In England, they call them “newsreaders,” not journalists. Kind of puts things in perspective, huh?
Over time, I’ve come to think there’s a lot of wisdom in what I refer to as the GLAAD model. Rather than insisting that celebrities who have said homophobic things come to a meeting with the organization’s leaders, kiss the ring, and return to Hollywood cleansed of their sins, GLAAD tends to ask stars who have erred to do something of substance. After Brett Ratner used an anti-gay slur during a question-and-answer session, he bowed out of a job producing the Oscars. But he also agreed to donate his time to put together a series of public service announcements for GLAAD. Comcast and NBC Universal put up airtime to broadcast the ads. The organization — and the fight against homophobia — got something material out of the exchange, beyond the perception that they had the power to compel Ratner to say he was sorry.
Something similar happened to the young adult author Daniel Handler after, in the course of presenting an award to an African-American author, he told a watermelon joke. Handler doesn’t work at a day job that could fire him. And given the sales for his books, written under the pen name Lemony Snicket, his publishers seemed unlikely to drop him. But in any case, what happened after the awards ceremony was better for the cause of diversity in fiction than shunning Handler would have been. He donated $100,000 to a campaign to bring new voices into young adult literature.
In this context, it’s worth discussing what we’d really like from Williams, beyond a clear explanation and forthright apology. If accuracy is foremost in our concerns, should he have to serve a stint in NBC fact-checking? If the most worrisome thing about the incident is Williams’ attempt to grab a war hero’s credit for himself, maybe he should make recompense by taking time off from the anchor’s chair and reporting an in-depth series about American service-members.
Whatever answer we arrive at, it’s worth remembering something: forgiveness may ask more of us than calling for someone to be fired. But in cases where forgiveness is possible, we might get a whole lot more out of it than the ephemeral satisfaction of having cost our targets their jobs.
NBC (Comcast) has major problems that it must deal with going forward. (1) It’s love of war and (2) It’s Clinton problem.
Brian Williams like Tom Brokaw before him never saw a war that he didn’t love. Williams never questioned the run up to the wars in Afghanistan or Iraq. He never asked about troop strengths or the cost of either war. And he certainly never questioned the possibility that the public was being lied into these wars by the Bush administration. Brian loved war so much that he became a part of them as has NBC.
Comcast (NBC) is in the tank for the Clinton’s. If one didn’t know any better they might believe that the Clinton’s were in charge of the news content at NBC and MSNBC. All of the “newsreaders” are guilty of kissing the arses of the Clinton’s daily, but the worst offenders are Andrea Mitchell and Chris Matthews. In terms of seniority these two have been around the longest so it is not silly to assume that they are responsible for the Clinton love fest that occurs on air everyday month after year. Both Mathews and Mitchell should follow Williams out the door immediately.
The real issue is what Imho says. I don’t give much of a crap either. But from years of experience with clients, I am pretty sure that Williams would have passed a lie detector test on his story right up until the pilot went public.
Semi on-topic:
Has anyone noticed how asymmetrical Williams’ face is?
His nose points to his right, and his mouth points to his left.
Was he tortured in the war?