Did you know that Brian Williams avoided stories that were critical of the Obama administration? So what vicious "rightwing" organization is making such a claim? Actually this was a charge coming from NBC News reporters themselves in an lengthy New York Magazine article about the troubles at NBC News.
The reporters complaining about Williams avoiding such stories are Michael Isikoff and Lisa Myers. Keep in mind that "divisive" here mean stories that don't put the Obama administration in a favorable light:
Others complained about Williams’s unwillingness to go after hard-hitting stories. Multiple sources told me that former NBC investigative reporters Michael Isikoff and Lisa Myers battled with Williams over stories. In February 2013, Isikoff failed to interest Williams in a piece about a confidential Justice Department memo that justified killing American citizens with drones. He instead broke the story on Rachel Maddow. That October, Myers couldn’t get Williams to air a segment about how the White House knew as far back as 2010 that some people would lose their insurance policies under Obamacare. Frustrated, Myers posted the article on NBC’s website, where it immediately went viral. Williams relented and ran it the next night. “He didn’t want to put stories on the air that would be divisive,” a senior NBC journalist told me. According to a source, Myers wrote a series of scathing memos to then–NBC senior vice-president Antoine Sanfuentes documenting how Williams suppressed her stories. Myers and Isikoff eventually left the network (and both declined to comment).
So Brian Williams only ran with the Obamacare story after Lisa Myers posted about it on the NBC website where it went viral. It sure sounds like Williams was covering for Obama and that caused frustration in some of the NBC News reporters. Oh, and don't expect too much sadness among the NBC News personnel if Williams' suspension for serial fibbing becomes permanent.
Since the scandal has proved to be something of a release valve for resentment that had been building toward Williams, it could make the climate at NBC News inhospitable to his possible return. “Very, very few people like him,” one senior journalist told me. “The phrase you hear constantly: ‘What goes around comes around.’ ”
Don't worry, Brian. The Seal Team Six crew who flew into Baghdad with you in your imagination still likes you.
