The Lying Anchorman

What happens when the man of nightly news suddenly becomes the news? Brian Williams, arguably one of the medias best known news anchors, is faced with this problem. Recently Williams has been in the news for reporting false information about himself and his reporting in Iraq.

While in Iraq in 2003, Williams reported that he had been in a helicopter that was fired at during the war. He claimed that his helicopter had to make a crash landing after taking enemy fire, when in reality, he was not on the helicopter that had been fired at. On Wednesday, Williams apologized publicly on the news for his lie, but it was a weak apology, in my opinion. NBC has declared that they will be investigating more reports in Iraq as well as some of Williams' other work. The network will also look at his work on Hurricane Katrina, specifically. 

When Americans think of the nightly news, I think the anchorman that would come to mind to most is Brian Williams. He is the man. So, I can see why there has been a lot of criticism and backlash regarding this news. Some have even questioned whether or not he should resign from the nightly news, which is a fair question in my opinion. What do we do when the man we trust to tell us the truth lies to our faces? No one knows for sure, but I guarantee every American who watches Williams feels disappointed and misguided. By making up an elaborate story to make himself look better and get more ratings, it shows that he is not the trusted news anchor we thought he was. He's not reporting for the sake of the viewers; he's doing it for the sake of his paycheck. If Williams were to resign, or get fired, it would have a huge impact on NBC. NBC averages 9.3 million viewers for the nightly broadcast, almost 1 million over ABC and 2 million for CBS. NBC has been pretty quiet regarding the issue, and I don't think they would ever fire Williams, despite the bad press. Like I said before, he is the face of the nightly news, and responsible for 9.3 million viewers, so what would they do without him?

As we all know, the media plays a huge role in our lives today. It's no wonder that viewers are so upset; they feel betrayed by someone they trusted to tell them what's going on in the world. Does this "news" change the way we might look and trust the news?