Brian Williams

[Thyrsis]

Two things on that

First, I agree with all of that. Memory is clearly a tricky thing. I'd just add that storytellers are particularly prone to this as well as convenient embellishment for the sheer sake of storytelling. Whether it's entirely willful is almost besides the point. That just goes with the territory. When BW goes on the Tonight Show, etc., he's in entertaining storyteller mode. NBC benefitted from his stretching of the anchor role to one of entertainer. It's easy for me to draw the distinction, but I understand how others think it undermines his credibility.

Also, at least by job description, he's not just news reader. As managing editor, I think he has influence or control over which stories go on air. That likely includes some content controls as well.

If they really wanted him back, I think they could have done things far differently without undermining his credibility or the network news need for accuracy. They've clearly chosen a different path, though.


Posted from Rivals Mobile

 

[Marvin the Martian]

I wonder how much content control he exercises

I assume they have writers and editors. he probably does have the power to shape, but it seems he would have little time to control the content of each story.

But you are right about storyteller. Did Edward R or Walter routinely do Tonight? I don't recall seeing Cronkite on Carson, but he could have been.

So we want our news readers to be entertainers as well. Once we blurred that line, we were heading for a problem. But that is what we want. Let's face it, a lot of people get their news from someone like Limbaugh, or Colbert/Stewert. We don't want some boring recap of the events even if expertly gathered and read. We want to laugh and cry along the way.

 

[hoot1]

Sending Williams to Iraq...

...and making him a war correspondent put additional pressure on him to come up with a big story in my view. This plus shifting his role from a news reader to a quasi entertainer also contributed to his desire to bring home a big story.

I am not trying to make excuses for Williams or condone his false reporting. I am however trying to point out the pressure he might have felt.

By the way, there has to be scores of journalists who have covered the wars in the M.E. who came close to death but were never recognized for their bravery. According to this link 1118 journalists have been killed since 1992 around the globe.

 

[davegolf]

Re: Accountability . . .


I agree with your comments 100% but with whom does not accountability apply. Should it not apply to all regardless of political affiliation or philosophy?

 

[Noodle]

there is absolutely no way Williams will ever be back on NBC


This was not a temporary suspension. No, this was almost certainly a negotiated resolution between NBC and Williams. In fact, I would be willing to bet a beer that Williams' contract with NBC has a 6-month non-compete clause. So, all of this basically means that Williams has 6 months to find himself a new job. Will he? Not as a major network news anchor. That career path likely is permanently closed for Williams.

 

[Noodle]

Was Williams even really a "journalist" in his role as anchor?


A network news anchor is, in my opinion, simply a glorified entertainer who occasionally does some interviews. And my characterization of him not really being a journalist is not at all based on his apparent lies. Rather, it's just the nature of being a network news anchor.

 

[Noodle]

The hits keep coming for Williams


http://www.cnn.com/2015/02/13/opinion/bergen-brian-williams-seal-team-six/index.html

And, as I said in another post here, I think what really happened is that Williams and NBC reached an agreement as to his departure--with a suspension without pay which likely coincides with the term of his non-compete clause.

 

[Ladoga]

He stacked

4 or 5 more noxious heaps of lies in just that one video.

No longer the MSM or Drive By Media. Its now the Brian Williams Media. Each part about as reliable for accuracy as Williams.

 

[Thyrsis]

Why do it publicly if it's been negotiated?

My assumptions (which might be unfounded) are that (1) BW is better off if he humbly resigns instead of taking on a public suspension of historic proportions for professional misconduct and (2) NBC is better off if BW resigns immediately, his status is no longer an open question mark, and there's not a future flareup to come when his suspension is ultimately converted to a separation.

If they've negotiated this suspension, why'd they pick this public option?

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[Noodle]

Re: Why do it publicly if it's been negotiated?

Originally posted by Thyrsis:
My assumptions (which might be unfounded) are that (1) BW is better off if he humbly resigns instead of taking on a public suspension of historic proportions for professional misconduct and (2) NBC is better off if BW resigns immediately, his status is no longer an open question mark, and there's not a future flareup to come when his suspension is ultimately converted to a separation.

If they've negotiated this suspension, why'd they pick this public option?


Posted from Rivals Mobile

Could be a variety of reasons for the suspension, assuming it was a negotiated resolution. For one, NBC needs to be seen as taking a strong action. But, an outright termination can get really ugly (regardless of the facts). Second, it is possible that his non-compete played a role in how this was handled (e.g., if he resigned, it might be 12 months). From Williams' perspective, this might be the better option as well, as it will be seen as a sort of punishment for his misdeeds. A resignation followed by a new job in 6 or 12 months would look like a nice vacation away from work, with no punishment for what he supposedly did. There could also be issues with his contract terms if he were to simply resign (e.g., payback of a signing bonus from the deal he signed late last year).

In the end, however, things like this are almost always the result of negotiations. NBC looks bad in all of this, and obviously Williams does as well. Any unilateral action by one party in this sort of thing always runs the risk of making a bad situation even worse. Now, I'm not suggesting that NBC did not have the upper hand in the negotiations. But, I highly doubt that Williams had no idea what was going to happen to him until he received a call from his boss telling him he was suspended without pay for 6 months.

Of course I could be wrong.

What will be interesting to see moving forward is whether NBC ever comes out with any report of findings with respect to additional lies that some claim Williams made. I doubt that they will, except perhaps a generic statement that "we were troubled by other things we found," etc. They're already in smarting from this whole thing, and any further revelations by NBC would be foolish, in my opinion.

The bottom line is that Williams and NBC both want this whole thing to fade away quickly. A termination would be way too messy, but allowing him to simply resign would have been problematic as well.

 

[iubhounds]

Who pissed in your cereal this morning?

geezzzus

 

[Sope Creek]

WRONNNNG . . .

she posted that two days ago . . .

. . . try to keep up . . . .

 

[iubhounds]

LOL ... good point

I didn't even look at the date of posting. I never post on this forum, usually just read.

 

[hoot1]

Noodle, Good question

I don't know how much Williams is involved in writing or researching the news he presents. My guess is that he primarily a presenter and isn't much of a journalist.

 

[NPT]

Yep

 

[Ladoga]

Williams recieved

his Purple Heart for the shrapnel wound he got that day, didn't he? John Kerry presented it to him, it seems.

 

[Ladoga]

Narrative presenter


That's what the Brits call folks like him, I have heard.

They make no pretense of calling him a reporter or new anchor. He can read from a teleprompter. Come to think of it, we have another well known American who dresses sharply and reads other peoples' words pretty well. Geesh, Obama could be as good a news anchor as Williams and Williams could be as good a President as Obama. Both live lives of falsehood surrounded by unearned adulation from the left's cocktail circuit.


This post was edited on 2/15 8:03 AM by Ladoga