The problem is, he's not an entertainer. He's a newsman. This substantially undermines his credibility.
Sent from Blue Mail On Feb 8, 2015, 11:26 AM, at 11:26 AM, Joe Coughlin <[email protected]> wrote: >Honestly, that's entertaining. He's telling an anecdote. I think we >all lie...to ourselves first, and then to others. I don't see the big >deal here and wish everyone would get off their high horse. If he >substantially made up something he reported on the news, fine...fire >him. But he didn't. He made up something in an anecdote that he told >to people like David Letterman. > >If it's on NBC News, it's been fact checked or it's commentary. If >it's on Letterman, it's meant purely for entertainment. I'd say this >also extends to interviews he's given elsewhere. > >And let's not pretend like his misrepresenting of the truth affected >anything about the war itself, The lies that got us there to begin >with are the problem. > >On Sun, Feb 8, 2015 at 2:12 PM, Steve Timko <[email protected]> >wrote: >> Brian Williams told NPR he looked down the tube of a rocket-propelled >> grenade. He's not misremembering. He's fabricating. To make himself >look >> better. >> >> >http://www.poynter.org/news/mediawire/318195/brian-williams-2007-interview-i-looked-down-the-tube-of-an-rpg/ >> >> Sent from Blue Mail >> >> On Feb 7, 2015, at 8:50 PM, PGage <[email protected]> wrote: >>> >>> >>> >>> On Sat, Feb 7, 2015 at 5:50 PM, JW <[email protected]> wrote: >>>> >>>> First, I appreciate that I'm discussing this with someone who >actually >>>> knows what he's talking about. >>>> >>>> > Misremembering a dramatic and traumatic event is a >>>> > function of the same memory processes as >>>> > misremembering who got off the funniest line at the >>>> > dinner party you were at last week, or who scored the >>>> > winning touchdown in your high school homecoming >>>> > football game 20 years ago. >>>> >>>> They may be the same processes, but I find it hard to believe that >we're >>>> as likely to misremember what Mom was wearing last time we saw her >as we are >>>> to misremember whether or not she's still alive. >>>> >>>> Regarding anchors, even if we're just talking innocent memory >lapses >>>> before introducing tape pieces, what happens if he or she >misremembers that >>>> Israel started the war in Syria? >>> >>> >>> >>> Well, I don't think you are quite setting this up appropriately. My >point >>> really is not about putting a probability on how likely it is that >Williams >>> is lying vs honestly misremembering (I have noted several times now >that I >>> have no way of knowing if he has been consciously lying). My point >is that >>> there is nothing in his version of this incident (that he conflated >the two >>> helicopters, even with such dramatic details needing to be invented) >that >>> makes the claim that he was honestly misremembering implausible. >Moreover, >>> while dramatic memory distortions are probably not as common as >trivial >>> memory failures, it is not doubt true that everyone reading this >post has >>> experienced more than one fairly significant and comprehensive >memory >>> illusion, which they nevertheless had (and likely continue to have) >almost >>> 100% confidence in. Of course most of us would not falsely remember >being in >>> a helicopter that was shot down, but then for most of us this would >be an >>> implausible event. I lived through a fairly large earthquake when I >was a >>> kid, and have told the story with some frequency over the years >(maybe once >>> every three years). I would hate to compare my current best memory >of that >>> day with a video record of what actually happened - I doubt that >more than a >>> third of it would be accurate. >>> >>> Again, Brian Williams may be a pathological liar, but to establish >that we >>> would need a lot more evidence than simply the misremembered >helicopter >>> incident, which simply makes him human. >>> >>> As to your last question, that goes to what I have been saying since >the >>> start of this thread. The real criticism of Williams is not that he >>> misremembered the event, but that he relied on his uncorroborated >memory in >>> repeating it on television several times. He might argue that he was >not >>> actually reporting the news when he did so, but it does relate to a >story >>> that he was covering as a journalist, and his careless and feckless >approach >>> to double-checking his facts in this case can legitimately be used >to raise >>> questions about how careful and responsible he is when reporting >other >>> facts. As I have also noted, as has Kevin in his own inimitable >style, >>> Williams deficiencies in this area (being careful with the accuracy >of his >>> facts) pale in comparison to most of his current peers in television >news, >>> and I don't think at this point rise to the level of justifying that >he be >>> fired. If we find that he has reported other facts that are untrue >(as in >>> the Katrina allegations) and not just personal anecdotes that may be >>> plausibly misremembered, that would be quite another thing. >Additionally, if >>> the internet culture makes him such a joke that, deservedly so or >not, he >>> can no longer function as the voice of NBC News, I suppose they may >have no >>> choice but to fire him as well. >>> >> >> -- >> -- >> TV or Not TV .... The Smartest (TV) People! >> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google >> Groups "TV or Not TV" group. >> To post to this group, send email to [email protected] >> To unsubscribe from this group, send email to >> [email protected] >> For more options, visit this group at >> http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en >> --- >> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google >Groups >> "TVorNotTV" group. >> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, >send an >> email to [email protected]. >> For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. > > > >-- >+++++++++++++++ >Joe Coughlin >http://www.twitter.com/inturnaround > >-- >-- >TV or Not TV .... The Smartest (TV) People! >You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google >Groups "TV or Not TV" group. >To post to this group, send email to [email protected] >To unsubscribe from this group, send email to >[email protected] >For more options, visit this group at >http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en >--- >You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google >Groups "TVorNotTV" group. >To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send >an email to [email protected]. >For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. -- -- TV or Not TV .... The Smartest (TV) People! You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TV or Not TV" group. 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