Brian Williams is a liar.
Brian Williams violated an ideally sacred trust. The relationship between newsperson and consumer has proven to be a tenuous one at worst, but a wholly symbiotic one in our now increasingly connected social media culture.
Brian Williams is a fraud.
Brian Williams pretended to be something that he wasn’t: a war hero. He lied. He fabricated. He invented situations in his own mind that never existed, made decisions in his head that never had to be made.
Brian Williams violated us and the trust that we have in news media.
Brian Williams forgot the one edict that makes the entire profession of journalism a viable one: tell the truth. Comfort the afflicted, afflict the comfortable. Brian Williams felt compelled to be the hero. As time went on, the story became more harrowing and he more heroic.
There are enough heroics in shining a light in the dark. There are enough heroics in telling a story. There are enough heroics in being the voice of and to millions. We can ask Brian Williams: why? Why did you lie, Bry Bry?
In all truthfulness, his response can only be what so many liars before him and every one after him will say: in my own mind it was true; I didn’t know so many people would be affected; I’m sorry I did this; I don’t know how I could conflate so many things into my own consciousness and it was a mistake to keep this up for so long…
Brian Williams was one of the most trusted news people in America.
There’s a short list of journalists that are universally revered across the consumer spectrum. Katie Couric of Yahoo! News and Anderson Cooper of CNN are two who immediately come to mind. You used to be able to lump Brian Williams in with that group, but again, he violated that sacred trust, remember?
NBC probably hopes that we don’t. Brian Williams made his (not so) triumphant return to MSNBC in late September in light Pope Francis’ first visit to the United States during his young papacy.
NBC made a mistake.
There are a lot of things that make a journalist good at their jobs: tenacity, intelligence, relatability, qualities that really anyone should have in any job. However, the one quality that matters more than any other? Honesty. Brian Williams is not an honest man. His only job is to report news. He tells the stories, he does not make them. He does not affect them. He takes in a sum total of the facts and regurgitates it in a way that pleases people. Unfortunately he left his bile all over the helicopter fiasco, and that’s a shame.
He has the face of a newsman. He’s got the voice. He’s got the hair. He’s got the tenacity and grit and intelligence and news sense, but he does not have the honesty. He left out the only thing that really mattered.
Brian Williams should be fired. Indefinitely.
Great point, Emilio. Once you have violated that trust and shown you’ve had no ethics for over a decade, you don’t deserve to have a prestigious position.
Stephen Glass was a writer for The New Republic and was found to be a tota liar. He didn’t get to keep his position. He was shamed. Williams deserves the same treatment.