Williams' 'misremembering' is sad on many fronts

Somewhere Walter Cronkite, Chet Huntley, David Brinkley and Peter Jennings are either turning in their graves, rolling their eyes — or both.

Brian Williams, the anchor and editor of NBC Nightly News, has peacock egg on his face after having been “outed” for largely fabricating accounts of being an imbedded reporter during the early days of the Iraq War in 2003.

Seems he “misremembered” a sequence of the events where he was either on board an Army Chinook helicopter that took enemy fire and was forced to land, or not.

It was refreshing to see that dictionary.com defines misremember as: “to remember incorrectly.” So at least Williams wasn’t making that up, too.

The broadcasting competition had a field day kicking sand in the face of NBC, which has ruled the iconic nightly newscasts of “The Big 3” networks that also include ABC and CBS. Williams reportedly commands a hefty $13 million a year salary to do what he does.

But that early evening time slot, which in our viewing area is 5:30 p.m., has seen its chunk of viewers slowly shrink over the decades as audiences become younger and they turn to alternatives on cable and the Internet.

This breech of trust can surely not help that decline.

Watching Williams and his counterparts has been part ofmany American’s nightly viewing habits since television first came into out living rooms well over a half-century ago.

Baby Boomers and those older put explicit trust in the mustachioed Cronkite, Huntley and Brinkley as they delivered the news each night into our living rooms, largely on black and white televisions with rabbit ear antennas.

These men came into our homes each night and we trusted what they said to be true. Perhaps, if we had the type of mass communications that exists today, they, too, might have been found to have a few skeletons hiding somewhere.

Ironically, it was not but a few weeks ago when NBC sought to promote their nightly broadcast with a theme centered around trust.

Williams’ memory, or ethics, lapse, was brought to light by a reporter for the Stars and Stripes newspaper. The worldwide military publication ran a story on how aircrews actually remembered the incident.

Williams made a mistake saying it in the first place, but more critical to the damage control aspect was his continuing to spin the yarn, to the point of retelling the story to late night talker David Letterman on the 10th anniversary of the alleged incident.

And now, with the closet door cracked open just a little, other “misrememberings,” seem to be seeking the light of day. Things such as Williams’ experience with dead bodies floating past his five-star hotel in downtown New Orleans in the 2005 Hurricane Katrina aftermath.

Outside of the fact that it commands its share of national newscasts and column inches in newspapers, why is the Williams’ story relevant locally?

Because it touches on the same level of trust our readers place in the Cheney Free Press. Whether it be city council, school board or the weekend sporting event, our readers trust us to tell it like it is, not like we may wish it to be.

We all strive to make sure we get it right. And while there might be an occasional error, which we do our best to correct, there is never an outright effort to deceive, as it appears Williams has done.

To his credit, Williams’ has taken a self-imposed leave of absence. It’s an attempt he said to keep him from “being the news.” He was recently suspended from NBC for six months without pay.

Whatever comes out in the end stands to tarnish everything positive Williams might have done in his career because one lie brings to doubt a thousand truths.

Furthermore, a recent survey says that trust in the media is at an all time low in this country, making even more people skeptical.

And in today’s world that is hardly a good sign.