This particular scandal unlike another big one right now is not an off hours situation unless you very carefully try to separate tall tales on talk shows from the nightly news broadcast which may be what was going on for years since obviously people inside and outside NBC News knew about his exaggeration problem. At this point, it’s everyone trying to save themselves and he is finished as a credible news anchor. It’s am amazing crash, really. And, in many ways it was inevitable as news and show biz merged and it happened to him because he was at the top of the heap at the time by happenstance. It’s also a fascinating cautionary tale about believing or creating your own press.
Considering th number of lies and liars in the country, its actually quite an achievement to have ones name become synonymous with untruths.
I find it pretty darned funny that we care much, much more about the lying of a newsreader, a guy who reads from a teleprompter in a pleasant, non-offensive manner, than we do about politicians who actually legislate. Note for example that Rand Paul was caught lying about college degrees he explicitly claimed but which never existed. If that happened in any number of circumstances, he’d be fired from his job but this won’t stop him from running for President. More importantly, it won’t stop people from finding ways to justify the lies, which is exactly my point: we care more about the apparent credibility of a newsreader than of a major presidential candidate. That speaks volumes about the USA.
Admittedly it is not working very well but the journalists are supposed to be a check on the politicians so the credibility of the press is not unimportant, at all. This is progress, imho.
Tough crowd. Agree with you, lergmom.
Saturday’s Washington Post had a very in-depth and interesting article on the Brian Williams debacle:
It seems quite even-handed and sympathetic.
Good article. Thanks. It indicates that NBC was aware of the truth problem for some time which it would be impossible not to notice since he was not alone on these exploits. Feeling bad for him because you liked him for some reason is one thing but being okay with a news organization outright telling untruths for any reason makes no sense to me in any possible way. This particular reason seems to be a personal need to look really cool. And, it backfired.badly. Additionally,rewatching some of these clips makes one wonder how anyone bought this act for so long since It’s blatantly obvious exaggeration and a chain of repeated and continuously morphing outright falsehoods. The path to recovery is unclear at best and reports are there is disagreement inside NBC, too. Some want him fired and figure the morals clause in his contract will do the trick others are worried about the continuing NBC news ratings slide which includes Toady, Meet the Press, MSNBC, and now perhaps Nightly News. That means the bosses get fired next.
He was described as having insecurities and overcompensated by embellishing. This isn’t the right thing to do. But nowhere does it say, or even imply, that he did it to “look cool”.
Okay, he did it on late night talk shows to be entertaining and intentionally made himself the center of the over-dramaticized stories. For instance, the now most likely false reports of having been sent cool souvenirs from a seal raids which the seals themselves say doesn’t really happen since these operations are done in secret for a reason. Quibbling about whether or not he wanted to look cool is pointless. It’s pretty clear he liked looking cool. lol.
It’s obviously a bad idea for a network anchor to tell lies that conflict with network policy.
He’s in the credibility business, and he’s no longer credible.
Its one opinion to say over and over that he did it to “look cool”, which connotes a very different implication than is described in the well written article provided by joblue. Asserting why he did that is just an opinion. No one said what he did was right. But unless someone is inside his head, we don’t know what he did "intentionally " or for what reason. What he did was wrong. We get it. Whats pointless is continuing to belabor it with constant bashing with negative attributes. Sheesh.
** Oh- I see Bill O’ Reilly initially theorized that BW told stories to “look cool”. Well, there’s an unbiased source, LOL, http://www.mediaite.com/tv/bill-oreilly-suspects-brian-williams-made-up-story-to-sound-cool/ especially since 5 days after he made that mean spirited crack he came to BW’s defense http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/02/10/bill-oreilly-brian-williams-jimmy-kimmel_n_6653428.html Seems he knows that continuing to get one’s jollies by bashing is unbecoming.
To clarify-- actually the other talking heads in the O’Reilly clip were meaner than O’Reilly. His opinion that it was to be “cool” wasn’t harsh like some of the other comments. And a few days later he came to DW’s defense. That was quite decent. But the other talking heads who seem to get their jollies or air time by bashing-- its mean spirited. And maybe to get their own airtime to “be cool”. JMO
Apologies for another post- but neighbors popped by and I got timed out. O’Reilly’s comments on Jimmy Kimmel were balanced and pretty classy, and I am not an O’Reilly fan. On Kimmel Live he told the audience
He said he doesn’t like “destroying people for sport”. Even if perchance it wasn’t sincere and O’Reilly said all this to look good, well, works for me. He stepped way back from that mocking on his show a few days prior. Again, JMO.
It probably does not matter. Williams has lawyered up and will need all the might of his legal eagle to save the financial terms of his contract. He probably is hoping for a settlement as his lucrative contract is beyond jeopardy. The network has no upside in bringing him back, and is probably happy to have been given the opportunity to stop the bleeding. That mismanaged network is taking water on many fronts. The problems of a rotten to the core MSNBC have reached other areas. They will have to clean the stables sooner of later.
I like Lester Holt. Hope he hangs onto the seat.
****eta- did not know that NBCUniversal (the news media division) is owned by Comcast. No wonder its such a trainwreck! Will prefer not to bash people, but Comcast deserves what it gets!!
The fact is, destroying (famous) people for sport is all the rage, has been for quite some time and doesn’t appear to be loosing any steam. The prettier they are, the more likeable and sincere they seem, the thirstier the bloodhounds are to rip them apart at almost just the hint of scandal. It’s sickening, really.
This stuff isn’t calculated. Its part of a personality disorder. Do you think Al Gore came up with a calculated plan to take credit for establishing the internet? (Spare me the partisan comments.) He actually believed he was somehow responsible. Williams is the same. He’s so important in his own mind that he believes he was there.
I’ll bet $1,000 that he could’ve passed a lie detector test about all of these incidents (before this eruption).
O’ Reilly’s comments probably arise from a silent self-awareness that this could have happened to any number of public figures.
Oh for the love of pete. The Al Gore internet thing has been debunked. http://www.snopes.com/quotes/internet.asp
This explains it better-- from Isaacson’s new book, “The Innovators” http://www.wired.com/2015/01/geeks-guide-walter-isaacson/
But THIS
is spot on.
Cool is a pretty commonly used descriptor. I do agree with O’Reilly that there is no reason to keep piling on but the facts are the facts and there is also no reason to pretend that what he did wasn’t an amazing breach of journalistic ethics. And, I don’t think O’ Reilly who is not currently a journalist believes there is a snowballs chance BW will be back in the anchor chair, either. Mostly, he seems to feel pity. Poor NBC. What a debacle.