Robert Downey Jr. paid his debt to society and came back as Iron Man…
NBC News anchor Brian Williams didn’t do drugs – he just lied. And he’s been off the air for months. Bring him back into his old chair because he’s a movie star, and if you don’t think the nightly news is entertainment, you’re unaware of the draconian cuts Larry Tisch made to CBS, forcing its news to pay its own way.
The future of news is the irreverent Vice. Maybe even Buzzfeed.
Something instantly accessible that lives online. To think a nightly newscast at one appointed time has any future is to believe cable will remain unbundled and movies in theatres will make a comeback. Things change, and only in America do we maintain that they haven’t.
Did NBC’s viewers reject Williams?
That’d be like teens rejecting Taylor Swift. They love her and the alta kachers who tuned in at 6:30 loved Williams. By taking him off the air NBC did its audience a disservice, playing to an entrenched infrastructure that no one really cares about. That being the insider media business and Washington, D.C. – two entities so out of touch the public has rejected them.
And the public runs this world. To believe we live in a top-down society is to reject the entire 21st century. At least techies know it’s all about adoption and stickiness. Williams made a mistake, so what?
Furthermore, the movie of his decline is better than anything he ever said on air.
It’s a national soap opera, a story the media loves, because after all, that’s what they sell, stories, and the public doesn’t want to delve into the real issues, for fear of further disillusionment.
The vaunted Fox News, the ratings king?
Numbers are anemic but even more importantly their audience is aged. The influence of the station is nearly nil. It’s an echo chamber and Roger Ailes laughs every time the left wing takes the bait.
News is so up for grabs it’s ridiculous.
The newspapers still think it’s about filling a set amount of space.
And TV believes it’s all about camera appeal.
And the empty calories contribute to America’s obesity problem. We grow fatter and fatter on irrelevant info while those without names pull the strings behind the scenes.
Just like their brethren in Hollywood, Williams and his overpaid ilk love hanging with the heavies. They’ve got no backbone, they think they’re important. And if you believe they’re leaders, you’re watching the parking meters.
So now our long national nightmare is over.
We can stop focusing on Brian Williams and get back to pressing issues, like the 2016 Presidential election! That’s a horse race the media stokes because it’s a long running film they can sell and sell.
Blockbusters exit the multiplex in weeks, but we’ve got to hear the bloviating of political non-winners for years.
Welcome to America, where the sideshow is the real show.
NBC is selling entertainment. They’ve eviscerated reporting down to the bone. Give them their star, let Williams play to the audience who loves him, the same way kids pay fealty to one dimensional pop stars.
The truth is change is happening.
But it’s too rarely on television.
Let Brian Williams have his pomp and circumstance.
Come on folks. This is much ado about nothing. Overpaid people playacting at importance while the proletariat shoots itself and votes against its interest.
Welcome to America.
Agreed. Good story.
The man has no creditability left……plain and simple.
As hahahaharley would say- WRONG! He should not be on TV period. Lester Holt is doing a good job. I enjoy watching him.
I believe Lester’s numbers are way down though, raw
I’m basically with you, Worldwide…
But we kind of live in a different world.
A former publisher of the Star told me that Mike Fannin probably would have been fired when all that Whitlock stuff first came out.
If he would have been appointed at all with two DUI’s, slam time and an assault conviction.
Not to mention what Whitlock accused him of before he was cut off.
Even print journalism – which was so, so strict when I was coming up through the ranks at the Star – is a far looser game than it was even five or seven years ago.
At the very least, I’d say Williams won’t be doing much if any embellishing going forward
Morton Downey lies for a living. Just like all actors, he pretends to be someone he is not. Williams, like George Stephanopoulos, pretends to be an unbiased reporter, when in fact, he, like Stephanopoulos is a liar. At this point, the pretense of objectivity is still important to the three big networks. Williams is done.
raw is right, Lester Holt does a better job. NBC should leave him there and get back to doctoring 911 calls and kissing the President’s azz.
Knowing NBC, they will probably try to acquire the services of the great Ronan Farrow, who, after only 3 (Count ’em), that’s right, 3 days on the job, received the Cronkite Award. Brutal…
Guess you guys know that Williams will be pulling duty on MSNBC…
So he’s still got a paycheck
“Williams made a mistake, so what?”
Pure sophistry. Brian Williams engaged in a pernicious pattern of ‘exaggerations; half-truths; & embellishments’ on numerous occasions. In other words, he’s a liar. Just ask Hillary.
Virtues like honesty and integrity are not up for a vote. You either possess those qualities or you don’t. Which is why MSNBC will employ Brian Williams as a fact checker. That way, he won’t have to work all that hard.
Ole Brian committed to lonely MSNBC—make that ‘non-viewer hell.’ And by God they’re cutting his salary to $10 million. That’ll teach Lyin’ Brian.
That’s still more than you’re making here on KCC, Jack…
Not that much more, but still more.