…and in this case, ruin the career you’ve probably worked very, very hard for – for DECADES.
I’m sorry if that is blunt, but the more and more I let this story boil in my brain… the more bitter I get.
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When I first heard about this, I wasn’t really sure what to think. Well actually, the first thing I thought was – maybe he has some version of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. WQAD has done some stories on PTSD in the past and I know it’s nothing to turn your back on… However, after this week, I really don’t think that’s the case with Brian Williams. I think it has to do with one thing and one thing only – ego.
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“Before that, I was Executive Producer of Special Broadcasts. Before that, I was Executive Producer of the NBC Nightly News. Before that, I worked in London. I was the NBC Bureau Chief for the London Bureau. Before that, I worked at WMAQ in Chicago. Before that, I worked at WHAS in Louisville.”
To which I responded — “Before that, you were born.” — and we both laughed.
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That’s why the second thing I thought of when I started to learn more about this was – Williams must have just been under so much pressure to be the best of the best. I always tell my husband, Zach, that this job is so different than any other because you are expected to be on top of your game every. single. day. There’s no – “Ugh, it’s just not clicking today. I’ll try again tomorrow.” You have a daily deadline and you meet it…. whether it’s clicking or not. If you don’t have a story, you go out and find one. If you have an opportunity to make that story better, you better. I feel that pressure every day… but it’s probably 1% of what network anchors, reporters, producers, and photographers go through. We all deal with ratings four months out of the year, every year… except the outcome of their ratings could be the difference between being promoted or unemployed the very next day. It could make your dreams become reality… or shatter them into a bunch of pieces of “coulda,” “shoulda,” “woulda.”
With that said though, there’s still absolutely no reason to lie as a way to get to the top. Okay, if you’re out on a fishing trip and come home and say you caught something a teeny tiny bit bigger than what you actually caught – Yeah, I get that. If you make a story a little bit more theatrical to impress your friends or some random person at a bar – I get that. However, when your career and credibility is based on telling the truth… you can’t lie to your viewers! You also can’t lie to talk show hosts and their viewers, your colleagues (some of whom were there and know it’s not true), your friends, and you definitely can’t lie to students who look up to you and want to follow in your footsteps.
The reason I say that last part is because of what Mr. Angotti said in his interview:
“He had too many instances and not ‘on the air’ problems so much as just talking to students at different schools like Columbia and different things like that where he just became very boastful and he elaborated on stories. There was no need to do that. He was a successful anchor and a successful journalist and why he kept on this boasting thing I don’t know. It doesn’t make sense.”
Apparently, it made sense to others, though. Mr. Angotti said it sounds like those in management brushed off some of the warning signs, but even he noticed something was up:
“In recent years, I’ve gone back a number of times to visit friends and everything and I’ve had lunch with him [Brian Williams] and watched him in the newsroom and I could see this kind of change coming… of stardom.”
“As one producer at NBC told me, he was becoming so boastful and he always seemed to have an entourage that followed him around wherever he went, so it was something that people were noticing and from everything I’ve heard, there were people who were going to the management saying – there’s a problem here and you better do something about it – but nothing was ever done.”
“There were a lot of warnings that were coming from news staff about Brian Williams’ excessiveness in terms of appearing on too many talk shows, entertainment shows, boasting about what he had done… and [management] knew about that. I mean, there were a lot of people on the news staff, producers, and other correspondents who warned [management] that things were getting out of hand, but [management] chose to ignore them — probably because it was helping build an image for Brian and improving his ratings.”
There you have it. From the Journalist – who Mr. Angotti says was very serious about his job as he worked his way up to the role of Managing Editor and Anchor of “NBC Nightly News” – to the Celebrity.
Ego.
Mr. Angotti calls Williams a “victim of his own making” and a great example of how the line is getting blurrier and blurrier between news and entertainment. This topic has become the center of his lessons to future journalists – students who are trying to figure out how to tackle an industry that annually makes the “most stressful jobs” list every year, that’s different every day, that has you working weird hours in sporadic environments with controversial pay, that has people constantly bouncing around from one market to the next. It’s really an industry unlike any other and maybe that’s why the rules, the ethics, and the truth are sometimes lost.
“There are too many news organizations that are straying from being responsible news organizations and getting caught up in celebrity and other things,” said Mr. Angotti at the beginning of his interview.
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“There are too many students graduating from school who choose to be journalists because they want to be known, they want a celebrity life, and that’s unfortunate.”
I asked: “How do we prevent that from happening? How do we prevent this from happening again?”
He said: “I tell them that there are great temptations in this business, because there is this blurred line between entertainment and news. The danger is that too many people are beginning to step over that line or blur that line and that’s what they have to be careful about.”
“Journalism should always come first. Reporting should always come first. Celebrity should be something that stays in the background. You have to be careful not to let that surface because you can become a star easily on television news.”
I will never forget this next part. I actually copied and pasted this quote, so I could print it out, display it on my desk, and look at it every day:
“You remember that you have a job to do as a journalist and that job is seeking the truth.”
That job is seeking the truth… through telling the stories of your community just as they are and accepting them just as they are. Sometimes they’re good. Sometimes they’re bad. Sometimes they make you cry as you’re writing them. Sometimes they have little to no effect on you at all. Sometimes they go national. Sometimes even you forget what that story was you did last week about that person or thing or something or other… It doesn’t matter. You tell that story the way it’s meant to be told… by telling the truth.
Now, I know I’m just a mid-market anchor/reporter who has no dreams of making it “big” (actually, my dream is making it “big” as an anchor in the Quad Cities and I think that’s pretty awesome, thank you very much), but what worries me is what this whole ordeal says about anchors, reporters, producers – anyone who has anything to do with news – in every market across the country. Do you trust us anymore?
That’s always been my biggest fear – that people just lump us all together. Some of my friends like to make fun of me in that way… saying something critical about the media and then saying “Yeah, Angie!” like it’s my fault. Or assuming that I have power or elite status over others because I am in this position. I hate that.
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My third and final thought about all this is that there is little to no way Williams will be able to redeem himself. There are many theories about the six-month suspension. Some say it’s so NBC has some more time to investigate all of Williams’ stories he’s done, like the ones about Hurricane Katrina. Others say the six-month suspension is very timely, because in mid-August – when his punishment is up – television news viewership is at its lowest point and it gives NBC enough time to see how viewers react to Williams before the next ratings period in November. Who knows what will happen – even Mr. Angotti says he’s not sure – but I do know this:
We are not all the same. There are people in the news business – especially in this market and I’m not just talking about here at WQAD – who work really, really hard to bring you stories that are informative, interesting, and inspiring about people who are also working really, really hard. The WQAD Brand Statement is about celebrating those who get the job done and exposing those who don’t. Our job – my job – is seeking the truth. I will not stray from that rule and right as a journalist. No matter what.
– A
Well, that was a little intense, Ang. I promise to have some lighter topics to balance out this one later this week – get ready for #WorkItWednesday & #FashionFriday on The Sharp Side!