Translate

Tuesday, February 10, 2015

Brian Williams

Last week, "NBC Nightly News" anchor, Brian Williams came under fire for a story he's been telling since his days of covering the Iraq War, back in 2003. He claims that the military helicopter he was a passenger in came under fire, and was struck by a rocket propelled grenade. Since 2003, Mr. Williams has repeatedly told this story, even talking about it back in 2013 on the "Late Show with David Letterman". He, again told this story on-air last week, during a tribute to a retired solider.

And that is when all hell broke loose for Brian Williams, NBC's long-time, lead anchor. After seeing his most recent account of the incident, troops that were there that day, back in 2003 when Mr. Williams helicopter came under fire, quickly took to Facebook to proclaim his story, a lie. They said, Mr. Williams helicopter wasn't even in the group of helicopters that came under fire. His helicopter didn't arrive on the scene until at least, 30 minutes later.

After these claims went public-with help of military newspaper, Stars and Stripes, Brian Williams had no other choice but to come forward and address these accusations. A few of the troops stated that they've been trying to call out Mr. Williams lies for years. So, when they finally succeeded, he confessed. He explained-the best he could, and chalked it up to a foggy memory. Then, he did what a respectable journalist would do in a situation like this. He apologized. It may not have been a completely well-thought out, all questions answered type of apology, but he did, at least, apologize.

So, end of story, right? Wrong. Along with backing out of a scheduled appearance on the "Late Show with David Letterman", Brian Williams announced over the weekend that he would be taking a leave of absence from his prestigious, long term position of top, network anchor-with no time frame of returning. It's worth noting-NBC is now, also looking into his reporting on multiple other stories including work during Hurricane Katrina. He, apparently reported seeing a dead body float by his hotel. Witnesses have explained that the hotel Mr. Williams was staying it wasn't flooded enough for a body to float by. He also told the world there were gangs taking the hotel over and that he witnessed a man commit suicide inside the Super Dome. Theses are all incidents NBC is now probing. Possibly along with dozens-if not hundreds of other stories.

Now, I've never really watched Brian Williams on NBC, behind the anchor desk. Other than a few short segments and a couple YouTube videos, I don't know much about him. I know Allison Williams is his daughter. That's really it. I don't know him enough to make a fair judgment on his trustworthiness. I can, however, say with certainty, that he is no Peter Jennings or Tom Brokaw-great hero's of mine.

And, while I don't know him all that well, he has been taking major heat for this by colleagues, other professionals and even his loyal viewers. Social media has gone crazy with Brian Williams hate. His personality, his integrity, his life's work-all coming under attack. There's anti-Williams hashtags, memes and post going around. I'm not going to post links to any of that because it's just disgusting behavior and I'm not going to promote it in any way.

We really need to give Brian Williams a break. Because, whether him stepping away was just some PR move by NBC or an actual move by Mr. Williams to somehow save his career and earn back our trust, he listened to what we had to say. He fessed up and apologized for lying or "misremembering". He's doing what's right after being called out for doing what's wrong. He gets my respect for that and, despite lying to millions of people-loyal viewers, he should at least be commended for stepping up.

There are, after all media programs and reporters...you know, the Fox "News" types, that lie considerably more than Brian Williams and NBC. And they make millions off selling those lies on a daily basis. And when they get called out, what do they do? Apologize? No. Stand up and assure the people they serve that it will never happen again? Nope, not that either. Step away in shame at not only letting millions of people down but also being an accessory to the destruction of our country? Still shaking my head, no. Instead of doing the right thing...the American thing, they turn around and keep lying. They keep pushing their propaganda for profit.

These are the people we should really be talking about. And calling out. And going after. Not somebody who has already confessed his mistakes, apologized for those mistakes and stepped away to let time heal our wounds. We already gave Brian Williams his slap on the wrist so lets move on now, to the people who have been blatantly misleading us for years. The anchors and reporters who spread their propaganda with arrogant, greedy, biased, un-American-self righteousness, for not the good this country, but for the good of their own wallets. It's unacceptable and it needs to be stopped immediately.

Mr. Williams, I believe you're doing the right thing here. I wish you the best but also hope that all of these other allegations turn out to be untrue. I guess we will see. NBC, I wish you the best (I'll always be an ABC guy, though). And Fox "News", well, I don't know how you guys keep getting away with selling your lies when others are losing their jobs for it. Hopefully Americans open there eyes...and soon!

I'm going to leave you with this last thing because whenever I do actually catch something with Brian Williams, this is usually all I can ever think about. Even when this latest controversy began, this is what popped into my mind. I'm also posting it because humor is never a bad thing. And this comes from Jimmy Fallon, so you know it's humorous. Check it out-from YouTube..."Aint Nuttin but a G Thang Baby." Gets me every time!






Sources:

http://mobile.nytimes.com/2015/02/06/business/brian-williamss-apology-over-iraq-account-is-challenged.html?referrer=&_r=0

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=brian+williams+aint+nuthin+but+a+g+thang

http://www.stripes.com/




Checkout my Zazzle Store and Shutterstock Portfolio!

No comments:

Post a Comment