Appearing on Fox News’ MediaBuzz on Sunday, David Zurawik, television and media critic for the Baltimore Sun, blasted NBC News’ decision to bring back Brian Williams after serving a six month suspension for lying about his reporting at the network.
Although Williams was demoted from Nightly News anchor to the breaking news desk at MSNBC, Zurawik said NBC should “just end its relationship with him” and argued that when it comes to Williams “a lie is a lie and a liar is a liar.”
Zurawik seemed baffled that NBC would say Williams isn't “trustworthy enough to be the anchor for NBC News but he is for MSNBC” before he suggested that NBC should “banish” the former Nightly News anchor from the network forever:
All this other stuff of, you know, that statement from NBC saying well most of it he didn't say on the air on NBC platforms. No, it’s still a lie. I mean, the moral reasoning here is so tortured that you have to wonder why would NBC not just end its relationship with him.
After host Howard Kurtz said he “felt sympathy” for Williams after his interview with Matt Lauer, he noted that both NBC and Williams seemed unable to reveal the details of the network's investigation:
Now, it was very noteworthy, and Matt Lauer called him on it, that he wouldn't say I lied. What was also noteworthy was that he was given two opportunities to say well, what else did you not tell the truth about and he deflected the question.
And NBC not putting out its internal report, its internal investigation of these problems. What would NBC reporters say if the government said, well, we’ve looked at this and it's bad but we’re not going to tell you details.
Despite Kurtz’s suggestion that Williams’ move to MSNBC was an attempt to salvage is more than 20 year career with NBC, Zurawik maintained that when it comes to journalism you must have “standards” and thus Williams does not deserve a second chance at the network:
People who dissemble, people who lie in the news business, if you give everybody a second chance, we're going to have no standards. Nobody wants to see somebody go through really bad stuff like he went through but you have to have standards.
See relevant transcript below.
Fox News’ MediaBuzz
June 21, 2015
HOWARD KURTZ: Joining us now for the “Z Block” is David Zurawik, television and media critic for the Baltimore Sun. Now you called for Brian Williams to be banished from Nightly News at the very beginning of this mess. What about those who say the punishment is too harsh?
DAVID ZURAWIK: You know, Howie, if credibility is what you base a news division on, it's what you sell, how can not banishing him be a good idea? And why do you move him from NBC, you say he’s not trustworthy enough to be the anchor for NBC News but he is for MSNBC.
KURTZ: You anticipated my next question. If credibility is the issue, what about credibility of MSNBC?
ZURAWIK: It says -- what would a potential viewer to MSNBC say? It's like you run an accounting firm and one of the accountants stole from your of your clients and you say rather than firing him we’re going to move him from the-list of clients down to the b-list of clients. No, nobody’s going to be happy. He stole, he stole.
That's the point Howie. A lie is a lie and a liar is a liar. That's why I said banish him. All this other stuff of, you know, that statement from NBC saying well most of it he didn't say on the air on NBC platforms. No, it’s still a lie. I mean, the moral reasoning here is so tortured that you have to wonder why would NBC not just end its relationship with him.
KURTZ: It was obviously a compromise decision. I have to say that he was contrite in that interview. I felt sympathy for him as a guy who basically imploded his career by not telling the truth. Now, it was very noteworthy, and Matt Lauer called him on it, that he wouldn't say I lied. What was also noteworthy was that he was given two opportunities to say well, what else did you not tell the truth about and he deflected the question. And NBC not putting out its internal report, its internal investigation of these problems. What would NBC reporters say if the government said, well, we’ve looked at this and it's bad but we’re not going to tell you details.
ZURAWIK: Yeah, and you know they had trouble even in their statement, even in their release, they were calling it at one point -- they started out calling it an investigation back in February. Now they’re calling it a review. I mean, they can't even get their story straight about what they do. I would disagree with you about that interview.
Al Tompkins at Poynter Institute had a piece and he said he thought it was a disaster. And he said Brian Williams did what some children and criminals do. All of this happened to him. He wasn't the active agent. And he really is. If you look at it, there is a lot of that. He couldn't admit he lied. Something inside of him made him do this.
KURTZ: He said it was a dark place.
ZURAWIK: You know, why isn't that dark place going to rear up when he's doing a plane crashed into the World Trade Center live on TV.
KURTZ: Well, it’s an effort to give him a chance after a 20 or 22-year career at the network to rehabilitate himself. One of the things is even though MSNBC wants to move more toward straight news in the daytime, Brian Williams still going to be on the network of Rachel Maddow, Ed Schultz, Chris Matthews, Al Sharpton.
ZURAWIK: In terms of second chance Howie let me just say this. Jason Blair didn't get a second chance. Stephen Glass didn't get a second chance. People who dissemble, people who lie in the news business, if you give everybody a second chance, we're going to have no standards. Nobody wants to see somebody go through really bad stuff like he went through but you have to have standards. That's all I'm saying about this. So when people say to me everybody deserves a second chance, Americans are forgiving. No, they're forgiving to some of the people connected who are elites. You reported the Jason Blair story. You don't hear anybody said let's give Jason a second chance, no.
KURTZ: He was an intentional serial fabricator. Look, Brian Williams, obviously by NBC’s own reporting, didn't tell the truth on a number of instances. The problem is we don't know what those other instances are. The other thing is the news division at NBC, the rank and file really revolted against him coming back to Nightly News. That's why Lester Holt now has the job.
ZURAWIK: Good for them and good for Lester Holt. Lester Holt deserves this.
KURTZ: He’s a class act.
