Brian Williams Admits He Wasn’t On Attacked Helicopter

[mvcg66b3r]

NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams has often mentioned being aboard a helicopter hit by RPG fire during the invasion of Iraq back in 2003. Even as recently as last Friday he retold the story on Nightly News:

…a terrible moment a dozen years back during the invasion of Iraq when the helicopter we were traveling in was forced down after being hit by an RPG. Our traveling NBC News team was rescued, surrounded and kept alive by an armored mechanized platoon from the U.S. Army third infantry.

But that’s not how it happened, according to soldiers who were there. And in an interview today with Stars and Stripes, Williams admitted as much.

“I would not have chosen to make this mistake. I don’t know what screwed up in my mind that caused me to conflate one aircraft with another.”

The incident came into question when crew members of the 159th Aviation Regiment’s Chinook that was hit by two rockets told Stars and Stripes that Williams was nowhere near the helicopter that went down. Williams and his crew were on a different chopper, about an hour behind the one that was fired upon.

http://www.adweek.com/tvnewser/bria...wsletter&utm_campaign=dailynewsletter20150205

 

[Avid Listener]

I almost wished that I watched NBC news so that I could stop watching in protest.

 

[umfan]

Bad news for him and NBC News. After their selective editing in the George Zimmerman issue and now this, the brand is greatly tarnished.

 

[Mario500]

"Pilots at Odds Over Who Flew Brian Williams' Helicopter"

http://www.adweek.com/tvnewser/pilots-at-odds-over-who-was-flying-brian-williams-helicopter/254912

 

[John Gallagher]

We like David Muir better. Brian Williams is a walking comedy sketch for Jimmy Fallon.

 

[mvcg66b3r]

NBC Launches Internal Williams Probe

NEW YORK (AP) -- NBC News has assigned the head of its own investigative unit to look into statements that anchor Brian Williams made about his reporting in Iraq a dozen years ago, an episode that's ballooned into a full-blown credibility crisis for the network.

A source at the network who requested anonymity because the person is not authorized to speak on personnel matters confirmed the investigation on Friday. Williams has apologized for falsely saying on the air that he was in a helicopter hit by a rocket-propelled grenade while in Iraq in 2003.

Richard Esposito, who has worked at the New York Daily News, New York Newsday and ABC and is now at NBC, is leading the investigation. There was no immediate word on whether Williams would anchor NBC's "Nightly News" on Friday.

http://www.tvnewscheck.com/article/...ell:+WRC+Fumbles+Ball+Letting+Anchor+Be+Actor

 

[joebtsflk1]

We like David Muir better. Brian Williams is a walking comedy sketch for Jimmy Fallon.

Not a David Muir fan. He seems like he's not ready for prime-time. Network evening news is a dinosaur, even though I'm a regular viewer.

 

[Mario500]

We like David Muir better. Brian Williams is a walking comedy sketch for Jimmy Fallon.

What did you mean by "we" and were you referring to liking David Muir more as a news presenter or as a person in general than Brian Williams?

 

[Unregistered]

If Brian Willliams ratings Fall ---- he will likely be replaced .
its all About $$$ at Comcast./NBC.
Williams could be replaced by Katie Couric , Lester Holt or someone else .

 

[Avid Listener]

So, has he been taken off the air yet? Has he been fired yet? If not, what is NBC waiting for?

 

[mvcg66b3r]

Brian Williams To Take Temporary Leave From Nightly News

Brian Williams is going to take a brief absence from the NBC Nightly News broadcast, he said in a press release Saturday. The move follows Williams' admission that he was not actually aboard a helicopter in Iraq that was shot down by enemy fire in 2003, as he had previously said.

In the midst of a career spent covering and consuming news, it has become painfully apparent to me that I am presently too much a part of the news, due to my actions.

As Managing Editor of NBC Nightly News, I have decided to take myself off of my daily broadcast for the next several days, and Lester Holt has kindly agreed to sit in for me to allow us to adequately deal with this issue. Upon my return, I will continue my career-long effort to be worthy of the trust of those who place their trust in us.

The network is conducting an internal investigation into Williams' reporting on his 2003 trip to Iraq, as well as his work during Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/...m_content=FullStory&ncid=newsltushpmg00000003

 

[John Gallagher]

'We" refers to my girlfriend and I. Has David Muir's credibility been called into question before? Not that I'm aware of. Brian Williams credibility has been called into question TWICE in the last WEEK.

 

[John Gallagher]

I saw someone on my Facebook friends list comment that TMZ has more credibility than anyone. Yikes.

 

[John Gallagher]

David Muir's career has catapulted from his days on World News Now. Obviously, ABC News has faith in him.

 

[TheBigA]

So, has he been taken off the air yet?

Brian Williams announced today that he's taking himself off the air. Appropriate, as he has become the story.

 

[dumber than a box of hair]

Interesting to note that some of the loudest voices calling out BW have come from Fox News.

IOW: Pot calls kettle black.

 

[TheBigA]

I just watched yet another analysis of the BW story on Fox News. The most interesting part to me is that BW's original report, in 2003, was factually correct. He says very clearly in that report that he was not on the copter that was hit. Ten years later, on David Letterman, his story changed. Letterman, of course, was surprised when he heard the story. He was surprised because it hadn't been reported before. That should have been a hint something was wrong. Had BW been in a copter that was hit, we all would have known about it. That's why this is amazing to me. BW doesn't work by himself. He has a team of writers and producers who work on Nightly News. You'd think one of them would have checked the archive for the file footage of the original report from 2003. That would have made sense. Maybe they did, maybe they didn't. But the original reporting is correct. What's wrong is the retelling of that story.

 

[mvcg66b3r]

Stars And Stripes Publishes Full Brian Williams Interview Because He Canceled On David Letterman

Stars and Stripes says it has today published the transcript and audio of its full interview with Brian Williams from last week — because Williams canceled on David Letterman.

Williams will not appear on the Late Show with David Letterman this Thursday, yesterday canceling a long-scheduled appearance in the wake of an investigation into his inflated claims about taking enemy fire while in a helicopter in Iraq. Some industry navel gazers say he’s missed a great opportunity by canceling. But Williams’ loss, and Letterman’s, is Stars and Stripes’ gain.

http://deadline.com/2015/02/brian-w...avid-letterman-cancel-controversy-1201369702/

 

[TheBigA]

The linked story above says:

"To date, no one has come forward with video or transcript of an NBC News report immediately following the incident in which it was reported Williams was on the vehicle that was hit."

However, as I said in Post #17, Fox News aired his original report from 2003, and it was correct. He says he was NOT in the helicopter that was hit.

 

[LKellerIII]

The linked story above says:

"To date, no one has come forward with video or transcript of an NBC News report immediately following the incident in which it was reported Williams was on the vehicle that was hit."

However, as I said in Post #17, Fox News aired his original report from 2003, and it was correct. He says he was NOT in the helicopter that was hit.

I'm neither a fan nor a detractor of Williams. I haven't watched those half-hour evening network news shows in years. But I think this is a tempest in a tea-pot, and a waste of air-time; though I get why Fox News would be the network doing the "investigating." Any chance to attack the "lame-stream" biased left wing media, right? If Brian will lie about himself, he'll hide it from us that Obama is a socialist Muslim born in Kenya who's destroying our freedoms. Oooh - maybe it was "Lyin' Brian' who personally faked Barack's Hawaiian birth certificate! And is Hawaii even IN Amurca? There are lots of brown people there.


Sorry...i'm getting carried away...

The other incident that's been called into question is whether or not Williams lied about being mugged at gun-point in the 70s. They've now interviewed people that say the part of whatever city it allegely occurred in was safe, so the incident was unlikely. But I know people who have been mugged in my "good" neighborhood, so it happens from time to time. That story will never be proven one way or the other.