|
Post by millring on Feb 6, 2015 7:54:21 GMT -5
|
|
|
Post by millring on Feb 6, 2015 8:04:55 GMT -5
|
|
|
Post by jdd2 on Feb 6, 2015 8:10:30 GMT -5
I must admit it, I'm not really jdd2. That has been an inflation of the truth.
|
|
|
Post by millring on Feb 6, 2015 8:28:58 GMT -5
Yeah, like we didn't suspect THAT.
|
|
|
Post by Marshall on Feb 6, 2015 8:50:45 GMT -5
Schlimm has been quiet here on the topic. But on fb he thought Williams memory lapse was bullshit.
|
|
|
Post by Marshall on Feb 6, 2015 8:56:51 GMT -5
|
|
|
Post by millring on Feb 7, 2015 10:38:32 GMT -5
|
|
Dub
Administrator
I'm gettin' so the past is the only thing I can remember.
Posts: 19,958
|
Post by Dub on Feb 7, 2015 13:31:20 GMT -5
We have come to expect politicians to be less than fully truthful. They are primarily marketeers after all and we don't take TV commercials as fact either. But we'd like to believe that what our news outlets are telling us, if not the whole truth, is at least accurate as far is it goes.
|
|
|
Post by Marshall on Feb 7, 2015 14:13:47 GMT -5
Somebody on NPR was saying yesterday that NBC will have to sack Williams.
|
|
|
Post by millring on Feb 7, 2015 14:24:06 GMT -5
Somebody on NPR was saying yesterday that NBC will have to sack Williams. That doesn't bode well for the guy. I think they actually kill their guys who fail. Proof? ....when was the last time anyone saw David Gregory? I know, right?
|
|
|
Post by Chesapeake on Feb 7, 2015 14:37:40 GMT -5
I'm guessing the internal investigation NBC is now conducting will be the window-dressing for what will be billed as an amicable parting.
|
|
|
Post by millring on Feb 7, 2015 14:51:22 GMT -5
News anchors will be the most nervous people in the USA if Williams is sacked. They'll be lying awake at night replaying everything they've said over the past 15 years knowing that there is now a fresh incentive to fact check them out of a job.
Brian Williams has one thing going for him. He says that his sisters, Venus and Serena have stepped up to defend him.
|
|
|
Post by Marshall on Feb 7, 2015 15:24:40 GMT -5
They all (many?) have skeletons or exaggerations in their closet. Williams faux pax was trotting it out again 10 years later with relish. He thought he was doing something nice for his Army friend. And WHAM.
|
|
|
Post by fauxmaha on Feb 7, 2015 15:34:13 GMT -5
I'm curious (talking to you, Mr. Hammond and Mr. Smith)...are US news anchors considered "journalists" within the field? My sense of things is that the job is essentially "entertainer": Read the teleprompter with a somber, baritone voice and look good doing it.
Does Williams decide what goes on the nightly news? Does he have editorial control? Does he participate in the direction of investigative resources? Does he directly hire and fire people?
Part of this kerfuffle seems like a gigantic case of category error of the network's making. They like to paint this picture that their credibility is invested in this one guy. Somehow, that sells. But I suspect the truth is closer to the fact that Williams is essentially a glorified actor, and their marketing BS is coming back to bite them..
Or am I just too cynical?
|
|
|
Post by millring on Feb 7, 2015 15:34:44 GMT -5
|
|
Dub
Administrator
I'm gettin' so the past is the only thing I can remember.
Posts: 19,958
|
Post by Dub on Feb 7, 2015 15:36:36 GMT -5
Somebody on NPR was saying yesterday that NBC will have to sack Williams. That doesn't bode well for the guy. I think they actually kill their guys who fail. Proof? ....when was the last time anyone saw David Gregory? I know, right? Or his brother, Dick.
|
|
Dub
Administrator
I'm gettin' so the past is the only thing I can remember.
Posts: 19,958
|
Post by Dub on Feb 7, 2015 15:40:43 GMT -5
Or am I just too cynical? No, there are some situations in which one cannot be too cynical.
|
|
Dub
Administrator
I'm gettin' so the past is the only thing I can remember.
Posts: 19,958
|
Post by Dub on Feb 7, 2015 15:47:18 GMT -5
I think the last network news anchor who was really a journalist was Walter Cronkite. Since then they've all been pretty boy talking heads. I don't mean they haven't reported important stories or that they aren't involved in the process, just that they understand themselves as entertainers and worry more about ratings than keeping viewers well informed.
|
|
|
Post by millring on Feb 7, 2015 16:07:07 GMT -5
I'm curious (talking to you, Mr. Hammond and Mr. Smith)...are US news anchors considered "journalists" within the field? My sense of things is that the job is essentially "entertainer": Read the teleprompter with a somber, baritone voice and look good doing it. Does Williams decide what goes on the nightly news? Does he have editorial control? Does he participate in the direction of investigative resources? Does he directly hire and fire people? Part of this kerfuffle seems like a gigantic case of category error of the network's making. They like to paint this picture that their credibility is invested in this one guy. Somehow, that sells. But I suspect the truth is closer to the fact that Williams is essentially a glorified actor, and their marketing BS is coming back to bite them.. Or am I just too cynical? Well, if you're too cynical, then I am too. I think that's exactly why I can't get too worked up over this story. I don't expect much from news anchors. I guess if I saw this as a hit piece on a politician (as the Rather hit piece on Bush) I might view it differently because of the nature of the lie, not the messenger of the lie.
|
|
|
Post by billhammond on Feb 7, 2015 16:32:41 GMT -5
I can't say with any certainty how the major network news operations run these days. My hunch would be that they have a daily news huddle like we do at the Strib, where all the stories of the day are discussed and a list is made on what to use -- augmented, of course, by filmed pieces that are already done and ready to go, stuff like features, in-depth investigative stories.
Whether from that list of stories to use Brian Williams writes his own copy, I cannot say. It used to be commonplace that they did -- which is why we had to suffer through so many of Dan Rather's wretched sayings and Texasisms.
I can't speak for my print-news colleagues, but I think of news anchors as good looking first, good speakers second, well informed and read and traveled, and certainly they must be able to interview major world figures with insight and intellect.
But I don't know how good any of them are as journalists, really -- it would be fun to send one of them on a breaking news story and tell them to write it up and see what they would produce.
|
|