So, I’m reading this bit on Fox about Williams …….
Brian Williams’ rescue plan crumbles as friends plead for mercy
The atmosphere surrounding Brian Williams has turned so toxic that it’s not clear when—or even if—he’ll be able to return to the anchor chair.
The original plan—Williams apologizes, takes himself off the air for a few days, schmoozes with Letterman, and slides back into his job—has crumbled. The apology was weak and inaccurate, too fleeting to heal the wound over telling a lie about his chopper in Iraq having been hit by a rocket-propelled grenade.
Here’s the gist of the piece, my bold ….
What’s been striking to me is how many people are willing to end what has been a pretty solid career because of this one admittedly horrible mistake. Of course, new reports of discrepancies aren’t helping, serving instead as a kind of Chinese water torture eroding what’s left of his credibility. And the feedback I’m getting—on Twitter, Facebook and by e-mail—is overwhelmingly against Williams keeping his NBC job. ….
…. A few lonely voices are starting to defend Brian Williams, to call for a sense of proportion in dealing with his Iraq deception. Fox’s Alan Colmes said yesterday it was “sad” to see this mistake “destroy a man and destroy his career.”
Mediaite founder Dan Abrams, who worked with Williams when he was an NBC legal analyst, does not excuse the mistake but says this:
“I am troubled by the fervor, occasional glee, and potentially disproportionate fury emanating from an unusual assortment of allies now determined to end Brian’s storied career based on what we know today. This alliance of certain capital-J journalists, conservative bloggers, and some who simply despise any rich and famous journalist are a formidable force.” …..
…. An NBC colleague, Joe Scarborough, says he can’t be objective because they’re friends and neighbors. He told viewers: “I’m hopeful when the madness – when the fury dies down and the decision is made to judge what Brian Williams’ future should be, that that decision will be based on the entirety of his career and not on one or two or three mistakes.” ….
… Morning Joe—who deserves credit for tackling what most of MSNBC has ignored–added: “If he exaggerated, if he puffed his chest out a little bit — news people do that.” And there was this reframing of the controversy: “A misstatement or an exaggeration about a helicopter is far less damning to the future of this country than the reams of misinformation that were reported leading up to the Iraq War…when a lot of reporters should have asked a lot tougher questions.”
An interesting twist: Was Williams’ moment of self-aggrandizement worse than the legions of journalists who failed to challenge the claims that Saddam had weapons of mass destruction? ……
An interlude ….
This myth about Saddam not having WMD continues. What’s mustard gas? What is that enriched uranium ISIS captured in Iraq a few months ago? Saddam most certainly did have WMD, it’s been proven time and time again, and yet, our media continues to contend he didn’t, in spite of the fact that the media, themselves, have continued to report the WMD found in Iraq. More on that in a minute ……
… Piers Morgan, saying Williams offered him advice for his ill-fated CNN talk show, is in the camp that says calling for Williams’ job is an overreaction:
“The only logical solution to the frenzied reaction to the NBC news anchor’s public admission of a mistake is for him to be feathered, tarred, dragged through the streets of New York to Times Square, and stoned to death.
“Even then, I doubt his most ferocious critics, especially in the brutal slaughterhouse of social media, would be sated. They’d want to see his bones removed, sawn into pieces and hurled into the Hudson River…
“We surely need to get a collective grip and gain some perspective on all this. ….
…. But even as some of Williams’ allies step into the spotlight, new contradictions on other stories—not just Hurricane Katrina—are putting the anchor in a deeper hole. ……
Okay, you lunatic talking head morons, let me spell this out to you.
Williams is a news anchor. A news anchor!!!!! Many, if not most Americans are still under the delusion that our news people pretty much tell us the truth. Of course, rational people don’t still believe this, we’ve known for decades that our news people habitually and continually lie. To quote Joe Scarborough, “news people do that”. But, the fact is, Williams is no longer trusted when he opens his pie hole. Again, rational people already know he’s a habitual liar, but, the general public didn’t, and they think he’s a “one-off”. So, he has to go.
As far as I’m concerned, I don’t care if he continues or not. He’s with NBC, that he lies is what I can only assume as being part of his job description. But, I know that, Alan Colmes knows that, Dan Abrams knows that, Joe Scarborough knows that, Piers Morgan knows that, and a plethora of other talking heads knows that ….. well, I would assume all of the ones with careers longer than a month knows that, but, the general American public doesn’t know that embellishing and lying are part of the job when you’re a talking head. So, Williams has to go to keep the facade. They really shouldn’t bother because the facade is coming down, anyway.
Today, the American people ….. well the world’s population, in order to be properly informed must use their judgment and make their own discernments. This is why blogs such as this exist! Yes, I’ve a particular perspective to offer. I make no apologies for having a particular point-of-view. All of the information I offer is the truth as I know it. All people must come to their own conclusions. The days are long passed when being informed meant watching the nightly news.
