A bad day for journalism

NBC News anchor Brian Williams should be fired or he should step aside before the court of public opinion demands he be removed from his job.

Williams, in conceding Feb. 4 that a story he told repeatedly about being under fire while covering the invasion of Iraq in 2003 was false, has lost all credibility as a journalist, in my view.

Williams said he was not aboard a helicopter that was hit by enemy fire and forced down more than a decade ago, a story he “retold” in January during a televised tribute to a retired soldier.

If it weren’t for the military newspa- per Stars & Stripes, which must be credited for the scoop, Williams would perhaps never have been caught in his lie and perhaps would have gone on telling and retelling the false story forever.

To add insult to injury, Williams, when confronted by fellow journalists, said he “misremembered” the story. Misremembered? What’s that in the journalist’s proper-practices handbook?

Sgt. 1st Class Joseph Miller, who was the flight engineer on the helicopter that carried the NBC crew, was bothered by Williams’ false story and recently said, “No, we never came under direct enemy fire to the aircraft.”

The helicopter Williams was aboard actually landed one hour later with no incident. The soldier’s complaints prompted Williams to apologize and his statement was broadcast on NBC Feb. 4.

The free world trusts journalists completely for truth and fairness. It’s the way it is supposed to be and the way it must continue to be. Williams untruth is upsetting and he has done himself a big harm.

World-famous broadcast journalist Christiane Amanpour said, “And I believe that good journalism, good television, can make our world a better place.”

I wonder what Amanpour is thinking today about the Williams fiasco.

Another world-famous journalist, Williams’ predecessor, Tom Brokaw, says Williams should be fired, and I imagine many journalists and ordinary folk like me agree.

It’s too bad Williams had to make the front pages and the top story on “NBC Nightly News” and other media like that. One would never have thought it would come to this.

It’s a black day for journalism.

As far as I’m concerned, it’s a damned shame that a field as potentially dynamic and vital as journalism should be overrun with dullards, bums, and hacks, hag-ridden with myopia, apathy, and complacence, and generally stuck in a bog of stagnant mediocrity.

— Hunter S. Thompson, American print journalist and author

Bill Westcott Clarke’s Beach, retired after a 40-year career in newspaper and broadcasting