One of the things I love about The New York Times is the special, unexpected, innovative features it periodically offers.
A case in point, today, is “The Sounds of the Downhill,” an interactive post that is the “centerpiece” of the paper’s home page. Through a body- or helmet-mounted camera fixed to a world-class skier, the two-plus minute feature takes you on an entire downhill run on a competitive ski course. It’s like you are riding piggyback with the skier as he whooshes along, tilting and turning past red course markers that come and go in the flash of an eye. You hear the sounds of rushing wind; the low-crushing skis on ice; and the skier’s voice, describing what he’s feeling and hearing.
It is an amazing piece of video. It took at least four people — those named in the credits — to put it together.
This is where The Times stands head and shoulders above other papers. It invests in technology and integrates it into its coverage of news and feature stories. It does not cut corners, and it is willing to spend whatever it takes to stay on top.
:: If you like “NBC Nightly News” and anchor Brian Williams, you might want to grab a freeze frame of Brian because he might not be occupying the anchor chair much longer.
That’s the way I see it, anyway, after news surfaced yesterday that Williams’ longstanding claim that he was in a helicopter that was struck by a rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) in 2003 is untrue.
This story has been all over the news yesterday and today.
Williams, whose newscast has led the network ratings for most of the last decade, has said several times in recent years that he was aboard a U.S. Army helicopter when it was hit by an RPG on one of the first days of the Iraq War in 2003.
As recently as last Friday, while honoring a veteran on “NBC Nightly News,” Williams recounted how his helicopter was “forced down after being hit by an RPG.”
He was actually aboard a different helicopter.
Williams’ fabrication came to light when Flight Engineer Lance Reynolds, who really was on the helicopter that was hit with an RPG, posted a comment on the “NBC Nightly News” Facebook page. Reynolds wrote:
“Sorry dude, I don’t remember you being on my aircraft. 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. The whole time we were still stuck in Iraq trying to repair the aircraft…”
Reynolds told Stars and Stripes: “It was something personal for us that was kind of life-changing for me. I’ve know how lucky I was to survive it. It felt like a personal experience that someone else wanted to participate in and didn’t deserve to participate in.”
Williams then fessed up in a Facebook post of his own, saying:
“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.”
Interesting, don’t you think?
:: “I have no desire to dramatize events as they actually happened.” Really? No desire whatsoever to make yourself seem a little larger in life than you actually are?
:: “…the fog of memory…made me conflate the two.” Conflation? Fog of memory? Nope. The euphemistic word he should have used was “mislead,” as in, “I don’t know what prompted me to mislead.”
CNN reported today that the network “stood by Williams’ apology and had nothing further to say.”
CNN went on to say that others within the news division had said off the record that “shock and disbelief about Williams’ foggy-memory explanation” was widespread.
…My guess is NBC executives will hold their collective finger in the air and see how strongly the wind blows. The network would love to keep Williams, but if the blowback gets too strong, with falling ratings, he’ll be ushered out.
You already know what I think — and I hope most of you agree: He should be fired today. How can a news organization — any news organization — that prides itself on going after “the truth” and getting to the bottom of stories keep a liar as the face of its operation?
JimmyCsays: At the juncture of journalism and daily life in KC 
As Hawk Harrelson, White Sox announcer, would say after a strikeout: “He gone!” The sooner the better.
Does no one find it odd that Mr Williams has been telling this story for over ten years and no one has called him on it until now?
Another troop who was on the helicopter that Williams was in posted this Facebook comment beneath that of Lance Reynolds:
“Thank you Lance! I’ve been calling him out on this for a long time with no response. He was actually on my aircraft and we came in behind you about 30-45 minutes later. He is a total POS! He had the audacity to tell me the whole thing was like “Saving Private Ryan” and that the whole army would be out looking for him. I called him an idiot in front of his camera crew and he didn’t come back to my bird for next 3 days!”
…So, I imagine there was a lot of grumbling and informal discussion among those in the know, but sometimes exposure takes a direct, on-the-record statement from somebody who’s willing to call out a prominent person.
The way Reynolds said it was certainly attention getting: “Sorry, dude, I don’t remember you being on my aircraft.”
…An article by Alessandra Stanley on The New York Times website this afternoon contains a pithy sentence: “And television is a double-edged enabler; the camera can aggrandize normal people, but it can also undo grandiosity.”
P.S. Let me know if you need a translation on “POS.”
Re: POS– Got it, thanks.
Sadly, it seems to be getting harder and harder to know what the truth is anymore. I have a feeling that, with as fast as the world moves these days, this will quickly become a non-issue; witness the lack of comment here. People either just don’t care, or are tired of shenanigans like this. (Sorry, don’t mean to rain on your subject matter– I’ll shut up now!)
Au contraire, Gayle…Not many comments here, but on The New York Times’ story today…more than 600 comments and climbing fast. Check it out.
As you know, I usually get no more than 10 comments on a post. But since last Friday I’ve had more than 3,300 views (not nearly that many “unique visitors,” of course), so I keep plugging away. When I started out, I reminded myself to keep in mind that I am a substitute teacher and very happy to have an audience, in that setting, of 20 to 25 students. I thought if I could get 20, 30 or 40 readers a day, that would be sufficient. Readership has far exceeded my expectations; I don’t worry about the comments. What I’m most proud of in that regard is…no trolls. Not one.
And thank the good Lord for that. I always thought there was a way of filtering them out, if one wanted to.
Your blog is the rarity, it has a variety of viewpoints presented respectfully. That, like quality journalism, is worth its weight in gold.
As for Williams and NBC, for many of us, they never had any credibility, so nothing changes.
Maybe Williams needs to go back to Joplin, which is where he started out in the business, I believe. As a rule, liars are attracted to the bright lights of Broadway. He needs to return to his roots, back to just being honest and real with people.