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Brian Williams Admits He Wasn’t On Attacked Helicopter

Brian Williams to Stay at NBC, but Not ‘Nightly News’

Brian Williams has reached an agreement with NBC that will keep him at the network, but not “NBC Nightly News,” according to a new report.

CNN’s Brian Stelter reports the tentative agreement will keep the anchor at NBC after his six-month suspension is lifted in August, but he will not return to the anchor chair which is now occupied by Lester Holt.

Williams’ new role is unknown, even for most executives inside NBC, according to the new CNN report, though the company is expected to make a formal announcement soon.
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http://www.thewrap.com/brian-willia...etter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=mailchimp
 
If true, both Williams and Lack should be fired.

Given the way the revolving door spins at 30 Rock, they probably both will be before too long any way.
 
The American public tends to be very forgiving. They'll try him out in a few low profile spots, assess the response, and move from there.
 
No surprise. Are they riding out the rest of his contract and then not renew it?
 
What's being done with Williams reminds me of what happened to a *fictional* journalistic Williams (Cameron "Buck" Williams of Global Weekly magazine) towards the end of the first installment of this series... http://leftbehind.com/ . Towards the end of LB, events at the UN get Buck Williams demoted from NY-based star reporter to staff hack at the Chicago bureau. BTW I thought the movie version of LB was lousy when I rented it in the late '90s. The original dozen LB books I found riveting. The three prequels and the finale (for a total of 16 LB novels), not so much.

ixnay
 
The real question is: how much will Brian Williams actually be utilized at MSNBC?

When they made Ann Curry their "global anchor" or whatever they promised that she would report from the biggest events, have staff to cover the stories she wanted, etc.

They gave her all that, then they didn't put her on the air. She eventually left. Will we see the same with Williams?
 
KMan said:
The real question is: how much will Brian Williams actually be utilized at MSNBC?
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That's up to him, and that's up to the producers at MSNBC. And how the public reacts to what he does. Lot of variables. Some people don't respond well to a demotion. Others aren't bothered as much. So we'll see what happens. I think a lot of people are going to wait and see.
 
MSNBC has a notorious and long-standing double standard. Keith Olbermann, Phil Donahue, Alec Baldwin, Martin Bashir ... get dumped despite strong audience numbers but MSNBC keeps pathological liar Williams and wacko Morning Joe.

The troops in the news division have turned their backs on Brian. They don't want him. The good producers are likely to not be willing to work with him, the producers who can easily hook up with another news organization.
 
Oscar Madison said:
The troops in the news division have turned their backs on Brian. They don't want him. The good producers are likely to not be willing to work with him, the producers who can easily hook up with another news organization.
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IMO, the troops in the news division are in part to blame. The so-called "good producers" should have checked Brian's facts before letting him step in poop.
 
NBC Condoned Williams' Lies for 12 Years Until New Media Brought Him Down

Brian Williams Scandal Shows Power of Social Media

The soldiers who prompted Brian Williams’s fall from one of the most powerful jobs in the media had first tried to blow the whistle on him in 2003.

But that was before the Internet became ubiquitous. And so, like most people who had a problem with the news, the soldiers had few options. A clip of Mr. Williams recounting a helicopter attack in Iraq had been broadcast by NBC, then dissipated into the ether.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/22/b...iams-scandal-shows-power-of-social-media.html
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The Brian Williams case illustrates the tone-deaf arrogance of the old media journalism establishment. NBC and the rest of the big-time news business ignored complaints about Brian Williams' lies, until forced to confront them by new media posting. The inmates have taken over the asylum. Not that people in the news biz, Brian most of all have recognized this. Brian continues with mealy mouthed excuses and no sign of actual contrition.

This case also illustrates that dissatisfied customers of the MSM (dissatisfied for whatever reason) now have other options. Before, all people could do was complain and broadcasters could conveniently ignore or dismiss those complaints.
 
It's interesting that the video in the NY Times article shows BW correctly and factually reporting that ANOTHER helicopter was attacked, not his. So the soldiers could NOT have tried to blow the whistle on him in 2003. He didn't begin to change his story until about ten years later, while on Letterman, which was not under the auspices of NBC News. It's my view that one of Brian's people (an assistant, a producer, an executive, whoever) should have caught this mistake then, before he repeated the error elsewhere. The facts were available to them.

However, having said that, I have no reason to believe the first sentence in the NY Times article at all. The video presented makes it clear that BW was correct in 2003, and incorrect in 2013, and then his reporting in 2015 was absolutely wrong. In fact, that's the point of the video, showing the progressive change of story.
 
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My pastor was ordained Saturday night. The TV in the hotel near the auditorium where the service was taking place didn't show anything on the appropriate channel until the service began.

I had nothing to do so I just sat down in front of the TV. Someone else had asked for it to be turned on, and the woman at the desk where people check in had the remote. Somehow we ended up on NBC. There was a substitute, though they still said "with Lester Holt". There was a commercial showing him with glasses and less hair than I remember. Now he's starting to look like an "official" anchor. I don't know why less hair would make a difference, since news anchors are said to be obsessed with their hair, but glasses certainly help.

At 7, "E.T." came on. I rushed to the desk for that remote. Asked what I wanted to see, I said anything else. I made a mistake, though, because they were showing Brian Williams. I might have gotten something out of that. And she did give me the remote to keep. Finally at 7:30 the service began. I finally settled on "Family Feud" for those last few minutes. After all, I simply have to watch the celebrity edition.
 
I'm sure it happened at some point to some of you. Demoted from Mornings to Nights, Afternoons to Overnights. Were you happy, did you stay at that station? Probably not,
 
Olbermann got fired for his stupidity. Neither Donahue, Baldwin, etc. had anything that could be considered 'strong audience numbers' even for MSNBC where three viewers could be considered strong. Moving Williams to MSNBC saves NBC from an expensive contract settlement, so it's trying to recover some sunk cost. It's not like he's going to be resurrected there. He'll fade into the background noise and in a few years he and NBC will 'part ways amicably'.

He's not a bad guy, but not a particularly good one either. He worked his way into a well paying gig and good for him for that. It's not as if what he did couldn't be done by many though.
 
Both Olbermann and Donahue had the highest audience numbers on MSNBC when they were fired.

Given that Williams, like other air talent in his position, was given the title of "managing editor" and clout to go with it, producers were not in a position to do anything about his lying. The solution is to strip news readers of any executive authority and return it exclusively to executive producers, were it has always belonged. In addition, the other networks should do as ABC has and separate the evening presenter position from that of breaking news broadcaster, as is done in most other countries (and was done here).
 
Oscar Madison said:
Given that Williams, like other air talent in his position, was given the title of "managing editor" and clout to go with it, producers were not in a position to do anything about his lying.
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Sure they are. Managing Editor is strictly a title related to the specific broadcast. If he was VP of NBC News AND Managing Editor, you might have a point. But he's just in charge of his show. There are lots of other higher managers running around that could have been alerted.

But truthfully, there is a friendly way for a producer to alert a talent, regardless for his clout and title, that he's making a factual mistake. These producers are in the union, and can't be fired for doing their job.

Having said that, it's likely that this was covered early in the investigation.
 
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