[News news] Brian Williams suspended

[Blackhawk]

Misremembering a quote is a far cry from misremembering getting shot down in a helicopter over a war zone.

[Rip]

Misremembering a quote is a far cry from misremembering getting shot down in a helicopter over a war zone.

Or of being at the Brandenburg gate when The Berlin Wall came down.

If Hillary wins she should make him Press Secretary.

[Jeff V]

To paraphrase John Hodgman,

Fake facts are, nevertheless, still facts.

[Archinerd]

To paraphrase John Hodgman,

Fake facts are, nevertheless, still facts.

I don't like to brag, but I wrote that joke for John.

[GreenGoo]

It's not his credibility as a physicist, but his credibility as a public speaker, especially in the area of politics.

Not really. I'm sure plenty of my profs had their own pet anecdotes that they used to illustrate points. I couldn't care less if they were true or not, only that they helped me understand what they were teaching. Well, I'm sure some I would have been disappointed to hear were not true, but I wouldn't immediately call him a liar and dismiss everything else he had to say. That's...nuts.

Not to mention, in this case it's an area of science first and a political topic second.

[stessier]

Misremembering a quote is a far cry from misremembering getting shot down in a helicopter over a war zone.

Not really. It was an emotional experience and he undoubtedly talked to the soldiers involved immediately after it happened. He internalized it to the point that he thought it happened to him. It's why eye witness testimony is so horrible.

The same with the Brandenburg gate. It was a very big moment. He lands the next day and interviews a bunch of people about it. The stories they tell become his story and he thinks he was there the night before.

Memory is a fluid thing.

[Jeff V]

To paraphrase John Hodgman,

Fake facts are, nevertheless, still facts.

I don't like to brag, but I wrote that joke for John.

I know, he told me last night when we were out whoring together in Bangkok.

[Rip]

Misremembering a quote is a far cry from misremembering getting shot down in a helicopter over a war zone.

Not really. It was an emotional experience and he undoubtedly talked to the soldiers involved immediately after it happened. He internalized it to the point that he thought it happened to him. It's why eye witness testimony is so horrible.

The same with the Brandenburg gate. It was a very big moment. He lands the next day and interviews a bunch of people about it. The stories they tell become his story and he thinks he was there the night before.

Memory is a fluid thing.

For some far less viscous than others.



I am sure it is nothing a little new age liberal rehab can't cure.

[YellowKing]

In every instance that we know about so far, the "misremembering" makes himself look more important or more privy to a spectacular event. I can certainly buy being 24 hours off in a recollection, but when all your recollections make you the centerpiece of a historical event? Not so much. The dude's a journalist, not Forrest Gump.

[hepcat]

It just hit me...he's Zelig.

[stessier]

In every instance that we know about so far, the "misremembering" makes himself look more important or more privy to a spectacular event. I can certainly buy being 24 hours off in a recollection, but when all your recollections make you the centerpiece of a historical event? Not so much. The dude's a journalist, not Forrest Gump.

We're all the hero of our own stories.

The chopper was hardly a historic event and I wouldn't consider either to indicate he was the centerpiece of the event.

Edit - Though I would say he thinks he's led a rather more exciting life than he actually has.

[GreenGoo]

"Yay, sleep! That's where I'm a viking!"

[Chrisoc13]

I just cannot imagine his career surviving this. I'm surprised it took NBC so long to get on top of this. He has a serious credibility issue at this point. I have a hard time imagine he mis-remembers this much, and frankly if he does then he probably isn't very trustworthy anyways. Either way he's toast.

[stessier]

I don't watch news so I'm curious - why do we care if the guy reading a teleprompter is trustworthy? I could see caring about his individual reports, but my memory from when I did watch was that the anchor may have 1 or 2 stories a week - the rest was other correspondents.

[Chrisoc13]

Why would you want to continue employing a known liar err... misrememberer? I don't watch the news at all but I would imagine we should expect our journalists to be honest and have integrity. Even though at this point an anchor largely just reads the news to us they are supposed to represent the most public face of journalism.

[Rip]

Why would you want to continue employing a known liar err... misrememberer? I don't watch the news at all but I would imagine we should expect our journalists to be honest and have integrity. Even though at this point an anchor largely just reads the news to us they are supposed to represent the most public face of journalism.

Pretty sure that most have additional duties to just reading the teleprompter. Williams was a Managing Editor and I am pretty sure people in the "biz" will tell you that they have a lot of input into what "content" makes the show or doesn't.

Not as sure about this but I have heard the POTUS does more than read the teleprompter (and playing golf) as well.

[em2nought]

To paraphrase John Hodgman,

Fake facts are, nevertheless, still facts.

I don't like to brag, but I wrote that joke for John.

I know, he told me last night when we were out whoring together in Bangkok.

So you're saying every good lie involves a grain of truth?

[stessier]

Ah, so it's a conspiracy theory. He...misremembers...in his own stories and that carries over into how he edits/what he lets on the air. Everyone who works with/for him is fine with that and don't mention a thing. Seems fair.

[Chrisoc13]

Ah, so it's a conspiracy theory. He...misremembers...in his own stories and that carries over into how he edits/what he lets on the air. Everyone who works with/for him is fine with that and don't mention a thing. Seems fair.

I guess I don't understand why anyone would want to watch a news anchor after being exposed as an exaggerator at best. I don't really understand the push back against him likely losing his job. I certainly don't know why NBC would keep him in that position. His job as a journalist is to tell us the truth I would hope. Even in personal stories. He didn't. It really doesn't seem that complicated to me but maybe I am missing something here.

[Carpet_pissr]

But is he a journalist, or just a news reader? That is a key difference, IMO, in terms of how serious his lie should or could impact his job.

I really don't know.

[Rip]

Ah, so it's a conspiracy theory. He...misremembers...in his own stories and that carries over into how he edits/what he lets on the air. Everyone who works with/for him is fine with that and don't mention a thing. Seems fair.

Integrity comes in many flavors but is almost always judged as one©.

[McNutt]

Misremembering that many things doesn't make you bad person. It makes you a crappy newsman though.

[stessier]

My thing is did he report those things incorrectly or did he "relate stories" incorrectly. If he made errors in his reports, by all means, fire the dude. If he misremebered stories in settings outside his reporting, slap his wrist and move on.

[DD*]

Misremembering a quote is a far cry from misremembering getting shot down in a helicopter over a war zone.

Or of being at the Brandenburg gate when The Berlin Wall came down.

If Hillary wins she should make him Press Secretary.

They can swap war stories about being under fire.

[Chrisoc13]

Misremembering that many things doesn't make you bad person. It makes you a crappy newsman though.

Exactly. I don't think he is a bad person, he just might be a story teller. All the same his career as an anchor likely won't survive this.

My thing is did he report those things incorrectly or did he "relate stories" incorrectly. If he made errors in his reports, by all means, fire the dude. If he misremebered stories in settings outside his reporting, slap his wrist and move on.

I'm not sure it really matters which it was since he did these things on the air to my knowledge. People expect him to be telling the truth when reporting.

[rshetts2]

Apparently Brian Williams was not suspended. He claims now that

he used to be a newsman but then he took an arrow to the knee.

[DD*]

Apparently Brian Williams was not suspended. He claims now that

he used to be a newsman but then he took an arrow to the knee.

[Suitably Ironic Moniker]

Whatever, the guy next to him took the arrow. What a liar.

[$iljanus]

Whatever, the guy next to him took the arrow. What a liar.

Williams wasn't even in the same keep but in the keep in the next valley over.

[em2nought]

I can't believe there is even a question here, seriously I'm incredulous. Do you think Walter Cronkite ever did it?

Maybe Bri' baby can replace Pinocchio in those Geico commercials. I see potential in the commenters on this thread, you've got potential, and you, and you've got er, ugh.

[gbasden]

In another historic occasion, Brian Williams becomes the first person to actually suffer consequences for lying about the Iraq war.

[Isgrimnur]

Williams to return to NBC, but Holt gets the chair:

Andrew Lack, Chairman of NBC News and MSNBC, on Thursday announced that Lester Holt will be named the permanent anchor of "NBC Nightly News."

Holt, 56, has been a television news reporter for thirty-four years. He joined NBC in 2000 and became the full-time anchor of "Weekend Nightly News" in 2007. He also anchors "Dateline" and co-anchors "Weekend TODAY."
...
Lack and Steve Burke, CEO of NBCU, have decided that Brian Williams will not be the anchor of "Nightly News." Williams, who was an anchor at MSNBC from 1996 to 2004, will now join MSNBC as anchor of breaking news and special reports. ... In addition, Williams will serve as a breaking news anchor for NBC News live special reports when Holt is not available. He will begin the new role in mid-August.

[Isgrimnur]

LA Times

Brian Williams is getting a new — and for now temporary — late-night news program, his first regular time slot since joining MSNBC.

Starting in September, the former “NBC Nightly News” anchor will helm a live wrap-up of the day’s political coverage at 11 p.m. ET. According to an MSNBC executive not authorized to comment publicly on the matter, the program will run through the presidential election in November.
...
Williams has anchored 245 hours of MSNBC coverage since his return. But the 11 p.m. program will be the first venue where viewers can find him on a regular basis.

Williams’ move to MSNBC coincided with a decision by NBC News Chairman Andy Lack to move the channel away from progressive political commentary during the day and more toward breaking news coverage. MSNBC has lagged in the ratings behind Fox News and CNN in recent years.

[GreenGoo]

Remember when semi-respected well known people who blatantly lied on the national stage only to be caught out resulted in a scandal and lost employment?

Yeah. Those were the days.