Is Brian Williams Caught In A Lie

CarolKing

Singer of songs and a vapor connoisseur
Do we care?
I happen to like Brian Williams. I don't know if he was caught in a lie or forgot (kinda doubt it). I'm not sure if he will be able to recover from this one. Now I'm wondering if some of the other things he has said personally is a lie? I'm not talking about the every day news, he reads a script. All the other stations are talking about the same thing, "the top stories of the day."

He lied about something personal, something that happened to him.
Some of the American soldiers are calling foul on his account of the story. It seems to me that Fox News lies about the news on an every day basis. They lie about important things that feed into the hatred of the Rush Linbaugh and the right wing, racists whackos.

It will be interesting how this plays out. Not that we get the full scope of the news on our T.Vs on the major channels plus CNN and MSNBC. It's all slanted to a certain extent I'm sure. We do need to be able to believe in what we are hearing and seeing about the news.

NBC will have to decide if people will look for their news elsewhere? Mr. Williams will be in trouble if the sponsors pull out. I haven't heard any of that, not yet anyway.
 
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macbill

Oh No! Mr macbill!!
Staff member
It is hard to be an impartial, third-party passive viewer when you (yourself) are in the middle of the story. I, too, like Mr. Williams enough, but he has lost his veil of "Trust-Worthiness" in my opinion.
 

syrupy

Authorized Buyer
I agree the news is a lot about lying. But what brings this up is the personal aspect--- people want to trust a PERSON. They want that personal connection. I think everyone knows the media system has serious truth issues, but we like to think there's someone, like Walter Cronkite, who exudes integrity so we can trust them despite knowing deep down that the reports are not totally factual. Reagan was really good at that too.
 

HD Springer

Well-Known Member
When most,if not all, news stations claims to be "news you can trust"than they really have no other option but to get rid of him. He should just walk away.
 
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CarolKing

Singer of songs and a vapor connoisseur
We know Brian is in trouble when Bill O'reilly starts defending him. Mr. O'reilly was on Jimmy Kimmel last night.

He said if it's only one time then that's OK. He also added that, "some people are happy that Brian William's career is going down the drain, and that disturbs me." He's probably worried he might be next? He added, "I don't like taking and destroying peoples career for sport". Now Bill O'reilly is telling a lie, but that's OK if you work for Fox News.

Mr. Williams is taking a few days off from the evening news. We will see if he comes back?

Online he's being made to look like a joke.
 
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HD Springer

Well-Known Member
When the reporter himself is bigger news then the news he's reporting then its not good.If you cant trust the news he's roporting its a very bad situation.I cant believe this is the only time this man has embellished his reports for his own gain.And I really thought Mr.Williams was one of the best at his job.Now i'm not sure what to think.
 

grokit

well-worn member
Do we care?
Williams seems likable enough on late-night talk shows, but he is arguably the face of the msm. Meaning it's his job to look trustworthy, while being as deceitful as possible. I haven't trusted the msm in quite some time, so I guess I'm not surprised by this. I care but it's more about the death of the free press than about any individual talking head. He does seem like he would be fun to have a beer or vape session with though!

edit: He should start a new show about truthiness, maybe he could hook up with stewart :tup:

:cool: seriously, he's available:
http://variety.com/2015/film/news/jon-stewart-daily-show-host-leaving-comedy-central-1201430431/

:haw: maybe there's a 'rehab' for this condition:
http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/...a-victim-of-false-memory/?partner=rss&emc=rss
 
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basement farmer

My face is melting...
He's fallible which is human and I can relate with that.

However, he's been privledged to witness history firsthand, and I don't understand the need to embelish his memories or to "conflate" the facts. When it comes to world events, I need the the truth.

He needs to go.
 
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CarolKing

Singer of songs and a vapor connoisseur
Brian Williams will be on an unpaid leave of absence for 6 months is the latest. For now our friend Lester Holt will be the NBC Nightly News host.

EDIT
At this point I'm surprised they just don't fire him. It looks kinda stupid on NBC's part going about it this way IMO. Why, are people going to feel he's more trustworthy in August or is this some type of a punishment for being a liar?

They also know that America has a short memory. They think that folks won't care 6 months down the road.
 
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CarolKing

Singer of songs and a vapor connoisseur
A rare photo of the President taken with war correspondent Brian Williams
AawYQ0Xl.jpg

This kinda stuff all over the net. He's just a big joke now.
 

momofthegoons

vapor accessory addict
I've always admired Brian Williams and thought of him as a sort of Peter Jennings type. I was really bummed to hear that he's been fudging his reports. It would have been so easy to just report the facts. He still would have been considered brave to be in the spot he was in. There was no need for him to say that he saw the body float down the street. And it had to be a real slap in the face to the service men/women in the chopper that got hit to hear that he was portraying himself to be in the line of fire. Again, so easy to just tell the truth. It wouldn't have put him in any less danger or made him any less credible.

I say anyone who puts themselves in the public eye, whether it be a news person or a sports figure, and is in a position to be admired like this deserves the fall they take if they lie. :2c:
 

StickyShisha2

Well-Known Member
having been in similar dangerous situations, i can imagine how he "misremembers".
especially if while he's flying in a chopper and hears the radio chatter of a chopper ahead of him being hit and going down.

eye witnesses tend to get a lot of the facts wrong at crime scenes, and when shown video, are surprised at how wrong their memories were.

But this doesn't change the need for a news anchor to be trusted. His reporting errors, intentional or not, have ended his chances at that.
 
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crawdad

floatin
to me this is partly the news network for scripting/allowing this and partly his own doing since no one held a gun to head during the shows (that i can tell). the news "shows" take some facts and factor in their own viewpoint along with a little dash of entertainment to keep your attention and im sure most are fully aware of this as its happening who play a role in the shows, dig into any big name and you'll likely find it somewhere. id much rather see the attention to details concerning looking for truth to be applied to news reporting in general and not just one reporter/journalist/actor.
 
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z9

Well-Known Member
having been in similar dangerous situations, i can imagine how he "misremembers".
especially if while he's flying in a chopper and hears the radio chatter of a chopper ahead of him being hit and going down.

eye witnesses tend to get a lot of the facts wrong at crime scenes, and when shown video, are surprised at how wrong their memories were.

But this doesn't change the need for a news anchor to be trusted. His reporting errors, intentional or not, have ended his chances at that.

Eyewitness accounts are always wrong, people do incorrectly recall stressful events and the several years that have passed since the incident certainly have added some fog to his memory BUT this guy has knowingly lied through his fucking teeth on multiple occasions for his own benefit.

I heard on the radio and have read reports that claim that the helicopter Brian Williams was on was 30 to 60 minutes behind the group of helicopters that came under fire. There are news stories online that cite this as well. Come on guys, you would without a doubt remember whether or not the particular "bird" (as he refers to them in his audio, he must have spent a long time there to pick up that military jargon) you were on was hit by an RPG. Granted the Chinook barely flinched from that RPG but you would know if you were on it.




He even lied during Katrina while staying at the Ritz-Carlton. He "misremembered" seeing a floating dead body (in one of the least flooded parts of New Orleans) and he "misremembered" the gangs that were roaming the halls of his 5-star hotel in addition to some other things. Obviously the millions of dollars of damages and the ~1800 people that died during Katrina didn't make a good enough story.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/...-and-gangs-during-katrina-hotel-manager-says/

http://www.breitbart.com/big-journa...ina-boasts-brian-williams-made-to-tom-brokaw/

Sorry but the people on ground level there barely got their feet wet...
1tZ2UR.AuSt.77.jpg



Yeah he's just a reporter and I know people are out to get him since the helicopter thing but it is the REPORTER'S responsibility to truthfully report their experiences, not fucking lie and insult the troops that others that were there - the ones that could/may have lost their lives when that happened.

When it comes down to it, none of this matters. It isn't newsworthy, but then again half of the shit reported as news isn't actually NEWS so we take what we can get.
 
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CarolKing

Singer of songs and a vapor connoisseur
Brian Williams Relegated To MSNBC, Lester Holt Takes Over ‘Nightly News’ Permanently


1:56 PM 06/18/2015

Brian Williams is coming back to the airwaves, but viewers will need to tune into a different channel to find him now.

NBC News and MSNBC chairman Andrew Lack announced Thursday that Williams will be returning to the NBC News umbrella, but this time around as MSNBC’s “anchor of breaking news and special reports.”

Meanwhile, Lester Holt, Williams’ replacement, will ditch the interim tag and become the full-time anchor of the NBC Nightly News four months after Williams began his suspension.”



Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2015/06/18/b...-over-nightly-news-permanently/#ixzz3dSlvvwCh

He wasn't fired but delegated to a less prestigious job. Less viewers I'm sure. I'm glad they chose Lester, he's always been playing second fiddle. NBC could have chosen someone else I'm glad they didn't.
 
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