NBC's Brian Williams
 

NBC News anchor Brian Williams conceded on Wednesday that a story he had told about being under fire while covering the invasion of Iraq in 2003 was false.

Williams said he was not aboard a helicopter that was hit by enemy fire and forced down — a story he retold as recently as last week during a televised tribute to a retired soldier during a New York Rangers hockey game.

It appears he was outed by a Stars and Stripes reporter.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifest...644_story.html

I have no sympathy for reporters trying to make themselves the story, nor do I care for the notion of TV anchormen (or women) as celebrities. Just give me the unadulterated news without cutesy commentary, flashing the pearly whites, or eye-rolling, please.

NBC should dump him forthwith IMO.

He needs to rehab @ MSNBC . :rolleyes:

Many reality shows on TV.

Why not a reality newsman? :D

So he apologized. Great.

Can you imagine if this were Cronkite, Murrow, Chancellor, etc? They wouldn't worry about apologizing. They'd do the right thing and just resign, and not drag their employers and their peers through the mud with them.

Standards are just different today I guess. Sadly.

Fox had their big brouhaha with their so-called Muslim "no-go zones" in France and the UK. Apologies sufficed for them, but I'm not sure that anyone actually expects credible news from them (hell, they still employ Geraldo Rivera).

The big 3 networks have a journalistic legacy and the public has different expectations from them. I'm not convinced that Williams won't be shown the door soon. He should have the dignity and grace and resign forthwith.

Indeed!

Conflating Fox's reporting and Brian Williams bizarre self - aggrandizement is a bit off key. I did find it funny that the Frenchies got pissed at Fox but gave CNN a pass.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/0...n_6524924.html

You'd do better conflating Williams' statement about being shot down with Hillary's statement about being shot at by Bosnian snipers.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/03/...iref=hpmostpop

I don't expect anyone will be suggesting to Hilly that she "resign forthwith" from her assumptive campaign. :rolleyes:

There's a difference between a news journalist and a politician. The former is expected to tell the truth. The latter, not so much.

It depends on what the meaning of the word 'is' is...

Gunga Dan Rather.

Ever the Pox Noise cheerleader. I'll bet you think Geraldo is a good newsman. :rolleyes:

The biggest material difference is that Williams alone perpetrated one self-aggrandizing lie, whereas a half-dozen Fox reporters repeated the "no-go zone" line numerous times over several days. Morever, Williams' lie was about self-aggrandizement, but Fox's was intended to influence the public debate about Islam, terrorism, etc.

They were all in tune. :)

WTF are you talking about? Brian Williams gets caught out?

It's lies coming from every festering piehole on FOX every 90 seconds 24/7. Conflating FOX news with anything real is a bit off key.

Meanwhile at 60 Minutes that blond bimbo is back on the air after getting caught rah-rahing a completely bogus Benghazi story. :rolleyes:

Yeh, but she has a cool South African accent.;)

Putting some numbers to your point:

At Fox and Fox News, 10 percent of the claims PunditFact has rated have been True, 11 percent Mostly True, 18 percent Half True, 21 percent Mostly False, 31 percent False and nine percent Pants on Fire.

That means about 60 percent of the claims checked have been rated Mostly False or worse. Here’s how it breaks down (as of Jan. 27, 2015):

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/yo...OP88HtXr9ksY4Q

http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-me...news-channels/

Blond bimbos are real popular in the media.

They have taken over football field interviews.

Fav question:What was going through your mind....?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TRKYsao2ciY

John

NBC has now launched an investigation to include possible embellishment of Katrina coverage by Williams.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifest...644_story.html

He's done.

John

He needs to take Hillary with him.
http://www.nydailynews.com/entertain...icle-1.2106980

Linda Stasi!!! Critical thinking and social commentary from the author of epic treatises on politics and culture like, "Looking Good Is the Best Revenge." and "A Field Guide to Impossible Men."

Linda Stasi...who refers to our culture of frivolous lawsuits as a "Suer System", and then turns around and files a $2 million action against the City of NY for alleged injuries suffered when she stumbled over a police barricade while in the act of impersonating a legitimate newspaper reporter.

Leave it to dj to give us Linda Stasi as a source of meaningful political commentary.:rolleyes:

If only you held World Net Daily and Pox Noise to the same standards...:rolleyes:

Y'know...the howling from the right-wingjobs about this, and the previous howling about Rather considering the hourly lies that come out of the right-wingjob media is confirmation about which is actual news media. If Hannity & Co didn't lie what good would they be as far as entertainment goes?

All news/data is biased. The trick is to remove bias and look upon it without bias.

Here's how to remove the bias:

NPR
PBS
BBC

BBC is very biased. Scotland, Zimbabwe, Ukraine/Russia.

Less and less true of the first two. The right wing propaganda machine is trying to buy control of NPR and PBS. Just yesterday heard a blurb saying that an outfit called 'values.com' was sponsoring the news on WNKU, a public radio station dominate around here in the adult contempoary format. What the heck is values.com? I wondered. So did a bit of searching.

Found values.com is a 'non-partisan' media outlet working to promote 'good values.' It's a effort of the Foundation for a Better Life, which is funded by the Anschutz Foundation. And the Anschutz Foundation is the creation of Philip Anschutz, "an entrepreneur with a net worth of $11.2 billion, as of January 2015.[1] He is 'a radical faith based political activist, a man who uses his vast fortune in attempts to advance an anti-homosexual and anti-science (specifically evolution) agenda,' according to SB Nation." link Anschutz also owns conservative agitprop outlet "The Weekly Standard," according to Wilipedia.

Today I learned that WNKU has just hired a new general manager. He comes from commercial radio, has been running 107 Rock in Scranton, PA. 107 Rock is owned by Times-Shamrock Communications, the media company of the Lynett-Haggerty family. The family has Jesuit ties, with CEO George Lynett Jr serving on the board of trustees of the Jesuit University of Scranton.

Whatever all that may mean....

I forgot to add the NYT.

+1. Is it really private?

From Wiki:

They pretty much have. Next time you're watching or listening, pay attention to the "corporate underwriters" who pay for the program you're watching. It's a real "rogues gallery" of corporate criminals and right wing oligarchs. You'll see Boeing, BP, ADM, Walmart, Clearchannel, Monsanto, Koch Industries, etc.

Now watch The News Hour or listen to All Things Considered and check for stories that are against the interests. You won't.

One of the things I noticed recently is that NOVA, the science series on PBS, produced by WGBH Boston is underwritten by the David H. Koch fund for Science. Of equal significance is the presence of David Koch on WGBH's Board of Trustees.

Think you'll bet an objective treatment of climate change or of the Keystone XL Pipeline on NOVA?

This all goes back to the efforts to totally de-fund the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, led by Newt Gingrich. The effort didn't succeed totally but it did result in such a severe cutback of Congressional funding that PBS and NPR are dependent on private benefactors for their very existence.

Now, as far as getting a reasonably accurate picture of what's going on in the world, what I do is use multiple sources with a variety of agendas and sort and sift what they say until something like truth emerges. There's really no other way.

John

Ya mean we shouldn't all be locked in to Aljazeera?

Eh whatever...I contend that if the ignorant American electorate all switched over to PBS, NPR and the BBC this country would be way, way, way fucking better for it.

If you're sitting there waiting for whatever it might be that you've already determined to be "the truth" to emerge, it sounds like "the truth" is your opinion going in. Why waste your time?

Drudge has posted what appears to be an in-house memo from Deb Turness. The memo states the Brian Williams is suspended for 6 months. It also suggests that the company's "review" of his statements is on-going.

If they don't can him something over the next six months, something's really wrong at NBC. On the other hand, Williams is a putz for not doing the right thing and stepping down on this own.

I'm sure they'll miss you at NBC Whell but you'll always have the Drudge Report to console yourself with.

He is probably congratulating himself on making "news". :D

And for you, you'll always have Mother Jones to turn to.

Show me a post where I've linked to Mother Jones and I'll wash your car Mike. :rolleyes: :D

This whole issue is bullshit right-wingjob propaganda fodder.

We get lies from every bleach blonde cleavage laden talking head or belligerent dick heads on FOX with every 90 second circadian rhythm cycle, and nobody's being suspended for 5 minutes, much less 6 months without pay...much less than knowing their job as a network anchor is over.

Forget about news readers...Republican Sen. Mark Kirk of Illinois lied his ass off about his military service, and did it more than once. Any right-wingjob suggesting that Mark Kirk be suspended without pay for 6 months?

Williams can't get enough attention without lying about his actual experiences? Fine...suspend him...fire him for christ's sake. He screwed himself. Making any more of it than that is wanking in public.

BTW - I saw the terms of his contract. $10 million for 5 years. A person who's supposed to be providing news and sometimes critical news to the American people and he makes 20 times less per year than Atlanta Falcon's quarterback Matt Ryan, who's never won anything. Williams was at the top of his game making what the average NFL player makes every year.

This country decides who it wants to reward and with how much money and this country gets exactly what it deserves.