Conflategate

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News Note: NBC News anchor Brian Williams said Wednesday that he “conflated” memories of an attack on a U.S. helicopter during the 2003 invasion of Iraq. He was not aboard a Chinook helicopter that was hit by rocket fire, even though he made that claim as recently as last week.
 
Press Credibility Fail

“I don’t know what screwed up in my mind that caused me to conflate one aircraft with another. . . .”

“In writing up the synopsis of the 2 nights and 3 days I spent with [Command Sgt. Maj. Tim Terpak] in the desert, I managed to switch aircraft. Nobody’s trying to steal anyone’s valor. Quite the contrary: I was and remain a civilian journalist covering the stories of those who volunteered for duty.”

—Brian Williams, NBC News anchor, in Facebook apology to the troops of the 159th Aviation Regiment in Travis Tritten, “NBC’s Brian Williams recants Iraq story after soldiers protest,” Stars and Stripes, Feb. 4, 2015

• Related: “Brian Williams admits that his story of coming under fire while in Iraq was false,” The Washington Post, Feb. 4, 2015
• Video: Williams apologizes on NBC News, Feb. 4, 2015

• Editorial Comment: Without the public’s faith in their credibility, journalists are song and dance men. And not very good ones.

PeezPix by Ted Pease 

Street Scene












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Ted Pease, Professor of Interesting Stuff, Trinidad, California. (Be)Friend The WORD

“Words are sacred. They deserve respect. If you get the right ones, in the right order, you can nudge the world a little.” —Tom Stoppard
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