tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30897652.post3190478051304315795..comments2024-03-27T15:44:43.564-08:00Comments on What Do I Know?: Brian Williams, Memory, And What It Means For EveryoneStevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10498066938213558757noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30897652.post-7761360848690368342015-02-11T20:51:20.680-09:002015-02-11T20:51:20.680-09:00Brian Williams got caught more than once telling t...Brian Williams got caught more than once telling this 'story'.<br /><br />Tha'ts unacceptable, and there's really no excuse for it.<br /><br />The right was up in arms and demanded that he be fired.<br /><br />You don't hear those same people demanding that Bill OReilly be fired, and OReilly has repeatedly lied about being in combat, he's even repeatedly lied about being under fire while in combat, ...yet OReilly never even served a day in his life in any capacity whatsoever.<br /><br />Joni Ernst, R, Iowa is claiming to have been in combat, yet she also states she has no combat action badge.<br /><br />The right wing is silent when one of their own lies. And it doesn't matter what the lie is, if it's a Republican lie, it's just fine and dandy.<br /><br />If it's a member of the 'librul' press? Hang em.<br /><br /><br />Unfortunately, Brian Williams calls into question every news report he's ever made.<br /><br />One has to wonder what else he may have 'embellished' or misreported.<br /><br />With OReilly and Joni Ernst, ….you can bet they're going to continue to lie.<br /><br />It's what they do, it's who they are, …it's all they've got.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03878884323732649241noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30897652.post-78397942099227097532015-02-10T14:08:17.316-09:002015-02-10T14:08:17.316-09:00Kathy, this Jon Stewart segment voices part of my ...Kathy, this Jon Stewart segment voices part of my reaction, though I really hadn't articulated it in my own head. I don't watch much tv and didn't know who Brian Williams was. But it seemed like a lot of overkill. This is the sort of thing Gary Trudeau has been covering for years with Roland Burton Hedley, III. Yes, reporters should not exaggerate their experiences, but the really important issue is when the lie is about the news itself. Stewart nails what I hadn't thought out enough.<br /><a href="http://on.cc.com/1vfPtxW" rel="nofollow">http://on.cc.com/1vfPtxW</a>Stevehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10498066938213558757noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30897652.post-30582719494304485452015-02-09T07:46:39.115-09:002015-02-09T07:46:39.115-09:00This morning's newspaper clarified that Willia...This morning's newspaper clarified that Williams's first "misstatement" came almost immediately after the incident, so the excuse of time-warped memory doesn't work.kathy in KYnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30897652.post-25570931946877990332015-02-08T15:28:19.154-09:002015-02-08T15:28:19.154-09:00Good point that I didn't cover. We do expect ...Good point that I didn't cover. We do expect more from professionals, but I'm guessing false memories was not part of Williams' journalism education. And while we'd like to think of professionals as being able to separate their personal and emotional lives from their work lives, I've seen way too many who can't. But your point that as a professional journalist he should be better at it than others is well taken. Stevehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10498066938213558757noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30897652.post-50321098074374857812015-02-08T08:05:26.631-09:002015-02-08T08:05:26.631-09:00You're right about faulty memories, but you ha...You're right about faulty memories, but you have left out the fact that Williams is supposed to be a professional journalist, devoted to the truth above all else and trained to find and record it. While eyewitnesses to dramatic events may indeed have their memories colored by outside factors, the professional journalist is trained to observe accurately and his retelling of the story ought to be more credible -- much as you would expect a doctor to more accurately describe a sick person's condition or an artist to more accurately describe somebody's face. Surely at the time of the helicopter incident he either wrote down or spoke his recollections of the day, which he could go back to if he needed reminding. <br /><br />I suspect Williams is guilty of repeated retelling of a dramatic event, which got "enhanced" over time with a greater role for himself in the story. We all know how after you tell a story many times your memory of the event gets trumped by your memory of the story -- don't we all use the same punch lines, the same details that we used the last five times we told the story? Perhaps that's what happened with Williams in recent years. But at some point a decade ago the initial story got embellished with a couple of very false details, and I have to believe that was deliberate. Either that, or Williams is a total fraud as a journalist, ignorant of how to do his job and dismissive of the ethics of the profession.<br /><br />I speak as a former journalist. I'm continually offended by the faux journalists who practice on Fox News, etc. and who are just as willing to tell lies as truth. But I'm surprised and disappointed to find that occurring in supposedly legitimate journalism operations.kathy in KYnoreply@blogger.com