over why the leading network anchor felt that he needed Hemingwayesque, bullets-whizzing-by flourishes to puff himself up, sometimes to the point where it was a joke in the news division."
This introduction tells me that 1) someone at NBC News is already leaking stories to the NYT; and 2) the Chinook fabrication was NOT an isolated incident - it was part of a pattern.
I took exactly one psychology course, but I have to think that someone like Williams, who gets paid millions for reading words feels like he has to "earn it" somehow.
"THIS was a bomb that had been ticking for a while.
NBC executives were warned a year ago that Brian Williams was constantly inflating his biography. They were flummoxed over why the leading network anchor felt that he needed Hemingwayesque, bullets-whizzing-by flourishes to puff himself up, sometimes to the point where it was a joke in the news division."
This introduction tells me that 1) someone at NBC News is already leaking stories to the NYT; and 2) the Chinook fabrication was NOT an isolated incident - it was part of a pattern.
I took exactly one psychology course, but I have to think that someone like Williams, who gets paid millions for reading words feels like he has to "earn it" somehow.
I haven't watched network news in years because the Internet gives me total control over the news I consume, and by the time I get home in the evening from work, I'm all news'ed out from having checked my favorite news websites throughout the day.
Having said that, I wish Mr. Williams luck as he regroups because I know I've misremembered things in my life, and I don't think he and I are the only people who have experienced this.
Having said that, I wish Mr. Williams luck as he regroups because I know I've misremembered things in my life, and I don't think he and I are the only people who have experienced this.
Thank you Ms. Dowd. Following years of your work, I find myself very rarely in total agreement with your point(s) of view. Today I stand fully with you and for your stance. I'm a decorated VietNam vet yet rarely discuss wartime circumstances. I categorize those who do as lacking certain internal controls. Maybe Mr. Williams needs to council with professionals who have studied similar behaviors. I rarely take pity on celebrities for self-inflicted wounds but Mr. Williams is an exception. He really needs help and I don't envision a good ending to this story.
Kudos to Maureen for telling it like it is. I had no idea that the Williams' exaggeration Olympics had been longstanding, and also mocked by other NBC news staff. I had no idea that NBC brass was so cynical that they gave him a free pass as long as the ratings were up.
But I did know (who couldn't?) that meaningful nightly news was a thing of the past. I mean, animal videos? The weather every single night? Ordinary acts of human kindness because.. well, just because. Maybe there hasn't been enough of it.
Like so many here, I get my news from online sources and occasional reports on TV, as well as the "alternative" cable news station MSNBC, of course an affiliate of NBC as well as the progressive version of CNN. At the very least, or so it seems, the regular show hosts have their own bias, their own research departments, and original slants on important stories. And while yes, it's still entertainment, it is still well-researched entertainment and I'd like to believe that mideast correspondent Richard Engelman is the real deal.
I hope NBC opts to make Brian's "temporary" hiatus from Nightly News permanent--sooner rather than later. But the funny thing is, I wonder if anything will be learned from this? Given William's uncontrite explanation of his exaggerations, I rather doubt it.
Unfortunately he became a creature of the times he was supposed to report on. Talk about getting a piece of the action, one way or the other.
But I did know (who couldn't?) that meaningful nightly news was a thing of the past. I mean, animal videos? The weather every single night? Ordinary acts of human kindness because.. well, just because. Maybe there hasn't been enough of it.
Like so many here, I get my news from online sources and occasional reports on TV, as well as the "alternative" cable news station MSNBC, of course an affiliate of NBC as well as the progressive version of CNN. At the very least, or so it seems, the regular show hosts have their own bias, their own research departments, and original slants on important stories. And while yes, it's still entertainment, it is still well-researched entertainment and I'd like to believe that mideast correspondent Richard Engelman is the real deal.
I hope NBC opts to make Brian's "temporary" hiatus from Nightly News permanent--sooner rather than later. But the funny thing is, I wonder if anything will be learned from this? Given William's uncontrite explanation of his exaggerations, I rather doubt it.
Unfortunately he became a creature of the times he was supposed to report on. Talk about getting a piece of the action, one way or the other.
Why, why the waste of ink and space about this? And how many years after the fact did this surface? And who cares? This is not about journalism. Journalism died when the reality of the independent newspaper or news program did. This is more about personalities and who gets to ride on the 'chopper and who doesn't than it is about "news". Is this what we have come to? Fake hysteria over news readers? No one, no one, today would even come close to qualifying to be one of Morrow's Boys. The high dudgeon over nothing while promoting one's own blog or airing one's perceived slights only makes this whole incident even more ridiculous.
Who on earth watches this stuff? It has been 15 years for me. What they tell me in 22 minutes, I can read in 90 seconds. Then I do investigative journalism on my own through the Internet.
This shouldn't be a major surprise really. Mr. Williams, as the front man for a major news program, has to have a certain amount of narcissism. For anyone to strive to get that kind of position in the first place, and to succeed in a crowded field of like-minded self-loving people, they have to be extremely enamored of themselves.
People who are really narcissistic always exaggerate stories that have themselves as the protagonist, to make themselves seem even better to the listener. The exaggerations grow as the story gets repeated, to the limits of believability, and the teller gradually begins to believe them.
Probably when this event happened, Mr. Williams first was struck by how close he'd came to getting shot down, then wondered what it would have been like to be in that chopper instead, then fantasized about it having happened to him. Then casually started telling people it did, then half-believing it did, then adding to the tale until he looked precisely like Rambo in action.
I like Mr. Williams, from what I see of him; narcissists can be very easy to like, as they work at it. I think he got just too caught up in himself and his internal fantasies, and he'd have done better to love himself for what he actually is, which is a rather impressive person. He's intelligent, charming, great looking, diligent, and all of that would have sufficed.
But now he should retire, he's old enough and well-off enough, because his credibility is gone.
People who are really narcissistic always exaggerate stories that have themselves as the protagonist, to make themselves seem even better to the listener. The exaggerations grow as the story gets repeated, to the limits of believability, and the teller gradually begins to believe them.
Probably when this event happened, Mr. Williams first was struck by how close he'd came to getting shot down, then wondered what it would have been like to be in that chopper instead, then fantasized about it having happened to him. Then casually started telling people it did, then half-believing it did, then adding to the tale until he looked precisely like Rambo in action.
I like Mr. Williams, from what I see of him; narcissists can be very easy to like, as they work at it. I think he got just too caught up in himself and his internal fantasies, and he'd have done better to love himself for what he actually is, which is a rather impressive person. He's intelligent, charming, great looking, diligent, and all of that would have sufficed.
But now he should retire, he's old enough and well-off enough, because his credibility is gone.
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Is Williams really an impressive person, this story aside? He's a news reader on TV. He hosts a nightly show that presents a particular, corporate-driven take on a few items in the news.
George Patton was an impressive person. Albert Schweitzer was an impressive person. Madame Curie was an impressive person. Brian Williams is a human Potemkin Village.
George Patton was an impressive person. Albert Schweitzer was an impressive person. Madame Curie was an impressive person. Brian Williams is a human Potemkin Village.
Like so many before him, Williams turned away from resigning. He might have collected some regard for acknowledging the truth, apologizing and leaving NBC. And he certainly didn't say he was going to stay; instead, he will take a couple days off. Too cute. I guess news anchors and politicians can never deal directly with the truth. Hiding is easier. Maybe long ago, he could have hid but my internet connection is slowed to a crawl; he is being Twittered away. Lets hope he doesn't decide to become a politician when he leaves.
Television news organizations at all levels constantly tell you they are "on your side", bringing you "the news you need to know". Perhaps some people believe that, enough at least that networks continue to roll out celebrity anchors. But it misses the point of television journalism, which is immediacy. If I want to you understand some aspect of what's topical I know the New York Times will lay out the details needed. But if there is a terrorist event underway in France, a plane crash in Taiwan, or an earthquake in the Pacific rim TV still works. The idea we need a Brian Williams "explaining" the news to us by way of putting himself in harms way isn't just comical, it's a bit insulting. It is telling that many anchors immediately demand the title of "managing editor" to add to their sense of gravitas. The truth is you could get an actor to sit in front of a camera and deliver the news just as effectively as the network anchors do. Now it seems, anchors who are not actors become just that to justify their image.
Yes, let's criticize another reporter's credibility by using anonymous sources and sweeping generalizations.
If this was as well-known as you seem to suggest at the top of this piece, how come you did not do a column earlier? Or the New York Times in general?
When I saw that piece about the hockey game, I said to myself, I don't remember that happening at the time or any report about it; and I think I would have remembered that.
When I saw that piece about the hockey game, I said to myself, I don't remember that happening at the time or any report about it; and I think I would have remembered that.
I'm not sure what is worse...Brian Williams's serious errors of judgment or the lip-smacking schadenfreude among the media, typified by this column. (And don't get me started about Dylan Byers on Politico or Brian Stetler on CNN...both with an evident axe to grind about NBC News.) Not surprising to see Maureen Down piling on.
"Anchors as performers" are not a new phenomenon, and the Times just celebrated Fox's star performer (Megyn Kelly) mostly for being less mendacious than anybody else on her network. The Times has been just as guilty in its gossipy coverage of the behind-the-scenes drama at The Today Show, as if it's more important than the news being reported.
"Anchors as performers" are not a new phenomenon, and the Times just celebrated Fox's star performer (Megyn Kelly) mostly for being less mendacious than anybody else on her network. The Times has been just as guilty in its gossipy coverage of the behind-the-scenes drama at The Today Show, as if it's more important than the news being reported.
I think I agree…..
Why bother trying to run Mr. Williams out of his chair.
He simply READS the script. It isn't even news by the time he reads it to the viewing audience.
Let him keep his job and his punishment if one is due……will be that he will always wonder how many of the "folks" on the other side of the camera he is talking at are right now at this moment believing what he is reading.
That doubt will weigh on his psyche day over day.
Drip Drip Drip or somesuch comes to mind.
Anyway, let him keep his job. One day he will tell another whopper and we will all have another laugh.
And, the added bonus is that NBC doesn't have to go through the brain damage of what to do and why to do it and how to spin it.
By the way, if his ratings plummet over the next 6 months well then. The market spoke and NBC knows what to do
EOS
Why bother trying to run Mr. Williams out of his chair.
He simply READS the script. It isn't even news by the time he reads it to the viewing audience.
Let him keep his job and his punishment if one is due……will be that he will always wonder how many of the "folks" on the other side of the camera he is talking at are right now at this moment believing what he is reading.
That doubt will weigh on his psyche day over day.
Drip Drip Drip or somesuch comes to mind.
Anyway, let him keep his job. One day he will tell another whopper and we will all have another laugh.
And, the added bonus is that NBC doesn't have to go through the brain damage of what to do and why to do it and how to spin it.
By the way, if his ratings plummet over the next 6 months well then. The market spoke and NBC knows what to do
EOS
We all make mistakes. Some that hurt themselves, some that hurt others. Mother of liars Colin Powell still carries his rank and pension, and has no shame to boot. Our Presidents misspoke, still the cloud blew over. Then why the esteemed newspaper, the New York Times is fanning the error of Brian by putting this silly mistake on the front pages for three days in a row, beats me. Brian made a silly error that did not hurt anyone but himself. Give him a break. We are Americans.
I'm ready for Lester Holt, a man of intellect and substance. What a welcome relief he would be.
"One anchor exerted moral authority once and that was Walter Cronkite, because he risked his career to go on TV and tell the truth about the fact that we were losing the Vietnam War."
Network Anchors aren't the only extraneous interpreters we can live without. NYT's pundits aren't far behind. Cronkite wanted us to lose and that was the narrative he pushed. Some are still trying to cement it into place despite the overwhelming evidence that Communism is a repressive system that has nowhere, absolutely nowhere, elevated mankind. Leftism is a dead-end, Maureen. Quit trying to shore up the narrative.
Network Anchors aren't the only extraneous interpreters we can live without. NYT's pundits aren't far behind. Cronkite wanted us to lose and that was the narrative he pushed. Some are still trying to cement it into place despite the overwhelming evidence that Communism is a repressive system that has nowhere, absolutely nowhere, elevated mankind. Leftism is a dead-end, Maureen. Quit trying to shore up the narrative.
Let us put the Williams saga under the mat. Please. We have to make sure that our dear leader, Hillary Clinton gets to be the next POTUS. We do not want Press to compare her Bosnia story with Williams's story about Iraq. So, let us bury Williams now, so we can save Hillary for us in 2016. Come on, people, let us think about our future and not our present.
It has been a long time coming. This tremendous hubris on the part of the network anchor goes all the way back to a spectacled Cronkite, made leading-man handsome in Jennings and then poured into what Dowd suggests is nothing but a haircut. Williams tried to find his way back to being a real reporter, rather than an actor, but got lost along the way. He was right when he once said information is not knowledge, but wasn't humble enough to accept his role as an actor reading someone else's story.
This column is one of Ms. Dowd's best.
Launching several threads, she ties them together so that I am left thinking about 50 years of journalism history and trends. Were I a J-school professor, I'd be teaching this Monday morning. This is evokes several case studies artfully wrapped into one profound "wow, I get it".
Launching several threads, she ties them together so that I am left thinking about 50 years of journalism history and trends. Were I a J-school professor, I'd be teaching this Monday morning. This is evokes several case studies artfully wrapped into one profound "wow, I get it".
I'm sure everyone has told some tall tales about themselves during their life.Usually these tall tales stop after college.When you make mega millions just for reading a nightly teleprompter,you need to rein yourself in and stop any appearances of impropriety.Brian needs to be fired or reassigned to stacking bbs in the corner of his office.
... And HILLARY ................
The mindless marketeers have for years preached that people do not want to see or hear bad news, unless of course some melodrama is incorporated .
Add to that the appeal to a detached adolescent audience where social garbage has become part of breaking headlines.
There are very few examples of coherent journalism and the authors mention of Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert, John Oliver and Bill Maher as what might be considered the brightest lights in the darkest realms of stupidity.
Of course the oligarchs who run this plutocracy could not be happier.
Add to that the appeal to a detached adolescent audience where social garbage has become part of breaking headlines.
There are very few examples of coherent journalism and the authors mention of Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert, John Oliver and Bill Maher as what might be considered the brightest lights in the darkest realms of stupidity.
Of course the oligarchs who run this plutocracy could not be happier.
"One anchor exerted moral authority once and that was Walter Cronkite, because he risked his career to go on TV and tell the truth about the fact that we were losing the Vietnam War."
At no time was the United States losing the Vietnam war. Vietnam was not then, and is not now, capable of defeating the United States in war. The United States lost the war because of Walter Cronkite's opinion, expressed on air, and believed by a public less sophisticated in their consumption of news than today's public. Cronkite was partly responsible for turning public opinion in the U.S. against the war. I do not consider Cronkite a man with moral authority, or any authority of any kind. He was a liberal reporter before the public realized that all MSM reporters are liberal.
It's my fault—I mean I came here and I read the article. I got what I deserved. The view of the world as seen through the eyes of a peevish high school diva.
Doug Santo
Pasadena, CA
At no time was the United States losing the Vietnam war. Vietnam was not then, and is not now, capable of defeating the United States in war. The United States lost the war because of Walter Cronkite's opinion, expressed on air, and believed by a public less sophisticated in their consumption of news than today's public. Cronkite was partly responsible for turning public opinion in the U.S. against the war. I do not consider Cronkite a man with moral authority, or any authority of any kind. He was a liberal reporter before the public realized that all MSM reporters are liberal.
It's my fault—I mean I came here and I read the article. I got what I deserved. The view of the world as seen through the eyes of a peevish high school diva.
Doug Santo
Pasadena, CA
NBC is getting it's clock cleaned by Williams-Gate. If it wishes to have even a shred of credibility left after the smoke clears-they will remove Williams from his spot.
Circling the wagons on this one is a death-wish. Cut and regroup.
Circling the wagons on this one is a death-wish. Cut and regroup.
Let's not overlook the overrated Tom Brokaw, who was no David Brinkley and paved the way for a lightweight like Brian Williams. NBC permitted Brokaw to insert himself into World War II fame with his Greatest Generation book and even received greater prominence at the dedication of the World War II Memorial than some of the heroic living vets of that horrible war.
Maureen, you are the best. As always. But, you missed the obvious. We need to put the Williams story in the bud. Enough of that. Why? It will affect the Hillary R. Clinton White House campaign. Press will connect Bosnia and sniper adventure. So, let us take Williams saga off. That way, no one will talk about the issue when the campaign starts.
His disorder is called progressivism. Progressives live in a world almost entirely based on lies or distortions that allows them to feel good about themselves as a sort of confession. Hence we have the war on women, climate change, income inequality, wealthy not paying taxes, corporate greed, most gay issues, most race issues etc etc. All the while the progressives when not preaching are busy lining their pockets with money from special deals, using every trick in the book to avoid taxes, using influence to get their kids into Harvard and Yale , and flying
nonstop in private jets. In truth Brian Williams is no different from Obama, Hillary, or Krugman. They tell so many lies that it's no wonder they can't keep things straight. What is more ironic than the current epitome of progressivism Elizabeth Warren lying about being an Indian to get ahead and making tens of million of dollars from flipping distressed houses all the while leading the charge against income inequality. It's like a comedy and a Greek Tragedy all rolled into one.
nonstop in private jets. In truth Brian Williams is no different from Obama, Hillary, or Krugman. They tell so many lies that it's no wonder they can't keep things straight. What is more ironic than the current epitome of progressivism Elizabeth Warren lying about being an Indian to get ahead and making tens of million of dollars from flipping distressed houses all the while leading the charge against income inequality. It's like a comedy and a Greek Tragedy all rolled into one.
He surely has to resign!
and now you know why I don't watch mainstream news including Fox. Everyone is fake, the news is distorted
I had a dismal day at work this past Friday, but the Williams story makes my work-based nuisances seem very trivial.
So I for one am forever grateful to Brian Williams.
So I for one am forever grateful to Brian Williams.
Everyone wants to be Paul Harvey. It's the business model and they all need to stop the madness. Look at the fools running for Prez. For Gods' sake, they are mostly reality "stars" and talk show hosts. God save us all!
"...Muir acted out the facial expressions he uses during his broadcast: “the listening face,” the “really listening” face, and the “really concerned” face."
Right now he's in front of the mirror practicing the "contrite yet fundamentally virtuous and high minded" face for his return--should there be one.
Right now he's in front of the mirror practicing the "contrite yet fundamentally virtuous and high minded" face for his return--should there be one.
Reminds of George W. Bush in his flight suit after his fighter jet lands on an aircraft carrier in 2003. In both cases, ego is served over substance.
You nailed it Moe. Williams is nothing but a $10MM a year wannabe who yearns to have his audience believe he is a serious and courageous newsman always ready to risk life and limb to bring them the truth. If he had wanted to demonstrate genuine gratitude to the retired veteran at the Rangers game, he would have done it quietly by simply taking the guy out to dinner and to the game. Instead, Williams inserted himself (in a falsely valorous light) into that soldier's honorable service by staging a spotlighted announcement at the game that could be replayed on his Nightly News broadcast. This and other revelations about Williams' braggadocio must have Huntley and Brinkley rolling in their graves.
As a veteran of combat, I'm most insulted by the fact the he tried to "Steal Valor" it only goes to show just what kind of human being he truly is. A Liar. As a 'News' reporter all credibility in everything he says is lost and the lies are obviously going to be more glaring exposed with the age of social media... I have read that a couple of the veterans that were there that day for years were trying to call him out on his lie and NO ONE LISTENED... If NBC Knew that he was a Blowhard they had a responsibility to their audience to stop him...
Nice Zoolander reference with the "Blue Steel".
social media taught me to disregard maureen dowd for her naivety to pot.
but gosh darn this was one of the best things i've read in a long long time.
but gosh darn this was one of the best things i've read in a long long time.
His is just being consistent with the agenda of the major networks. Lie whenever possible.
Doubt it? Look at the unemployment numbers that are reported and then judt do the math
Doubt it? Look at the unemployment numbers that are reported and then judt do the math
The only thing I can think of saying (to BW) is 'go away'. I've heard military types object that somehow he is offending them, but that concern is trivial in comparison to the betrayal of trust to the American people. He may take a sabbatical in the hope that this will blow over, but that hope is simply the last refuge of a egotist. It's over, dude.
I'm not a spoil-sport or a party pooper but Williams, who was my go to anchor on weeknights, made me uncomfortable with some of his show biz spectacles, as on SNL or Fallon. One cannot picture Walter Cronkite playing for laughs or Ed Murrow tooting the piccolo. Major newscasters should be dignified.
I had to laugh at "hair apparent". These guys do have nice hair, don't they?
The flogging of Brian Williams smacks of unconscious hypocrisy to me. Not that I think it is okay he lied or exaggerates his experience or has a fantastic ego. But the whole appeal to objectivity and trust is fanciful. Do people really think there are not deeply embedded falsifications, exaggerations, obfuscations, propaganda and outright lies projected through numerous "anchors of objectivity" via corporate news programs just about every broadcast minute? Unrealities which, by the way, are more significant than whether or not a journalist was in a helicopter under fire during an illegitimate war. If Williams loses his job, does that mean everything is all right with the world when we get a "trustworthy" replacement?
The flogging of Brian Williams smacks of unconscious hypocrisy to me. Not that I think it is okay he lied or exaggerates his experience or has a fantastic ego. But the whole appeal to objectivity and trust is fanciful. Do people really think there are not deeply embedded falsifications, exaggerations, obfuscations, propaganda and outright lies projected through numerous "anchors of objectivity" via corporate news programs just about every broadcast minute? Unrealities which, by the way, are more significant than whether or not a journalist was in a helicopter under fire during an illegitimate war. If Williams loses his job, does that mean everything is all right with the world when we get a "trustworthy" replacement?
Yes, Williams may have courted celebrity off-camera but he reported the news with integrity. Surely the higher ups at NBC were also pushing for the silly "cat video" stories in the face of the increasingly irrelevancy of the nightly network news broadcast.
The real story here the viciousness of the sharks that circle once there is blood in the water: the perpetually aggrieved veterans groups; the pundits on the left and the right with axes to grind; and the internet trolls who lust for any kind of media kill.
It's too bad, as we lost a good man and a good reporter...
The real story here the viciousness of the sharks that circle once there is blood in the water: the perpetually aggrieved veterans groups; the pundits on the left and the right with axes to grind; and the internet trolls who lust for any kind of media kill.
It's too bad, as we lost a good man and a good reporter...
Brian Williams I once almost revered, but, as more Americans awakened to his place as little more than a placeholder, or so-called "pretty face" in the giant "News" distributors' game of crony-capitalism/crony government agents, most everyone I know has quietly reviled his White liberal aristocrisy games of deceptive and faked flamboyance.
So William's excursions into entertainment are evidence of his moral and ethical failings? Good to know.
Seriously, if I'm his publicist, I tell Brian to go on SNL or Colbert, say, "Look, I'm a guy. I did it to get chicks," then, bust into the Harlem Shake. It'll go viral, everybody'll get a laugh, and all will be forgiven. I absolutely kid you not.
6
Maureen,
As a combat vet in Iraq, thank you for taking a stand against what Brian WIlliams did. And standing up for facts and truth.
As a combat vet in Iraq, thank you for taking a stand against what Brian WIlliams did. And standing up for facts and truth.
6
She didn't, she went back & forth in the whole article
Do not try to tell me that Deborah Turness, the President of NBC News just learned of this pattern of embellishment.
Personalities like Lyin' Brian Willaims do not go out into the field. on their own. There are literally dozens and dozens of NBC support personnel involved and many people in upper management who hear the stories and rumors.
Williams' and the lies he spewed have been well known to NBC News for years now.
This is not restricted to Williams alone. It is an absolute systemic problem and Deborah Turness is responsible for restoring integrity to her news service.
When people like Tom Brokaw, Katie Couric and Moureen ODowd say he has to go, that is about all she wrote.
Nothing less than Williams' expulsion from the anchor seat of NBC News will be necessary to restore any sense of journalistic responsibility.
Personalities like Lyin' Brian Willaims do not go out into the field. on their own. There are literally dozens and dozens of NBC support personnel involved and many people in upper management who hear the stories and rumors.
Williams' and the lies he spewed have been well known to NBC News for years now.
This is not restricted to Williams alone. It is an absolute systemic problem and Deborah Turness is responsible for restoring integrity to her news service.
When people like Tom Brokaw, Katie Couric and Moureen ODowd say he has to go, that is about all she wrote.
Nothing less than Williams' expulsion from the anchor seat of NBC News will be necessary to restore any sense of journalistic responsibility.
9
Maureen Dowd has hit all the right buttons here--from the years of degradation of real news from the major networks, to the ability to do the foolish and unnecessary shenanigans top "anchors" involve themselves in, to the only real news coming from Stewart, Colbert, Oliver and Maher.
8
Brian Williams will still try to rationalize his way out of this mess while deflecting hearers and readers from the truth -- that he is a man who lied extensively in order to further his own reputation. He didn't get "confused." He didn't mis-remember. He wasn't suffering from the "fog of war." He lied...embellished...fabricated...and told half-truths in the effort to make him look like he in risk of life and limb in his quest to "report the news." In reality, he actually reported half-truths and lies.
Other than members of the clergy, medical profession or legal profession, no one's honesty is as important to the hearers than someone working in the news business. Unfortunately for Williams, his credibility is shot.
Of course, NBC might claim that he was born this way and any critics are suffering from "mythophobia."
Other than members of the clergy, medical profession or legal profession, no one's honesty is as important to the hearers than someone working in the news business. Unfortunately for Williams, his credibility is shot.
Of course, NBC might claim that he was born this way and any critics are suffering from "mythophobia."
7
Wasn't bothered by the fake rocket attack having known an actual military pilot who remembered bailing of his plane...a story he told for 30 years, (fully believing it) that it turns out, happened to another guy in his squadron.
(I guess after 25 years, stuff can run together.)
Which is why the police are quick to remind us, "eye witness testimony can be shakey."
However, as much as I like Brian, I admit his using my news hour - in which so precious little news is reported anyway, to "feature" his daughter's Broadway debut, bothered me. That's when, somewhat jarred, I fully realized I really wasn't comfortable with Brian's increasing amount of "slow news jams" and guest appearances on late night TV.
Night news is slowly morphing into the type of "happy family chatter" that passes for morning news, these days. Am really glad everyone is hap hap happy working together, but I really do miss hard news. Why is the news all but a by-gone area?
(I guess after 25 years, stuff can run together.)
Which is why the police are quick to remind us, "eye witness testimony can be shakey."
However, as much as I like Brian, I admit his using my news hour - in which so precious little news is reported anyway, to "feature" his daughter's Broadway debut, bothered me. That's when, somewhat jarred, I fully realized I really wasn't comfortable with Brian's increasing amount of "slow news jams" and guest appearances on late night TV.
Night news is slowly morphing into the type of "happy family chatter" that passes for morning news, these days. Am really glad everyone is hap hap happy working together, but I really do miss hard news. Why is the news all but a by-gone area?
9
This is the result of trying to appear larger than life while residing inside a small box: for the last 15 years or so the nightly news casts have been a race to the bottom filled with caricatures of real news men.
Don Henley had it right in Dirty Laundry:
"I used to be an actor,
But I wound up here.
I only have to look good,
I don't have to be clear."
Don Henley had it right in Dirty Laundry:
"I used to be an actor,
But I wound up here.
I only have to look good,
I don't have to be clear."
10
When I watch the news I do not want to have to wonder, "Is it real or is it Lyin Brian misremembering?"
Adios, NBC.
Adios, NBC.
5
But, gosh-darn it, when he smiles that smile of his and his eyes crinkle at the corners, well you just gotta forgive him!
2
Does it matter why, ... now, that he lied? (Or rather, embellished, which is the politically correct term that politicians like Hillary use).
Remember Hillary and her experience in Bosnia saying she took ground fire when all she did was shake the hand of a politician on the tarmac? Must have been a hot earth-shattering handshake.
Mr Williams lied and got caught. And he got caught big time.
Viz the Katrina report he gave also, he reported his watching bogus bodies float when there was not enough water in the streets to have a cup of tea from in the French Quarter.
I suppose he will be required to retire now to Peter Pan's ship with his daughter Allison at the wheel.
Maybe he can become the permanent host of SNL.
Remember Hillary and her experience in Bosnia saying she took ground fire when all she did was shake the hand of a politician on the tarmac? Must have been a hot earth-shattering handshake.
Mr Williams lied and got caught. And he got caught big time.
Viz the Katrina report he gave also, he reported his watching bogus bodies float when there was not enough water in the streets to have a cup of tea from in the French Quarter.
I suppose he will be required to retire now to Peter Pan's ship with his daughter Allison at the wheel.
Maybe he can become the permanent host of SNL.
1