For more than a decade he had told members of his "Nightly News" audience, as well as late-night television host David Letterman, about his near death experience when the helicopter he was in was forced down after it was fired upon by rocket propelled grenades.
In late January, 2015, Williams went so far as to honor a veteran who, he claimed, had ensured his safety after the helicopter they were in was forced down.
According to military personnel who were actually on the helicopter that was forced down, the one that Brian Williams was flying in did not arrive on the scene for almost an hour after the damaged helicopter was forced down. At that time, Brian Williams came up and questioned crew members about what had happened, since he had not witnessed the events himself.
However, Rich Krell, the pilot of the Chinook helicopter that was carrying Brian Williams and his film crew, confirmed that Williams was telling the truth when he said that his helicopter was hit by small arms fire from the ground. It is possible that Williams, not being a military person, may have been frightened and confused by the two types of attacks on the helicopters. Krell also said they had to drop off their cargo after having received fire, which is the reason they arrived so late after the other Chinook was forced down. Later, Krell has also backtracked a bit, admitting that, due to the number of missions he flew, he is having trouble remembering the details of this specific one ... which is quite understandable.
Williams has apologized on air for misleading people and explained that he "misremembered" the incident.
The biggest issue many people have with the situation is that Brian Williams is not an ordinary guy who is prone to exaggeration ... like your old Uncle Nick. Instead, he is a respected journalist whose honesty may no longer be trusted. How can we have confidence in his reports on major news stories, when he cannot even honestly retell an event from his own life?
On the other hand, a substantial number of people do not consider it important whether or not Williams told the exact truth, especially since the incident happened so long ago and there seems to be several versions around, with several of the participants having a hard time remembering exactly what happened that day.
Meanwhile, NBC News President Deborah Turness announced on February 10, 2015 that they had suspended Brian Williams without pay for the next six months. Lester Hold will substitute for Williams as the NBC Nightly News anchor. After six months without pay, it will be interesting to see if Brian Williams remains with NBC, perhaps in a different capacity, or if he will move to a different news organization ... perhaps working behind the scenes.
In President Turness' letter, she said, in part:
“While on Nightly News on Friday, January 30, 2015, Brian misrepresented events which occurred while he was covering the Iraq War in 2003. It then became clear that on other occasions Brian had done the same while telling that story in other venues. This was wrong and completely inappropriate for someone in Brian’s position. As Managing Editor and Anchor of Nightly News, Brian has a responsibility to be truthful and to uphold the high standards of the news division at all times.”
All I can say is ... I agree!
As a result of this scandal, Brian Williams lost at least $5,000,000 in income, half of his $10,000,000 a year salary. In addition, other stories that he has told over the years have been called into question, further hurting his credibility.
It will be months before we know if he will ever return to the anchor desk and read the evening news again. In a recent survey, about half of Americans polled said that they thought he should return after his punishment is over; the other half thought he should not. NBC has a lot to consider over the coming half-year suspension.
For more information from CNN about this incident:
http://money.cnn.com/2015/02/05/media/brian-williams-iraq/index.html
You are reading from the blog: http://lies-and-liars.blogspot.com
Photo credit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Brian_Williams_2011_Shankbone.JPG
