NBC suspended Nightly News Managing Editor and anchor Brian Williams for six months, without pay, after he was found to have misrepresented events which occurred while on assignment in Iraq in 2003.
Williams has repeatedly described reporting from Iraq when the Chinook helicopter he was in took fire from an RPG attack. Last week, Stars and Stripes reported it had proof Williams account of that attack was not factual.
Williams apologized. But, that's led many to question the validity of his other reports and his journalistic credibility.
Emily Steel & Ravi Somiaya, New York Times: "Brian Williams suspended by NBC for 6 months without pay"
Travis J. Tritten, Stars & Stripes: “NBC’s Brian Williams recants Iraq story after soldiers protest”
Brian Williams, NBC News: “A personal note from Brian Williams”
Hadas Gold, POLITICO: “Brian Williams apologizes for false Iraq story”
Erik Wemple, Washington Post: “NBC News’s Brian Williams recants story about taking incoming fire during Iraq war coverage”
Tim Kludt & Brian Stelter, CNN: “NBC’s Brian Williams recants Iraq attack story”
David Mack, BuzzFeed: “NBC’s Brian Williams recants story about his helicopter being shot down in Iraq”
Michael Calderone, Huffington Post: “NBC’s Brian Williams admits he was never on helicopter forced down in Iraq”
Al Tompkins, Poynter: “Brian Williams: ‘I looked down the tube of an RPG’”
John Simerman, The New Orleans Advocate: “NBC News anchor Brian Williams’ comments about dead bodies, Hurricane Katrina starting to gain attention, draw scrutiny”
Margaret Hartmann, New York Magazine: “Did Brian Williams exaggerate Katrina stories?”
Paul Fahri, Washington Post; “NBC’s Brian Williams told varying versions of rocket fire in Israel-Hezbollah war”
Emily Smith, Page Six: “Brian Williams also told iffy tales of rescuing puppies from fires”
What is 'Stars and Stripes?'
Stars and Stripes is a Pentagon-funded newspaper that targets military members and their families. While it may not be well-known to many Americans, it is well-rooted in the military community with a history that goes back nearly a century.
David Uberti, Columbia Journalism Review: “Inside the newspaper that broke the Brian Williams news”
Travis J. Tritten, Stars & Stripes: “In his words: Brian Williams’ interview with Stars and Stripes”
Investigating Williams' story, NBC's future
The NBC News investigative unit is looking into the situation, going through Williams' reporting, television appearances, etc.
Brian Stelter, CNN Money: “NBC’s fact-checking of Brian Williams will be finished ‘sooner rather than later’"
Dylan Byers, POLITICO: “The decline and fall of NBC News”
Michael Calderone & Danny Shea, Huffington Post: “Who could replace Brian Williams at ‘NBC Nightly News’?”
David Zurawik, Baltimore Sun: “Can NBC News have any credibility with Brian Williams as its face?”
Jay Rosen, Press Think: “Brian Williams has not led. What’s an anchor for?”
Do we need to just let it go?
Some journalists are coming to Brian Williams' defense, saying that this happens all the time, and that we need to accept his apology and move on. Others say there are only two possible options: NBC fires him or he resigns on his own.
Amy Ellis Nutt, Washington Post: “The science behind Brian William’s mortifying flub”
Joe Klein, TIME: “Accept Brian Williams’s apology”
Erik Wemple, Washington Post: “Fox News’s Bill O’Reilly: Brian Williams ‘not a bad man’"
David Carr, New York Times: “Brian Williams, retreading memories from a perch too public”
The Daily Show
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Mary McNamara, Los Angeles Times: “Brian Williams: Personal branding got in the way of the news”
Will Leitch, Bloomberg Politics: “The joyful, bloody media circus of bringing down Brian Williams”
Sarene Leeds, Wall Street Journal: “Jon Stewart calls Brian Williams scandal an ‘infotainment confusion syndrome”
Catherine Taibi, Huffington Post: “A huge number of Americans think Brian Williams should resign: poll”
Emily Steel & Ravi Somaiya, New York Times: “Under fire, Brian Williams loses lofty spot on a trustworthiness scale”
