Brian Williams has taken himself off the air for a few days amid a scandal of his own making. His embellishing of the facts of a 2003incident in Iraq has come back to bite him.
Like any story there's more than meets the eye. Williams had for years been telling the story that his helicopter had been hit by fire and that he and his crew had been kept safe by U.S. military forces while on the ground following the incident because of a massive sandstorm. However, his initial story on the incident for NBC News clearly stated that it was the chopper that preceded the one he was on that was hit.
But somewhere along the way through the years he intentionally or unintentionally changed that story to the one he is now apologizing for. “I would not have chosen to make this mistake,” Williams said. “I don’t know what screwed up in my mind that caused me to conflate one aircraft with another.”
He had spread the false story just a week ago when he reported on a reunion with one of the military veterans his NBC News team came into contact with that day.
So what is NBC to do? Williams anchors the top network nightly newscast in the U.S. For many years conservatives have accused the network of twisting facts and manipulating audio and video to slant stories. Is this just the latest in that ongoing misrepresentation of the news?
The first stories I had heard about Williams apologizing made it sound like he had claimed to have been on the Chinook hit by enemy fire from the get go. That wasn't the case. So where along the way did his memory change? Was it intentional or was it a trick of the brain as Williams claims?
I can't say for sure. I do know that if it had been me who had told this falsehood and then called out for it by the military personnel who were there I would be ashamedly on the street trying to find a new job. With Williams being the top dog in the network news world, it's unlikely he'll meet that fate. Whatever the circumstance of the blurred memory, I believe he should be pounding the pavement looking for another gig, but his peacock network bosses didn't call asking for my advice.
That's what I'm thinking.
Rick Hadley
24/7 News
