• NBC's Brian Williams takes himself off air over controversy
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[T]http://i.ytimg.com/vi/-YCeIgt7hMs/maxresdefault.jpg[/T] [QUOTE= The Guardian]The NBC news anchor Brian Williams will step off air while the network continues its investigation into inaccuracies in his reporting, he announced on Saturday. Williams has come under pressure after veterans questioned his account of an incident involving two US helicopters which came under fire in Iraq in 2003. His reporting from New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in 2005 was subsequently called into question. In a statement, Williams 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." [/QUOTE] [URL="http://www.theguardian.com/media/2015/feb/07/nbc-anchor-brian-williams-off-air-iraq-katrina"]Source[/URL]
Now only if all of fox news followed in his footsteps...
I hope everything works out for him. His the face of Nightly News and the only anchor I like outside of the locals
Not having followed this, if his reporting is the problem then is he not just being given bad information? It's not like reporters gather all their own information and present it on-air after all.
[QUOTE=cyclocius;47095530]Not having followed this, if his reporting is the problem then is he not just being given bad information? It's not like reporters gather all their own information and present it on-air after all.[/QUOTE] He lied/overly embellished his personal experience in Iraq. claiming he was in a helicopter that was shot and spent 4 hours in the desert behind enemy lines. The pilot and military said it didn't happen like that. [editline]7th February 2015[/editline] The thing about New Orleans was that he said he saw bodies floating in flooded streets in an area that never flooded, but I haven't looked into that so grain of salt.
[QUOTE=cyclocius;47095530]Not having followed this, if his reporting is the problem then is he not just being given bad information? It's not like reporters gather all their own information and present it on-air after all.[/QUOTE] He was on a Blackhawk that was part of a group of four that was forced down due to enemy fire during the invasion of Iraq. Evidently he at one point worded the story in a way that made it sound like he was on the one that got hit, when in reality he was on the rear bird that just landed with the rest after the one got hit, and people are upset about it. Russ Martin interviewed the door gunner on Brian's helicopter who confirmed that he was in fact on one of the four helicopters, just not the one that got hit (contrary to a claim that came from somewhere that he wasn't even on one of the four) and it's hard to tell if Brian was embellishing or made an error in recounting the story.
[QUOTE=Grenadiac;47095560]He was on a Blackhawk that was part of a group of four that was forced down due to enemy fire during the invasion of Iraq. Evidently he at one point worded the story in a way that made it sound like he was on the one that got hit, when in reality he was on the rear bird that just landed with the rest after the one got hit, and people are upset about it.[/QUOTE] He said on Letterman that he was in a chopper that got shot behind enemy lines, his pilot got his ear shot off, they landed and we're stranded for 4 hours, and they gave everyone guns To fight if need be.
[QUOTE=OvB;47095586]He said on Letterman that he was in a chopper that got shot behind enemy lines, his pilot got his ear shot off, they landed and we're stranded for 4 hours, and they gave everyone guns To fight if need be.[/QUOTE] I didn't hear that part, the way Russ said it, it sounded like he was just being nonspecific.
It was 12 years ago so it was probably accidental over-embellishment. Though I think lying in journalism, accidental or not is a big problem these days and should be investigated. [editline]7th February 2015[/editline] [QUOTE=Grenadiac;47095603]I didn't hear that part, the way Russ said it, it sounded like he was just being nonspecific.[/QUOTE] I haven't seen the actual letterman interview. I'm just going off what I've heard others say about it. It's online somewhere I'm sure. Apparently his account of the incident has changed a few times.
This is getting blown out of proportion. I hope nothing happens. Everybody lies. Hillary lied about her rappeling from a chopper in live combat yet she's trying to run for office and no one cared about when she lied? Okay
[QUOTE=OvB;47095609]It was 12 years ago[/QUOTE] That's the problem with this. He's on record in past telling the true story, which is pretty boring. Now suddenly he's straight up lying\overblowning his story to sound awesome or whatever.
[QUOTE=OvB;47095609]It was 12 years ago so it was probably accidental over-embellishment. Though I think lying in journalism, accidental or not is a big problem these days and should be investigated. [editline]7th February 2015[/editline] I haven't seen the actual letterman interview. I'm just going off what I've heard others say about it. It's online somewhere I'm sure. Apparently his account of the incident has changed a few times.[/QUOTE] It doesn't really matter if it was 12 years ago, it wasn't a little detail. I'm pretty sure you would remember being show down in a helicopter. That's the reason I think its feels dishonest when he apologized, instead of saying he made it up because it made a better story, he alludes that it was just a mistake due how long ago it happened.
[QUOTE=OvB;47095609]It was 12 years ago so it was probably accidental over-embellishment. Though I think lying in journalism, accidental or not is a big problem these days and should be investigated. [editline]7th February 2015[/editline] I haven't seen the actual letterman interview. I'm just going off what I've heard others say about it. It's online somewhere I'm sure. Apparently his account of the incident has changed a few times.[/QUOTE] I was listening to excerpts from him over the years on NPR, when the first time he said he was shot down to gradual changes in his story later and later afterwards.
[QUOTE=redBadger;47095651]This is getting blown out of proportion. I hope nothing happens. Everybody lies. Hillary lied about her rappeling from a chopper in live combat yet she's trying to run for office and no one cared about when she lied? Okay[/QUOTE] A lot of (Republican) people care about that.
[QUOTE=OvB;47095552]He lied/overly embellished his personal experience in Iraq. claiming he was in a helicopter that was shot and spent 4 hours in the desert behind enemy lines. The pilot and military said it didn't happen like that. [editline]7th February 2015[/editline] The thing about New Orleans was that he said he saw bodies floating in flooded streets in an area that never flooded, but I haven't looked into that so grain of salt.[/QUOTE] On the Katrina stuff, from Wikipedia [Quote=Wikipedia] Williams' comments made in an interview with former Disney CEO Michael Eisner in 2006 concerning Hurricane Katrina have received critical scrutiny.[29][30] Williams said he was in a five-star hotel in the French Quarter, which an NBC source states was the Ritz-Carlton,[27] and looked out his window and saw a dead body floating by face down.[27][29][30] The French Quarter in fact received little flooding.[29][30] The Ritz, however, faces Canal Street, and an Associated Press news story states that one of its photographers, Alex Brandon, working in New Orleans during Katrina, reported that "there was enough water to launch a flat-bottomed boat from in front of the Ritz. He said he photographed a dead body floating on Canal Street a few blocks from the Ritz."[27][/quote]
[QUOTE=OvB;47095747]A lot of (Republican) people care about that.[/QUOTE] I would say Democrats bitch about how the republican's lie about, but I haven't seen anyone bitch about Iraq WMDs.
But who is going to sing Rapper's Delight now? [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-YCeIgt7hMs[/media]
FOX news has been covering this as if Jesus himself hath descended upon us and judged us unfairly. Which is hilarious
Not only was he not on the helicopter that was forced down, he was on a helicopter that supposedly arrived 30-45 minutes after the actual incident. [img]http://i.imgur.com/D9Dug4H.jpg[/img] [img]http://i.imgur.com/o53BGrM.jpg[/img] [img]http://i.imgur.com/F5tFoOR.jpg[/img] I don't believe for a second he misremembered such a dramatic and potentially life changing event. "Hey guys, you know how I always talk about how I almost got shot down in Iraq that one time? Well, that didn't happen. I forgot, sorry."
[QUOTE=ImperialGuard;47095851]But who is going to sing Rapper's Delight now? [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-YCeIgt7hMs[/media][/QUOTE] Simply amazing
[QUOTE=RosettaStoned;47095913]Not only was he not on the helicopter that was forced down, he was on a helicopter that supposedly arrived 30-45 minutes after the actual incident. [img]http://i.imgur.com/F5tFoOR.jpg[/img] I don't believe for a second he misremembered such a dramatic and potentially life changing event. "Hey guys, you know how I always talk about how I almost got shot down in Iraq that one time? Well, that didn't happen. I forgot, sorry."[/QUOTE] At least he's not being a dick about it. Responding pretty much as well as anyone could.
[QUOTE=RosettaStoned;47095913]Not only was he not on the helicopter that was forced down, he was on a helicopter that supposedly arrived 30-45 minutes after the actual incident. [img]http://i.imgur.com/D9Dug4H.jpg[/img] [img]http://i.imgur.com/o53BGrM.jpg[/img] [img]http://i.imgur.com/F5tFoOR.jpg[/img] I don't believe for a second he misremembered such a dramatic and potentially life changing event. "Hey guys, you know how I always talk about how I almost got shot down in Iraq that one time? Well, that didn't happen. I forgot, sorry."[/QUOTE] Flying in a military helicopter is a pretty feather ruffling experience even if anything goes as it should. And its not so hard to believe he really had memories of stressful and rough landings mix with the footage and evidence of the shot down helicopter which he undeniably went over a lot. While its pretty silly and quite likely he wanted to make himself sound tougher than he was, its not like he didnt risk by being there. It might have been his chopper just as well as the first one, if he was right.
[QUOTE=Awesomecaek;47098085]Flying in a military helicopter is a pretty feather ruffling experience even if anything goes as it should. And its not so hard to believe he really had memories of stressful and rough landings mix with the footage and evidence of the shot down helicopter which he undeniably went over a lot. While its pretty silly and quite likely he wanted to make himself sound tougher than he was, its not like he didnt risk by being there. It might have been his chopper just as well as the first one, if he was right.[/QUOTE] You do bring up another point though, he probably went over footage of what happened dozens of times and the stress of seeing a helicopter shot down and then landing behind it might screw with his memory Things have gotten rather weird with people and war stories as of late and he's not the first to get called out or singled out [editline]8th February 2015[/editline] Either way, I'm pretty sure he's not a pussy, nobody would volunteer to go to Iraq or Syria in a war to take pictures Also he's actually been shot at other times so its not like he completely fabricated that
I just finished my first semester of college, and in it, I saw Bill Cosby and Brian Williams speak. who should I see speak next?
You know, I think it's funny about all this jumping on the Brian Williams hatewagon as if it's going out of style Wasn't it CNN who had reporters reporting live from Baghdad the Air Strikes we were doing, and it turned out that they were on a rooftop in Atlanta in front of a green screen? What about Fox's lawsuit about their right to lie, calling themselves entertainment and saying just because they have News in their name doesn't mean they have to be factual Give me a break. At least Williams was fucking there It's all a lot like telling people not to masturbate while having your own dick in your hand
He needs to go. There is no accidental embellishment about this. He's told this lie for 12 years, knowing full well it was a big fat one. If NBC wants to retain any sense of credibility they need to drop his ass off. Pure and simple. I also want you guys to watch this and pay particular attention to how he describes the incident and also that grin when David Letterman calls him a 'War Hero' at 10:10 (even if it is as a joke, just watch) [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xS3NAwZ4hGk[/media]
[QUOTE=redBadger;47095651]This is getting blown out of proportion. I hope nothing happens. Everybody lies. Hillary lied about her rappeling from a chopper in live combat yet she's trying to run for office and no one cared about when she lied? Okay[/QUOTE] Lmao hillary didnt say she rappelled from a fucking helicopter like shes some ranger. She lied about them coming under sniper fire and having to run. Of course it was bullshit, but thats par for the course with Clinton whose entire political history is studded with bullshit incidents, outright lying and manipulation. The reason nobody cares about her lying (and thats not true, it was covered somewhat extensively) is because there far, far more concerning question marks in her history than a fictitious hostile encounter.
[QUOTE=dilzinyomouth;47098538]Lmao hillary didnt say she rappelled from a fucking helicopter like shes some ranger. She lied about them coming under sniper fire and having to run. Of course it was bullshit, but thats par for the course with Clinton whose entire political history is studded with bullshit incidents, outright lying and manipulation. The reason nobody cares about her lying (and thats not true, it was covered somewhat extensively) is because there far, far more concerning question marks in her history than a fictitious hostile encounter.[/QUOTE] No, she was totally telling the truth! [video=youtube;uHVEDq6RVXc]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uHVEDq6RVXc&list=FLcsTJ0e3c5Ub3c0vVLCt-qA&index=86[/video]
He was probably just following orders from the higher ups in the company. There was a clear mission from the media to get us dragged as deep as posible into the Iraq war. When i say us i mean all the countries joining the US in the war. Atleast in my country and defiently in america, the media was over hyped for war. [URL]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multi-National_Force_%E2%80%93_Iraq#List_of_countries_in_the_coalition[/URL]
[QUOTE=Awesomecaek;47098085]Flying in a military helicopter is a pretty feather ruffling experience even if anything goes as it should. And its not so hard to believe he really had memories of stressful and rough landings mix with the footage and evidence of the shot down helicopter which he undeniably went over a lot. While its pretty silly and quite likely he wanted to make himself sound tougher than he was, its not like he didnt risk by being there. It might have been his chopper just as well as the first one, if he was right.[/QUOTE] Being shot at and forced to emergency land a military helicopter is a "ruffling" experience. An uneventful ride an hour later to the scene of one is not. If you're a civilian, a reporter, you'll never forget being shot down or that experience all together and it goes doubly so for any trained personnel, so there's no excuse other than he saw an opportunity of embellishment and for over a decade rolled with it until one day someone called him out on it. He did something shady and finally got caught. That's all there is to it. So his excuse and the one some here are using to justify why it happened is nonsense. One thing we can all agree on though is that it's disappointing all together. I respected him and still do but I also acknowledge that it was a dumb move on his part. He's been really good about it though so I still give him kudos regardless of how flat of an excuse he has used.
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