Making up for its tiny A-3 brief on the Brian Williams scandal on Thursday, USA Today’s splashy front-page headline on Friday was “Brian Williams loses credibility with ‘mistake.’" The story was actually Rem Rieder’s tough commentary that went online yesterday. The subheadline was “Hard to see how anchor will survive as face of NBC News.” It even jumped over to A-2 with the headline “Brian Williams’ plays with truth.”
Rieder's commentary also showed up on the front page of The New York Times, with the line "It's hard to see how Williams gets past this, and how he survives as the face of NBC News."
The “McPaper” had two additional stories in the Money section which weren’t as tough as Rieder was.
– Roger Yu’s piece was headlined “Williams’ popularity, ratings could save his job.” Yu claimed that Williams appearing on late-night comedy shows offers a “synergistic stretch that triggered his biggest professional crisis. It may also save his career.”
Yu explained some want Williams to resign or be fired, and asserted "The seething reactions also speak to the jarring oddity of an evening network news anchor — fading in influence as a group, but still the most visible paragon of trust and journalistic integrity — caught in a lie that seems beneath his position."
Yu went to news-watcher Andrew Tyndall, who came to Brian’s defense: “The reason why he got into this trouble is because his job description is shifting. He’s had to become a personality.” What baloney – like Scott Pelley has to go on Letterman and lie about coming under fire?
Tyndall also bizarrely claimed Williams wasn’t guilty of inaccurate or deceptive reporting, but rather embellishing a personal story. “Reasons when they fire journalists are for journalistic reasons. This doesn’t rise to the level.”
Yu also quoted Judy Muller in Brian’s defense, the “professor of journalism at the University of Southern California.” As opposed to Judy Muller, longtime liberally-biased ABC News correspondent. That part of her resume was not mentioned. Muller claimed “Do they toss out a multimillion-dollar brand after he apologized? You may find people are more forgiving than not.”
– “We’re all susceptible to false memories” was a headline on a Marisol Bello article. A caption under Williams read “Brian Williams reports from Camp Liberty in Baghdad on March 8, 2007. Stress can affect memory.” Psychologist Elizabeth Loftus explained the concept of false memory and the story concluded with Loftus proclaiming “Let’s give Williams a break.”
