By: Ted Nugent
What’s worse – getting caught lying about doing your job or flat out failing to do your job?
The First Amendment of the sacred Bill of Rights is not a license to lie, but rather a reminder for “we the people” not to let anyone get away with it.
Former “NBC Nightly News” host Tom Brokaw, has called for NBC to drop the ax on the show’s current anchor, “the most trusted name in journalism,” Brian Williams, for lying about taking fire in a helicopter in Iraq.
Apparently, Mr. Williams has told other whoppers as well, such as seeing a dead body floating by his New Orleans hotel during Hurricane Katrina. This should be raising the journalism eyebrows of the brass at NBC and anybody who still believes journalism comes with some serious responsibilities.
In a feeble tactical attempt to restore some credibility, Mr. Williams stepped away from his nightly news perch before NBC ultimately suspended him for six months while this dust-up blows over.
Regardless what Williams has done, Brokaw is also guilty of journalistic malfeasance much worse than the lies his successor has apparently told.
While Mr. Brokaw is calling for Mr. Williams’ head, we should remember the discussion Brokaw and Charlie Rose had just a week or so before Barack Obama was elected in 2008. In that conversation, which can be seen on Youtube, Brokaw and Rose discussed what little they, the media, or anybody knew about this Barack Obama community organizer.
Had Tom Brokaw been completely honest during his discussion with Mr. Rose, he would have stated how the media was in the tank for Barack Obama, which is why they didn’t live up to Journalism 101 by performing due diligence on Mr. Obama. Brokaw failed, many believe intentionally, to do his journalism job and encourage other reporters to do their jobs. For that, no one should ever listen to what this semi-retired windbag has to say.
Williams’ current predicament is much ado about nothing, for two reasons. First, hardly anyone watches the NBC, ABC or CBS nightly news. The Big Three Agenda Gang has been sliding into nightly news irrelevancy for years. Secondly, poll after poll indicate the majority of Americans don’t trust the media to do its job.
There are millions of Americans who believe the media are guilty of dereliction of journalism duty regarding the Obama administration. The Obama presidency has been plagued with numerous scandals that are arguably much bigger than the Watergate scandal that brought down Tricky Dick, yet the Big Three haven’t dug in their investigative heels on these Obama scandals. Their modus operandi: Nothing to see here, move along, our boy is squeaky clean.
Hillary Clinton is posturing to be the Democratic candidate for the White House in 2016. Similar to Mr. Williams lying about how the helicopter he was riding in took fire in Iraq, Mrs. Clinton lied that she ducked sniper fire during a trip to Bosnia. Like Williams’ apparent lie, Clinton’s claim was also a blatant lie. Truth is, instead of taking sniper fire, Mrs. Clinton was presented a bouquet of flowers by a little girl as she exited the plane in Bosnia.
It will be laughable to watch how the Big Three won’t press Clinton on her sniper-fire lie. It is damnable that they won’t press her about her other blatant lies and other questionable statements and shady incidents that are covered in her deceptive fingerprints.
Reason: Just like Obama, Hillary Clinton will be the media’s darling candidate.
So, Brian Williams apparently lied, embellished the truth. So what? Objectivity, truth and fairness disappeared off the media’s radar screen years ago.
We would all be much wiser if we abandoned the Big Three nightly news dog-and-pony shows outright. As Thomas Jefferson stated, “I do not take a single newspaper, nor read one a month, and I feel myself infinitely happier for it.”
Brian Williams lied about taking fire and Tom Brokaw failed to do his job in vetting a guy with a resume that was pathetically shallow and thin. No one with an ounce of common sense is surprised by the actions of either Williams or Brokaw.
With apologies to Moe, Larry and Curly, the Big Three’s nightly newscasts are the Three Stooges of journalism – and that’s no Pulitzer Prize.