As an outsider to this whole thing - catching an occasional edition of the Nightly News on CNBC in the UK, but more regularly seeing his appearances (and references) on The Daily Show - this does feel to me a bit of a storm in a teacup. I'd have thought a week or two off to let things calm down, and for the media to alight on another story about itself, would do the trick.
As PGage has consistently said, I think it's totally understandable that his memory has played tricks in this way. Even though he wasn't in the helicopter that took gunfire, he was was flying behind it, and from his perspective it could have taken gunfire. That must be incredibly scary. The enemy shooting at a vehicle like a helicopter could do catastrophic damage. Memories get muddled and concatenated. What happened to him, could have happened to me. I was right there. That's not to excuse him as a newsman who must be held to higher standards. Although daily I see far worse transgressions - commentators knowingly stretching and twisting the facts to fit their pre-ordained opinions; reporters asking stupid and irrelevant questions; and networks trying to add drama to the news as though it was some kind of thriller or melodrama. Unless he can be shown to have deliberately - and repeatedly - lied then I see no reason to throw him to the lions. I recall BBC World News Editor making the claim, at the time, that he had "liberated" Kabul when he was driving with the Northern Alliance against a scattering Taliban. He had to apologise ( http://www.theguardian.com/media/2001/nov/19/warinafghanistan2001.afghanistan1). It's an embarrassing episode in an otherwise distinguished career. We move on. He still holds that position - a roving senior role - at BBC News. As for Williams' extra-curricular work? Perhaps he needs to rein that in, but there shouldn't, per se, be anything to stop trying to appeal to a younger demographic. Nightly newscasts might be limited in our lifetimes as we get the news from the internet on our own terms. Audiences for those evening bulletins are getting older. There's that old canard of more young Americans getting their news from Jon Stewart than the nightly news programmes. And yet picking and choosing your own news isn't necessarily healthy. We're all more naturally interested in some stories than others. Apple has a new watch out - interesting; confusing stuff is going on in Libya - not so interesting. Putting things in front of me that I didn't know I needed to know is good. So trying to prop up an interest in the news by appearing on the late night talk shows, perhaps showing the human side, or the relevance of what the news means to younger viewers, should in some ways be applauded. Adam On Mon, Feb 9, 2015 at 8:58 AM, Joe Coughlin <[email protected]> wrote: > Should Brian Williams jump or be pushed, Lester Holt will be the > anchor in the interregnum. Should the ratings hold or go up, he gets > the chair permanently. > > Though I'm not at all convinced that Williams is going anywhere. > > On Sun, Feb 8, 2015 at 8:28 PM, David Lynch <[email protected]> wrote: > > On Sun Feb 08 2015 at 6:16:43 PM Kevin M. <[email protected]> > wrote: > >> > >> as CBS learned when Rather departed and ABC learned when Jennings > passed > >> away, the days of smooth transitions are gone > > > > > > Except that ABC has has had two extremely smooth transitions since Peter > > Jennings died (Charles Gibson to Diane Sawyer and Sawyer to Muir.) And > the > > last CBS transition did about as well as could be expected considering > that > > there was no heir apparent before Katie Couric announced her departure. > > > > What NBC is currently missing is the elder statesman to come in as a > > caretaker anchor for a few months like Gibson did after Jennings' death > or > > Bob Schieffer did after Dan Rather's departure was pushed out. Brokaw has > > already done that once after Tim Russert's passing, and I can't see him > > coming back at his age, with his health history, to fill in after his > > handpicked successor's ignominious departure. > > > > -- > > -- > > 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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