Journalist Lies About Iraq

LongFuzzy said:
WOW. So there is a recent thread where a poster said his friend was picked up and tossed into a fire, and then pulled out. He was told that his memory has changed over time, and the traumatic event he remembers did not happen the way he remembers. Now Brian Wilson has what appears to be a similar memory lapse, and he is a total liar, cannot be trusted, should be fired, career ended...
I suppose if his story was supernatural, he could be forgiven. :rolleyes:
Click to expand...
Why are you bringing Brian Wilson into this? This has nothing to do with the Beach Boys. Brian Williams is the journalist in question who has made a fool of himself. Not good vibrations.
BStrong said:
Even the ex-first lady stepped in it with her Bosnian sniper fire story.
Click to expand...
Yep.
 
Wolrab said:
He is supposed to be a journalist. If he can't get the facts right with an event he was involved in, what hope is there he reports anything correctly?
Click to expand...
A strange way to post, provide the answer and then ask the question ;)
 
I'm quite pleased with his sudden notoriety on this side of the pond as now when I ever so casually and modestly drop into the conversation that he interviewed me live on USA national news people have now heard of him! :)
 
Darat said:
I'm quite pleased with his sudden notoriety on this side of the pond as now when I ever so casually and modestly drop into the conversation that he interviewed me live on USA national news people have now heard of him! : )
Click to expand...

Turns out he actually interviewed the helicopter behind you.
 
Gobsmacked at the attempts to defend Williams here.
And trying to turn this into another partisan issue is just plain stupid.
 
angrysoba said:
I'm gobsmacked at the attempts to make this a BFD.:p
Click to expand...

It's a BFD because Williams is paid $10 million a year to report facts as the public face of NBC News, and he has demonstrated that he can't be believed and his word can't be trusted. It also demeans people who really do put their lives on the line, as journalists or soldiers, when he falsely claims to be one of them. If Williams portrayed himself as a celebrity entertainer, nobody would care much about his claims, no different from an actor who pretends to do all his own stunts (no chance). But that's not the role Williams embraced.
 
The media hyperventilating over someone lying about being in a helicopter when they ALL marched to the drumbeat of the lies that took us into Iraq in the first place?

The complete lack self-awareness in the media is truly breathtaking :eek:
 
Yeah, umm... the media reported that certain statements had been made and documents released by the US government. Blaming the messenger?
 
Bob001 said:
It's a BFD because Williams is paid $10 million a year to report facts as the public face of NBC News, and he has demonstrated that he can't be believed and his word can't be trusted. It also demeans people who really do put their lives on the line, as journalists or soldiers, when he falsely claims to be one of them. If Williams portrayed himself as a celebrity entertainer, nobody would care much about his claims, no different from an actor who pretends to do all his own stunts (no chance). But that's not the role Williams embraced.
Click to expand...

dudalb said:
BFD because Williams is one of the most popular newscasters in the US.
Click to expand...

Well then, he damaged NBC News's reputation, assuming they had one, but that's about all.
 
I might have posted this before, but this is a blog post by Steven Novella, a neurologist. It seems quite possible that Williams really was confused, and not intentionally lying about what happened.

Did Williams Lie?

Memory is a slippery thing. We know from countless psychological studies that memories can easily be fabricated, they will alter over time, and details will shift to enhance the emotional theme of the story. Further, we tend to personalize stories – over time we remember events that happened to our friends as happening to us.
Click to expand...

Of course, I have no idea what was in Williams’ mind, what he remembered, and if on some level he knew he was embellishing his own story. What is clear, however, is that it is very possible Williams remembered the version of the story he has recently been telling.

Williams himself calls the incorrect details a “mistake,” and report that, ““I don’t know what screwed up in my mind that caused me to conflate one aircraft with another.” Elsewhere he says that he spent the weekend thinking he was going crazy, but reviewing his own version of events from 12 years ago plainly tells a different story than his current memory.

While I can’t know what is in his mind, given what we know about memory it is reasonable to give Williams the benefit of the doubt. It is absolutely possible, even likely, that it is his memory that has shifted over the years, in a fashion consistent with memory research.
Click to expand...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top Bottom