From: Jim White
Date: February 20, 2015
Subject: Brian Williams - Medal of Honor Foundation
This was in the Starts & Stripes for today.
NBC's Williams resigns from Medal of Honor Foundation
From: Bob Morecook
Date: February 13, 2015
Subject: Stars & Stripes Scoops the Civilian Press
Article in the Columbia Journalism Review about the Stars & Stripes "scoop" on Brian Williams.
[Posted on Facebook]
From: Ernie Gates (Osbudsman, Stars & Stripes)
Date: February 12, 2015
Subject: Your Article on the Brian Williams News
Jim,
Thanks for your kind words. My column was just a glint on the shining work by Travis Tritten, his editors and others in the Stripes newsroom on that story.
I'm glad to know people with your connections to reporting all the way back to AFVN are reading Stripes.
Thanks again, and best wishes.
Ernie
From: Jim White
Date: February 12, 2015
Subject: Your Article on the Brian Williams News
Dear Ernie,
Just read your article "Stripes broke Williams story, resisted feeding frenzy." Articles like that should make anyone connected with military reporting, be it print, radio or TV, proud of their profession. I am, even if I had only a short and rather small part for a short year in supporting those who did the actual reporting.
I sent your article to the AFVN group to make sure that as many of them as possible see it.
Job well done,
Jim W
From: Jim Anderson
Date: February 10, 2015
Subject: Rare Photo
From: Bob Nelson
Date: February 10, 2015
Subject: Brian Williams
Actually it was FreeD (I think). We called him Fried when he would try to con us into talking about ops when we came to Saigon. He'd even invite us to the Caravelle. (sp?) What a worm.
Bob
From: Dick Ellis
Date: February 8, 2015
Subject: Brian Williams
I just saw Saturday NBC news and Williams who is anchor and Executive news director says he is removing " himself" from the news cast for several days. The Sharks already smell the blood in the water.
Dickie
From: Joe Ciokon
Date: February 8, 2015
Subject: Brian Williams
Roger that, Jay! Well said.
From: Ken Kalish
Date: February 8, 2015
Subject: Anachor Brian Williams
Bob and all:
It is my experience that an individual who intentionally guilds the lily for the sake of ratings will eventually lead to two outcomes. The first is a short-lived dent in one’s integrity, such as Geraldo Rivera’s (Jerry Rivers) infamous gangster vault or his drawing the attack plan in the sand on international TV feeds as American troops prepared to enter Iraq. The second is a kind of cult following.
When I was teaching broadcast journalism classes at the University of Minnesota I had one student who simply could not write a straight news story. If it was Man Bites Small Dog, the man would be cast as Jeff Dahmer and the dog as a slathering Bull Mastiff. I counseled him several times to follow the WWWWWH and pyramid style, but to no avail. He worked very hard to earn the F he received in my reportage class. Somewhat predictably, I was called to the department chair’s office to give my side of the issue. The young man was present as I explained his inability to file a straight news story, and he angrily defended his style by saying it was his goal to become the next Geraldo Rivera.
When I was reporting for television I covered a magnificent fire, a conflagration adjacent to I-35. At its apex, sheets of flame covered the northbound lanes and an off ramp through which gasoline tankers from a nearby refinery were racing, then driving through a water wall from pumpers. Wonderful photo essay, and a hard story about arson. When I put the story together for the news my News Director told me it wasn’t complete, that I had to go back and get some kind of tearful interview with the woman who owned the business -- for a human interest angle. He wanted the interview because that’s what one of our competitors was running. I refused, in part because the competitor’s interview wasn’t even coherent and in part because the interview wasn’t germane to the story. For that, I was fired. My cameraman also refused to return alone to get an interview with the woman, and he was fired. He later built a very successful PR company. Me, I went into teaching.
Sensationalism sells. That’s why we have so many self-made heroes that gave rise to the Stolen Valor trend. Williams will fall from grace, temporarily, and come out fairly unscathed doing something like interviews with real combat soldiers for the History Channel. The media firestorm around him now probably puts him in greater danger than did flying as a passenger in a helicopter in a war zone.
Ken
From: Mike Goucher
Date: February 8, 2015
Subject: Another "Combat" Liar Exposed
It's really sad that in this era of celebrity newscasters and "competition" for viewers that a journalist feels he must stoop so low as to claim feats of daring, making himself the news story and not merely an observer/reporter. Can anyone imagine John Cameron Swayze or Chet Huntley (both NBC) pulling such stunts?
From: Frank Rogers
Date: February 8, 2015
Subject: Liberal ABC Anchor Brian Williams is developing his skills in lying....oops, just a brain fart...
Would it not be a bit far fetched to call it political? Liberal, Conservative, Moderate or whatever label cannot be attached exclusively to any political group. Did anyone notice the mistake of saying Williams is an ABC anchor, when he is at NBC as not only news anchor but also the person in charge of their news? He's going to lose millions and at least "take a leave of absence," in my opinion. Back in the day, news personnel were not stars, paid millions. Listen to the song "Dirty Laundry" to see how news reporting has changed. I dare say all of us in the news business have been pressured to slant the news in one direction of another - put in or leave out "facts." Were you ever told you should "smile more" while doing the news?
Frank
From: John Lehmn
Date: February 8, 2015
Subject: Brian Williams
NBC is now investigating the Brian Williams misspeak. A TV news anchor must have integrity ON AIR. Williams is fast losing that...now his reporting on Hurricane Katrina has been called into question. Williams is not the first to never let the facts get in the way of a good story and he won’t be the last. UPI was famous for that in Vietnam. So was reporter Tom Tide who was invited to accompany 1st ID units on a “stay behind” patrol on numerous occasions. Front line grunts do not suffer fools gladly....when it comes to so called “I wanna be a hero” journalists.
Jay Lehman
AFVN News
From: Bob Morecook
Date: February 8, 2015
Subject: Liberal ABC Anchor Brian Williams is developing his skills in lying....oops, just a brain fart...
Hey Gang
If this is going to be an attack on "liberals" or "conservatives" then we are getting into political stuff and its time to drop the topic.
Thanks Bob [moderator]
From: Steve Sevits
Date: February 7, 2015
Subject: Liberal ABC Anchor Brian Williams is developing his skills in lying....oops, just a brain fart...
Sad but true.
In ’64 or ’65 (after Vietnam for me) I was covering a speech at Penn State Univ by Martin Luther King. It was a good talk although nothing terribly exciting or earth shaking. Feeding taped audio by phone to CBS in NY they kept telling me to “find something inflammatory.” The net wasn’t interested in the facts of the news, only what could be used to fan the flames of controversy.
That was when I decided to quit “broadcast journalism” and take up a more respectable means of making a living: selling used cars which provided better hours and more money and bosses with greater integrity than could be found in network news.
Steve
From: Joe Ciokon
Date: February 7, 2015
Subject: Liberal ABC Anchor Brian Williams is developing his skills in lying....oops, just a brain fart...
NBC's Brian Williams recants Iraq story after soldiers protest
by Travis J. Tritten
Stars & Stripes
February 4th, 2015
The following is the lead paragraph from the above article:
NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams admitted Wednesday he was not aboard a helicopter hit and forced
down by RPG fire during the invasion of Iraq in 2003, a false claim that has been repeated by the network for years.
[The entire story is available here.]
This lead to a number of other newspaper, etc. articles on truthfulness in journalism and ,
finally, to Brian Williams being released by NBC.
The following are a few of the articles plus comments by members of AFVN@YahooGroups.com members.
From: Michael Goucher
Date: February 7, 2015
Subject: [Facebook Posting]
Why does this respected journalist feel compelled to embellish his story? Such is the descent into hell" ouring in a news "business" driven by celebrity.
This post had several "likes" and then Michael continued with:
As his story continues to unfold, apparently he has a history of inserting his own feats of daring into other stories as well. NBC will investigate all of it. Mr. Williams may be headed for cable TV.
Brian Williams (Former NBC News Anchor)
February - March 2015
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From: Ron Turner
Date: February 20, 2015
Subject: Brian Williams - Medal of Honor Foundation
Jim, et al,
Hmmm, while Mr. Williams lying is despicable and I am not inclined to act as the defense attorney for big three network broadcasters, it might be worth mentioning that Mr. Williams, unlike many, has shown by his wrongful actions that he values the courage of military in combat. Just a thought, don't make too much out of it.
Regards, Ron
From: Jim White
Date: February 12, 2015
Subject: Stars & Stripes on Brian Williams
Articles like this makes one proud to be or have been a military reporter or broadcaster. Glad I had a small part in supporting some of those people.
Jim
Disclosure as Required by AFVN General Order # 1 (Just written)
The current Webmaster, Jim White, has been in occasional contact with Ernie Gates, the writer of this article and the Stars & Stripes Ombudsman. From these contacts, Jim can attest to the fact that Ernie is a good guy and responsive to all sorts of requests and comments.
From: Ken Kalish
Date: February 12, 2015
Subject: Where's Williams
You mised this one Jay:
Williams reporting live from Bikini Atoll:
From: Bob Morecook
Date: February 9, 2015
Subject: Brian Williams
Hi Bob N
Indeed I do remember Joe Fried [though I thought it was FREED of mutual news]
We used to laugh about him in the newsroom a lot!
Thanks for the memories
Bob M