Thread: NBC’s Brian Williams

NBC’s Brian Williams Caught in Another Major Lie,
and this One’s As Bad as the First

February 5, 2015 By Jennifer Burke

For over 12 years, Brian Williams has told the story about being in a helicopter when it was shot down as he was covering the Iraq War and the soldier who saved his life. There’s only one problem; that story never actually happened. http://www.tpnn.com/2015/02/04/nbc-n...e-lying-about/

Williams has come under intense criticism since being made to own up to the lie after soldiers who were there called him out on the lie. In 2005, CBS News’ Dan Rather lost his job after being caught lying about a story centered around then President George W. Bush’s military record. Rather is said to have used falsified documents in his report.

Some have likened Williams’ lying to that of Rather and have called for NBC to fire him. With a new lie by Williams uncovered by SooperMexican, will the calls for Brian Williams to be fired increase? http://soopermexican.com/2015/02/05/...y-heard-about/

In speaking about his experience covering the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, Williams told Tom Brokaw that he and his team watched a man commit suicide.

However, in a different television appearance, Brian Williams said he and his team heard the story about a man committing suicide by jumping from the upper deck of the Super Dome, which was used as an emergency housing facility after Katrina.

Which is it?

This is a pattern of lies, framed as ‘exaggerations’ by some, by Brian Williams that tarnish not only his image and career in journalism, but also brings into question the trustworthiness of NBC News.


Video clips at the link http://www.tpnn.com/2015/02/05/nbcs-...-as-the-first/

NBC News Anchor Brian Williams Admits Major Lie;
What Else is He Lying About?

February 4, 2015 By Matthew Burke

Leftstream media icon, NBC News anchor Brian Williams, came clean on Wednesday, admitting that he fabricated a story to make himself look heroic and brave.




Williams apologized after repeatedly claiming over the years that he was on a helicopter that was shot down during his coverage of the Iraq War.

However, the NBC Nightly News anchor didn’t do it voluntarily. Embarrassingly, the Obama Regime cheerleader was forced to after being called out for his lies by members of the military on social media, after he repeated the story on Friday.

For example on Facebook, where he was called out for lying about his lie:




WATCH BRIAN WILLIAMS’ APOLOGY



As the Daily Caller reported, http://dailycaller.com/2015/02/04/nb...lse-war-story/ Mike O’Keeffe, the door gunner on the downed helicopter, told military site, Stars and Stripes that he remembered seeing Williams tell the lie back in 2003. http://www.stripes.com/nbc-s-brian-w...otest-1.327792

“Over the years it faded, and then to see it last week it was — I can’t believe he is still telling this false narrative,” O’Keeffe said.

“It was something personal for us that was kind of life-changing for me,” said Lance Reynolds, who was the flight engineer. “It felt like a personal experience that someone else [NBC News' Brian Williams] wanted to participate in and didn’t deserve to participate in,” he said.

It makes one wonder what other unadmitted lies the leftstream media is lying about, keeping in mind that NBC News is the parent of the news organization that has professional race hustler Al Sharpton as a host.

Video clips at the link : http://www.tpnn.com/2015/02/04/nbc-n...e-lying-about/

Brian Williams Admits He Never Came Under Fire in Iraq: "I Apologize"
The Hollywood Reporter 23 hrs ago

After twelve years, Brian Williams is coming clean, admitting the helicopter he traveled in during NBC's coverage of the 2003 Iraq invasion never once came under fire, despite Williams' story to the contrary.

On Jan. 30, NBC Nightly News posted a video of Williams to Facebook, in which Williams recounts the story during a news segment. Williams references "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."

A user by the name of Lance Reynolds, who purported to have served in Iraq during the incident in question, subsequently commented on the video, writing, "Sorry dude, I don't remember you being on my aircraft."

Reynolds added, "I do remember you walking up about an hour after we had landed to ask me what had happened. Then I remember you guys taking back off in a different flight of Chinooks from another unit and heading to Kuwait to report your 'war story' to the Nightly News."

Willams responded to the comment via his verified account, writing, "To Joseph, Lance, Jonathan, Pate, Michael and all those who have posted: You are absolutely right and I was wrong.

"In fact, I spent much of the weekend thinking I'd gone crazy. I feel terrible about making this mistake, especially since I found my OWN WRITING about the incident from back in '08, and I was indeed on the Chinook behind the bird that took the RPG in the tail housing just above the ramp.

"Because I have no desire to fictionalize my experience (we all saw it happened the first time) and no need to dramatize events as they actually happened, I think the constant viewing of the video showing us inspecting the impact area -- and the fog of memory over 12 years -- made me conflate the two, and I apologize.

"I certainly remember the armored mech platoon, meeting Capt. Eric Nye and of course Tim Terpak. Shortly after they arrived, so did the Orange Crush sandstorm, making virtually all outdoor functions impossible. I honestly don't remember which of the three choppers Gen. Downing and I slept in, but we spent two nights on the stowable web bench seats in one of the three birds.

"Later in the invasion when Gen. Downing and I reached Baghdad, I remember searching the parade grounds for Tim's Bradley to no avail. My attempt to pay tribute to CSM Terpak was to honor his 23+ years in service to our nation, and it had been 12 years since I saw him.

"The ultimate irony is: In writing up the synopsis of the 2 nights and 3 days I spent with him in the desert, I managed to switch aircraft. Nobody's trying to steal anyone's valor. Quite the contrary: I was and remain a civilian journalist covering the stories of those who volunteered for duty. This was simply an attempt to thank Tim, our military and Veterans everywhere -- those who have served while I did not."

http://www.msn.com/en-us/tv/news/bri...ize/ar-AA8ZGmJ

comments

"... and the fog of memory over 12 years -- made me conflate the two"

Sorry Mr Williams you don't forget or "conflate" memories like that. If your helicopter got hit with an RPG, you recall every second to the detail with remarkable recall. Don't cover a lie my committing another one. Just say it like it was ~ you made up the story to increase viewership!

...

My dad was on the Coast Guard ship, the Cavalier, in the South Pacific during WWII that was hit by a torpedo and he remembered that day until he took his last breath at age 90. Thankfully only one casualty and the ship stayed afloat. He said it was something you NEVER forget.

.....

Same as Hillary Clinton dodging imaginary bullets in Bosnia and had to admit it was a lie.

....

Brian Williams the liar that accused Sara Palin of banning books while Gov of Alaska. When she confronted him about it he turned a walked away. No apology - no proof - only more liberal lies.

....

I wonder if Hillary and Brian ever sat down over a drink and traded war stories of those days under fire? Is Brian Williams truly sorry? Or truly sorry now that it was exposed by the people who actually came under fire that day?

...

Exactly, he's not sorry for the story he made up, he's sorry he was caught and was called out about it, otherwise we wouldn't be reading this story now.. Like others have mentioned, you would never forget or be mistaken about being hit by an RPG, it would be a very clear memory until the day you died unless you had Alzheimer's or some other disease that clouded your memory.

..

I think his news reporting has about the same credibility.






Originally Posted by Jolie Rouge

NBC’s Brian Williams Caught in Another Major Lie,
and this One’s As Bad as the First

February 5, 2015 By Jennifer Burke

In speaking about his experience covering the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, Williams told Tom Brokaw that he and his team watched a man commit suicide.

However, in a different television appearance, Brian Williams said he and his team heard the story about a man committing suicide by jumping from the upper deck of the Super Dome, which was used as an emergency housing facility after Katrina.

Which is it?

NBC News anchor Brian Williams' comments about dead bodies, Hurricane Katrina starting to gain attention, draw criticism
ADVOCATE STAFF REPORT - Feb. 05, 2015

More comments from NBC News anchor Brian Williams are starting to draw negative attention, this time concerning his experiences during Hurricane Katrina.


After Williams found himself the story Thursday -- his credibility seriously threatened because he falsely claimed that he had been in a helicopter hit by a grenade during the Iraq war -- comments he made about Katrina in 2006 are now being questioned.

Video of a 2006 interview with Williams has surfaced, and in the video, Williams said he saw a man floating by face down from his French Quarter hotel. The comment is drawing attention because the French Quarter was largely spared from Katrina's flooding as pointed out by multiple news outlets such as the New York Times. http://hotair.com/archives/2015/02/0...xperience-too/

"When you look out of your hotel room window in the French Quarter and watch a man float by face down ... when you see bodies that you last saw in Banda Aceh, Indonesia, and swore to yourself that you would never see in your country ... I beat that storm. I was there before it arrived. I rode it out with people who later died in the Superdome," Williams said in the interview. http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/04/na...rter.html?_r=0

NBC News officials would not say whether their top on-air personality would face disciplinary action for his Iraq war comments. The "Nightly News" anchor for just over a decade, Williams had become an online punching bag overnight.

Williams apologized Wednesday for telling the story a week earlier during a "Nightly News" tribute to a veteran he had befriended during a 2003 reporting trip to Iraq. Before expressing his regrets on the air, Williams did so online and in an interview with the newspaper Stars & Stripes.

He speculated online that constant viewing of video showing him inspecting the damaged helicopter "and the fog of memory over 12 years, made me conflate the two, and I apologize."

http://www.theneworleansadvocate.com...brian-williams

Monica Crowley wants us to remember the other ‘lying liars’ with ‘war zone’ memory problems
Posted at 6:51 am on February 5, 2015

http://twitchy.com/2015/02/05/monica...mory-problems/

Former Ambassador John Bolton Rips BOTH Brian Williams AND Hillary Clinton in ONE Sentence

February 5, 2015 By Greg Campbell

NBC Anchor Brian Williams is coming under fire (pun intended) for having repeatedly made false claims to have come under literal enemy fire in a chopper while covering the War on Terror.

Williams has admitted that his chopper did not come under RPG fire, but claims he “mis-remembered” the incident he has discussed several times over the last twelve years.

On March 25th, 2008, as she fought Barack Obama for the Democrat nomination, Hillary Clinton made a similar remark, claiming that she and her daughter came under sniper fire in Bosnia in 1996.

Her claims were disputed and the compliant leftstream media shrugged-off the lie and accepted that she, too, must have “mis-remembered” the event.



In a recent Fox News segment, conservative commentator and former Ambassador John Bolton mocked the duo, saying,

“[Williams] said he misremembered that maybe he hadn’t actually been hit. So I thought maybe he had been speaking with Hillary Clinton, and they had been comparing stories about being under fire in a war zone and then they realized they weren’t under fire.”

“What does this do to the credibility of the NBC news department when their top anchor is making things up?” Bolton questioned.

Williams is not the first person to ever fabricate or greatly exaggerate a story; however, his profession, more than most, demand a certain kind of above-board ethics that have been violated.

Williams was not chatting up women in a bar or lying to his beer buddies to sounds cool; he repeatedly lied to the American people from a position that requires ethical storytelling.

http://www.tpnn.com/2015/02/05/video...-one-sentence/




Liberal lies? = misremembering...

February 5th – Dem Senator Richard Blumenthal said he served in Vietnam. He didn’t.

Hillary Clinton claimed she was under sniper fire in Bosnia. She wasn’t.

And last Friday “NBC Nightly News” anchor Brian Williams said that while covering Iraq in 2003 his helicopter was “forced down after being hit by an RPG.” It wasn’t.

Williams blames his lie to an unfortunate case of “misremembering” though Williams has “misremembered” the incident several times during the past dozen years. The NBC anchor got busted because those who were there finally got tired of his BS.

Williams’ Chinook landed about an hour after three other U.S. helicopters were truly under attack.

So why has the NBC crew with Williams been silent all of these years? Not surprising, this is the same network that rigged a fiery GM pickup truck crash, edited the George Zimmerman 911 call and gave race baiter and functional illiterate Al Sharpton his own show.

Glory seekers like Blumenthal, Clinton and now Williams dishonor the sacrifice of those who have actually served.

His House of Cards is Falling:
More Lies from NBC’s Brian Williams About Katrina

February 6, 2015 By Jennifer Burke

NBC Nightly News Anchor Brian Williams is facing calls for his firing after admitting to telling a lie for over a decade about being in a helicopter that was shot down during his coverage of Iraq in 2003. Even his mentor, Tom Brokaw, reportedly believes the network should fire Williams. So far, the network is standing behind him, but the latest questions about his reporting may be too much to ignore.

It is believed that Williams’ coverage of Hurricane Katrina catapulted him to the anchor chair of NBC Nightly News following Brokaw’s retirement. Yesterday, TPNN reported on one lie Williams was caught in regarding his coverage of Katrina. In one report, he said he witnessed a guy commit suicide at the Superdome, which was used for emergency shelter following Hurricane Katrina. Yet in another interview, he said he heard stories of a guy committing suicide at the Superdome. http://www.tpnn.com/2015/02/05/nbcs-...-as-the-first/

Today, more questions about the factual nature of his reports about Hurricane Katrina is being called into question.

In a 2006 interview, Williams said,

“When you look out of your hotel window in the French Quarter and watch a man float by face down, when you see bodies that you last saw in Banda Aceh, Indonesia, and swore to yourself that you would never see in your country.”

There is only one problem. There was no flooding in the French Quarter, which is located on high ground, during or after Katrina.

During an interview last year with Tom Brokaw, his mentor and predecessor, Williams said,

“My week, two weeks there was not helped by the fact that I accidentally ingested some of the floodwater. I became very sick with dysentery, our hotel was overrun with gangs, I was rescued in the stairwell of a five-star hotel in New Orleans by a young police officer. We are friends to this day. And uh, it just was uh, I look back at total agony.”

It was even reported that he was curled up in a fetal position because he was so sick from dysentery.

The New Orleans Advocate addressed these claims with statements from Dr. Brobson Lutz, a former city health director who ran an EMS trailer to deal with the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. http://www.theneworleansadvocate.com...brian-williams

Dr. Brobson Lutz, a former city health director who manned an EMS trailer that was set up in the 900 block of Dumaine Street, a block from his house in the French Quarter, said he was a fan of Williams but dubious of his claims.

“We were never wet. It was never wet,” he remarked of the conditions in the city’s most historic neighborhood.

As for dysentery, “I saw a lot of people with cuts and bruises and such, but I don’t recall a single, solitary case of gastroenteritis during Katrina or in the whole month afterward,” Lutz said.

As for Williams saying he accidentally drank floodwaters, Lutz added, “I don’t know anybody that’s tried that to see, but my dogs drank it, and they didn’t have any problems.”

Brian Williams’ put his name on the map with his reporting during Katrina. The experiences detailed by him helped put him in the anchor seat for NBC Nightly News.

Despite the fact that many, including Tom Brokaw, are calling for NBC to fire Williams, network executives have so far stood by him, satisfied with his initial apology regarding the lie told for over a decade about his experiences in Iraq.

With the list of lies told by Williams as he moved up the career ladder growing, will the network continue to look the other way or will they dismiss the man who has become the face of the network’s news?

http://www.tpnn.com/2015/02/06/his-h...about-katrina/

A few years ago, Williams told a budding young reporter that not only did the copter he was aboard come under RPG fire, but that he looked down the tube of the launcher:

TheClassyLife @AceofSpadesHQ

Brian Williams in 2007: I looked down into the very tube of the RPG launcher that blew the lead helicopter up


8:07 AM - 7 Feb 2015

Partial transcript via Ace of Spades: http://ace.mu.nu/archives/354829.php

“It gets me to thinking, I’ve been very lucky the way my life has turned out, I’ve been very lucky to have survived a few things that I’ve been involved in, at a perception a few minutes ago, I was remembering something I tend to forget, the war with Hezballah in Israel, a few years back, where there were Katuyshka rockets passing just beneath the helicopter I was riding in. A few years before that, you go back to Iraq, and I looked down the tube of an RPG that had been fired at us and it hit the chopper in front of ours.“

As it turned out, according to Williams he was merely “misremembering” that period of time. Again.
http://twitchy.com/2015/02/04/and-th...-mis-memories/


You might recall we’re talking about the same Brian Williams who lectured bloggers about credibility.
http://twitchy.com/2015/02/05/insuff...ibility-video/


http://twitchy.com/2015/02/07/i-cant...cepalms-video/


Let the mocking begin ...

UPDATE: NBC anchor Brian Williams has announced that he has decided to step down from the Nightly News broadcast
Brian Williams temporarily leaving news desk
Feb 07, 2015 4:00 PM CST By George Jones

NEW YORK (RNN) - NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams announced Saturday afternoon he has decided to remove himself from the broadcast.









The longtime anchor came under fire this week when his account of an attack on a military helicopter convoy he was with in Iraq came into question.

NBC Universal released a memo from Williams, who is also managing editor of the nightly news broadcast, that said he was removing himself from his spot "for the next several days." He plans to return, and reporter Lester Holt will assume anchor duty in the interim.

"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," the statement said.

Williams had claimed during at least one televised interview that while covering the war in Iraq in 2003 he was on a helicopter that took fire from an RPG and was forced to the ground.

The Stars and Stripes, an independent military-focused news journal, refuted that claim in a story Wednesday that said he was in a helicopter that arrived an hour after the aircraft that got hit was grounded. Williams apologized the same day.

Williams had claimed he reported facts of the helicopter ride accurately in the years that immediately followed, but said he blurred details of the event more recently.

He has been the featured anchor of NBC Nightly News since December 2004, succeeding Tom Brokaw. Before that, he had been anchor of the weekend news show from 1993 through 1999. He also hosted his own MSNBC news program from 1996 through 2004.

http://www.wafb.com/story/28051529/b...ving-news-desk

NBC News Suspends Brian Williams for False Iraq Helicopter Story
TheWrap Jordan Chariton 14 hrs ago

   NBC News has suspended "Nightly News" anchor Brian Williams for six months, according to an internal memo sent by NBC News president Deborah Turness on Tuesday. In the interim, Lester Holt will continue to serve as serve as substitute anchor. Williams is suspended without pay.

The memo noted, "As Managing Editor and Anchor of Nightly News, Brian has a responsibility to be truthful and to uphold the high standards of the news division at all times."

Williams' account of being struck by enemy rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) fire while in a helicopter during the initial 2003 Iraq invasion came under scrutiny this week after crew members on the 159th Aviation Regiment's Chinook that were hit by RPG fire told Stars and Stripes newspaper Williams was nowhere near the helicopter shot down.

The memo (reproduced in full below) included a note from NBC Universal CEO Steve Burke, who said that, while the Williams situation has been a "painful period for all concerned" and that Williams "has jeopardized the trust of millions," Williams also "deserves a second chance and we are rooting for him."

The anchor acknowledged the same in an interview with the newspaper on Feb. 4: "I would not have chosen to make this mistake," Williams said. "I don't know what screwed up in my mind that caused me to conflate one aircraft with another." On Wednesday night, Williams apologized on-air.

"I made a mistake in recalling the events of 12 years ago ... I want to apologize. I said I was traveling in an aircraft that was hit by RPG fire; I was instead in a following aircraft."

After anchoring the next two days after his apology, Williams announced he'd be stepping away from the broadcast while NBC News dealt with the situation. Weekend "Nightly News" anchor Lester Holt has filled in for Williams.

The veteran NBC News anchor has told the story of getting shot down by RPG fire several times over the years, including on David Letterman in 2013: "Two of our four helicopters were hit by ground fire, including the one I was in, RPG and AK47," he told Letterman. "We figure out how to land safely ... we landed very quickly and hard."

After he admitted to his "mistake," TV news covered one of its own at length on CNN, Fox and MSNBC.

Digital media also exploded with response to the controversy, including pieces that equated Williams with war "chickenhawks" to another that went inside the science behind Williams' "horrifying memory flub." And social media swirled with #BrianWilliamsMisremembers becoming a top trender on Twitter with users playing out historical events Williams might have misremembered.

Few media figures have defended Williams: The Baltimore Sun's David Zurawik -- not known for going for the jugular -- called for Williams' firing. Countless others, including Fox News' Howard Kurtz, have suggested Williams' repeatedly telling the false story over years leaves him in a very tough situation.

"This just does not pass the smell test," Brian Stelter told Alisyn Camerota on Thursday. "How can anyone conflate being on a helicopter that did not take fire and being on a helicopter that did take fire."

Stelter suggested the big question Williams didn't address during his on-air apology was how far away he was from the helicopter that was shot down.

Read the full memo below.

We have decided today to suspend Brian Williams as Managing Editor and Anchor of NBC Nightly News for six months. The suspension will be without pay and is effective immediately. We let Brian know of our decision earlier today. Lester Holt will continue to substitute Anchor the NBC Nightly News.

Our review, which is being led by Richard Esposito working closely with NBCUniversal General Counsel Kim Harris, is ongoing, but I think it is important to take you through our thought process in coming to this decision.

While on Nightly News on Friday, January 30, 2015, Brian misrepresented events which occurred while he was covering the Iraq War in 2003. It then became clear that on other occasions Brian had done the same while telling that story in other venues. This was wrong and completely inappropriate for someone in Brian's position.

In addition, we have concerns about comments that occurred outside NBC News while Brian was talking about his experiences in the field.

As Managing Editor and Anchor of Nightly News, Brian has a responsibility to be truthful and to uphold the high standards of the news division at all times.

Steve Burke, Pat Fili and I came to this decision together. We felt it would have been wrong to disregard the good work Brian has done and the special relationship he has forged with our viewers over 22 years. Millions of Americans have turned to him every day, and he has been an important and well-respected part of our organization.

As I'm sure you understand, this was a very hard decision. Certainly there will be those who disagree. But we believe this suspension is the appropriate and proportionate action.

This has been a difficult time. But NBC News is bigger than this moment. You work so hard and dedicate yourselves each and every day to the important work of bringing trusted, credible news to our audience. Because of you, your loyalty, your dedication, NBC News is an organization we can - and should - all be proud of. We will get through this together.

Steve Burke asked me to share the following message.

"This has been a painful period for all concerned and we appreciate your patience while we gathered the available facts. By his actions, Brian has jeopardized the trust millions of Americans place in NBC News. His actions are inexcusable and this suspension is severe and appropriate. Brian's life's work is delivering the news. I know Brian loves his country, NBC News and his colleagues. He deserves a second chance and we are rooting for him. Brian has shared his deep remorse with me and he is committed to winning back everyone's trust."

http://www.msn.com/en-us/tv/news/nbc...ocid=ansWrap11