Bring Brian Williams Back

Kalli Morris

A face that has been welcomed into homes across the nation for more than a decade, and a name that held honor and integrity on delivering news to citizens now has captured scrutiny for comments on previous stories he covered. Brian Williams is the host of NBC Nightly News, the continuous number one news production in the nation. Prior to this fallout, Williams was one of Time's magazine consecutive 100 most influential people, and most highly decorated evening news anchor of the modern era. Not to mention the countless awards he has received ranging from the Walter Cronkite Award for Excellence in Journalism and twelve Emmy's. NBC explained that Brian was seen by more U.S television viewers on a daily basis than any other individual. But now he is off the air for sixth months while an investigation on these allegations is looked into. Brian had questionable stories around two different topics, both highly profiled and defining moments of his career. The question now is will Williams be able to take the air and deliver the news and gain back the trust of hundreds and thousands of people?

Back in 2003 when he was in Iraq covering the war he made the statement that he was in a U. S. military helicopter that was shot down by an RPG, (Rocket Projected Grenade) by enemy fire. Since 2003 Williams has retold the story even though he faced criticism by different U. S military veterans who were there. While the details of the story began to change Brian eventually recanted explaining that he was not actually shot down. While there was an aircraft that was shot down the one he was in was an estimated hour delayed from that. The flight did take an emergency landing upon hearing that the flight had taken on enemy fire. For twelve years Williams went along with the story, but he publically went on air and explained the situation and turned to his social media outlets, on Facebook saying, "Because I have no desire to fictionalize my experience ... 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 the years -- made me conflate the two."

This issue made others question arise from commentary he has covered, particularly during Hurricane Katrina in 2005. After the devastating hurricane Williams explained a variety of things he witnessed, " A body floated along Canal Street. A man took his own life before a packed Superdome audience. A gang of marauders roamed the halls of a ritzy hotel." But the former hotel general manager of the Ritz-Carlton never saw nor heard reports of a dead body floating along the street. While there was one found almost a mile away from WIlliams location, the timing of events did not place him near it. He continued go on to claim have gotten dysentery, a type of bacterial infection that causes infection within the intestines. But once again the former manager explained they never heard of guests suffering from dysentery, for precautionary measures that were taken in order to avoid this type of sickness. There was first-aid with doctors specializing in infectious diseases, and bleach stations that were set up to clean and protect against infections.

Both of these situations are high stress environments, from the middle of a war zone to a catastrophic event that impacted the nation and its view on natural disasters. Williams explains that he was simply confused and did not continuously make these statements knowing he was lying or exateragring. While he claims he did not know he was lying, how could one confuse such major events and go onto to report on them. Where is the blame to be placed? On Williams who in his mind thought he was telling the truth, or his network that endorsed the message? One thing is for sure, is integrity and credibility is barely hanging on.

Kathleen Sullivan, a highly acclaimed American journalist, details that entire NBC news department should be held responsible for this, from the camera men to the publicity team because they went along with this and instead of fact checking or putting a stop to this, encouraging the myth. This created a long lasting effect an issue that seemed to implode on the NBC news team. Currently they have an investigation going on into the issue of his accounts and the veracity of his statements. But the issue of the matter is also in the fact that Williams not only was the host but he was the writer and manager of the show, meaning that he held the responsibility of writing and delivering the show. So this investigation is one that will take time, to examine all aspects of this coverage over the years.

When talking to staff, Mrs. Rasch explained, "It is so sad to see how these events played out." And Mrs. Sax goes on to say, "I loved watching Williams, I only hope he is able to regain his spot on NBC Nightly News and regain the trust of viewers. While it may take time I think he deserved a second chance." While the majority of students were unaware of this situation Brian Williams found himself in some felt very adamant that he should not get his job back. Cierra Stanley explains, "He lied and with his job position you can't just lie without facing consequences," and Alex Dauber agrees, "All he has is his word in his job and the fact that he lost his credibility he really doesn't have a job left." While students and staff seem to be drawn on if Williams deserves a second chance Maya Eberts gives her personal opinion, "Everyone lies. And everyone has wants to make some things better than they sounds. He deserves to regain his position as the leading anchor, we have looked up to him and put our trust in him for so long this should not change all of the good he has done for journalism. I want to see him back on air as soon as possible."

While the story continues to unfold Brian waits for his six months suspension to be up. Since then though he has stepped down from his position on the Board of Directors of the Medal of Honor. He has always honored veterans and even though this brings into question his credibility he says, "This was never about stealing someones valor." He himself was a firefighter for fourteen years, understands the commitment and dedication it takes to be a figure of the military. While this seems to be a major road block in his course of history of our modern day version of Walter Concroite must do something he never has done before, wait and be the subject of the ruling. Will America welcome Williams back? Since the news the show has dropped 10,000 viewers a night and became second to ABC's news. But at the same time a CNN poll says 52% of Americans want to see him back. Only time can tell if his fabrication is enough to land him on the sidelines.