Sue Joseph, Carolyn Rickett







Embedding, embellishing and embarrassing: Brian Williams 'misremembers' but social media reminds him

Brian Williams enjoyed the trust of his organisation and audience for 10 years as NBC's Nightly News anchor and managing editor. But on the night of 30 January 2015 during a broadcast, his high profile status began to unravel. Venerated as a reliable news source, Williams was forced to explain his legendary story of survival one day in the skies above the Iraq War of 2003. His version of an attack on a Chinook helicopter he was travelling in was circulated and valorised by his own corporation for 12 years. But when American soldier Lance Reynolds and other military personnel challenged the veracity of his version, the corporation was forced to suspend him. Williams equates his rewriting and false reporting of this historical event as an act of 'misremembering'. This assertion is a clear breach of the Society of Professional Journalists' code: 'Ethical journalism strives to ensure the free exchange of information that is accurate, fair and thorough. An ethical journalist acts with integrity'.[1] However, the focus of this paper is on the viral audience social media response and the ways in which the production of mocking online tweets and posts served to critique and ridicule Williams's claim of 'misremembering', thus holding him to account. And as such, the ongoing circulation and preservation of memes satirically re-appropriating historical moments, continue to shame Williams and his journalism practice.

Keywords: Brian Williams, 'misremembering', ethics, NBC, rewriting historical events, memes, social media


References

  1. Archer, Dale (2015) Brian Williams misremembers: Could America's most trusted news anchor be a pathological liar?, Psychology Today, 13 February. Available online at https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/reading-between-the-headlines/201502/brian-williams-misremembers, accessed on 4 June 2015
  2. Battaglio, Stephen (2015) NBC News' Brian Williams apologises for incorrect 2003 Iraq story, Sydney Morning Herald, 5 February. Available online at http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/tv-and-radio/nbc-news-brian-williams-apologises-for-incorrect-2003-iraq-story-20150205-136uq8.html#ixzz3byLIwL2x, accessed on 3 June 2015
  3. Bauder, David (2015) NBC assigns its own investigative unit to look into Brian Williams's claims, Globe and Mail, 6 February. Available online at http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/nbc-assigns-its-own-investigative-unit-to-look-into-anchors-claims/article22844379/, accessed on 1 July 2016
  4. Brenhoff, Ann (2015) Thank you Brian Williams for making misremembering legit, Huffington Post, 2 June. Available online at htpp://www.huffingtonpost.com/ann-brenooff/brian-williams-misremembering-legit_b, accessed on 3 July 2016
  5. Burrough, Bryan (2015) The inside story of the civil war for the soul of NBC news, Vanity Fair, May. Available online at http://www.vanityfair.com/news/2015/04/nbc-news-brian-williams-scandal-comcast, accessed on 3 June 2015
  6. Daisey, Mike (2015) We can't rely on corporations like Fox to care about ethics in journalism, Guardian, 7 March. Available online at https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/mar/06/corporations-fox-news-brian-williams-bill-oreilly-ethics-journalism, accessed on 3 July 2016
  7. Foreman, Gene (2010) The ethical journalist: Making responsible decisions in the pursuit of news, West Sussex, John Wiley & Sons
  8. Freed, Benjamin (2015) 7 questions for Travis Tritten, reporter who debunked Brian Williams's helicopter story, Washingtonian, 5 February. Available online at http://www.washingtonian.com/blogs/capitalcomment/media/7-questions-for-travis-tritten-reporter-who-debunked-brian-williamss-helicopter-story.php, accessed on 3 June 2015
  9. Fuller, Jack (2013) What is happening to news: The information explosion and the crisis in journalism, Chicago, University of Chicago Press
  10. Golgowski, Nina (2015) Soldiers blasted Brian Williams about Iraq War story, calling him a 'liar' and 'a fake' ahead of news anchor's confession, Daily News, 5 February. Available online at http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/brian-williams-blasted-soldiers-iraq-war-story-article-1.2104986, accessed on 6 June 2015
  11. Graham, David A. (2015) In defense of Brian Williams's almost-memories, Atlantic, 5 February. Available online at http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2015/02/NBC-Anchor-Brian-Williams-Recants-Iraq-Story-After-Soldiers-Protest/385203/, accessed on 3 June 2015
  12. Grove, Lloyd (2015) Brian Williams' war story is FUBAR, Daily Beast, 5 February. Available online at http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/02/04/brian-williams-taints-his-brand.html, accessed on 5 June 2015
  13. Harper, Christopher (2015) After conflategate, NBC's Brian Williams has to go, Washington Times, 11 February. Available online at http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/feb/11/christopher-harper-brian-williams-must-quit-journa/, accessed on 5 June 2016
  14. Huang, Tom (2014) Storytelling in the digital age, McBride, Kelly and Rosenstiel, Tom (eds) The new ethics of journalism, London, Sage CQ Press pp 39-60
  15. Jonsson, Patrik (2015) NBC probes Brian Williams' dubious anecdotes: Will the 'gist' save him?, Christian Science Monitor, 7 February. Available online at http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Society/2015/0207/NBC-probes-Brian-Williams-dubious-anecdotes-Will-the-gist-save-him-video, accessed on 3 June 2015
  16. Koblin, John and Steel, Emily (2015) Brian Williams gets new role at lower salary, New York Times, 18 June. Available online at http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/19/business/media/brian-williams-nbc-lester-holt.html?_r=0, accessed on 28 June 2016
  17. Konynenbelt, Daryl (2015) The rise of social media was Brian Williams' downfall, Huffington Post, updated 14 April. Available online at http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/darryl-konynenbelt/brian-williams-lie_b_6663878.html, accessed on 1 July 2016
  18. Lefebvre, Rob (2015) 10 hilarious memes that prove Brian Williams can't escape the internet, 9 February. Available online at http://www.cultofmac.com/311556/10-hilarious-memes-prove-brian-williams-cant-escape-internet/, accessed on 11 June 2015
  19. Mazza, Ed (2015) Jon Stewart diagnoses Brian Williams with 'infotainment confusion syndrome', Huffington Post, 10 February. Available online at http://www.huffingtonpost.com.au/entry/jon-stewart-brian-williams_n_6650650.html?section=australia, accessed on 10 June 2015
  20. Miles, Aaron (2015) Social media's role in the downfall of Brian Williams, 23 June. Available online at http://www.socialmediatoday.com/social-networks/aweiner/2015-06-23/social-medias-role-downfall-brian-williams, accessed on 30 June 2016
  21. O'Hehir, Andrew (2015) Downfall of a simulated celebrity: Brian Williams, Max Headroom and the performance of credibility, Salon, 22 February. Available online at http://www.salon.com/2015/02/21/downfall_of_a_simulated_celebrity_brian_williams_max_headroom_and_the_performance_of_credibility/, accessed on 3 June 2015
  22. Pavlik, John V. (2008) Journalism in the digital age, New York, Columbia University Press
  23. Parker, Ryan (2015) https://twitter.com/theryanparker/status/564198173510336512
  24. Pitts, Leonard (2015) Brian Williams and the loss of credibility, Miami Herald, 10 February. Available online at http://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/opn-columns-blogs/leonard-pitts-jr/article9701108.html, accessed on 3 July 2016
  25. Poniewozik, James (2015) Why Brian Williams lost his job, and why he has a new one, Time, 18 June. Available online at http://time.com/3926988/brian-williams-nbc-fired-new-show/, accessed on 1 July 2016
  26. Rintel, Sean (2014) Explainer: what are memes?, Conversation, 13 January. Available online at http://theconversation.com/explainer-what-are-memes-20789, accessed on 2 June 2015
  27. Reuters (2015) Brian Williams, NBC news anchor, suspended for six months without pay for 'misremembering' Iraq incident, ABC, 11 February. Available online at http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-02-11/biran-williams-nbc-nightly-news-suspended-iraq-misstatement/6085638, accessed on 2 June 2015
  28. Rosen, Jay (2001) What are journalists for? New Haven, Yale University Press
  29. Schudson, Michael (2003) The sociology of news, New York, W. W. Norton & Company
  30. Shifman, Limor (2013) Memes in a digital world: Reconciling with a conceptual troublemaker, Journal of Computer Mediated Communication, Vol. 18 pp 362-377
  31. Somaiya, Ravi (2015) Brian Williams scandal shows power of social media, New York Times, 21 June. Available online at http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/22/business/media/brian-williams-scandal-shows-power-of-social-media.html?hpw&rref=television&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=well-region®ion=bottom-well&WT.nav=bottom-well&_r=0, accessed on 1 July 2016
  32. Society of Professional Journalists Code of Ethics (n.d.) Available online at http://www.spj.org/ethicscode.asp, accessed on June 3 2015
  33. Stephens, Mitchell (2014) Beyond news: The future of journalism, New York, Columbia University Press
  34. Tritten, Travis J. (2015a) NBC's Brian Williams recants Iraq story after soldiers protest, Stars and Stripes, 4 February. Available online at http://www.stripes.com/news/us/nbc-s-brian-williams-recants-iraq-story-after-soldiers-protest-1.327792, accessed on 2 June 2015
  35. Tritten, Travis J. (2015b) Brian Williams's apology draws mixed reviews from mission vets, Stars and Stripes, 5 February. Available online at http://www.stripes.com/news/us/brian-williams-apology-draws-mixed-reviews-from-mission-vets-1.327935, accessed on 2 June 2015
  36. Warren, James (2015) Brian Williams's return: back to the future and the search for redemption, 18 September. Available online at http://www.poynter.org/2015/brian-williams-return-back-to-the-future-and-the-search-for-redemption/373850/, accessed on 29 June 2016
  37. Wemple, Erik (2015) NBC News's Brian Williams recants story about taking incoming fire during Iraq war coverage, Washington Post, 4 February. Available online at http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/erik-wemple/wp/2015/02/04/nbc-newss-brian-williams-recants-story-about-taking-incoming-fire-during-iraq-war-coverage/, accessed on 3 June 2015
  38. Williams, Brian (2015) A personal note from Brian Williams. NBC News, 7 February. Available online at http://press.nbcnews.com/2015/02/07/a-personal-note-from-brian-williams/, accessed on 1 July 2016

Note on the contributor

Dr Sue Joseph has been a journalist for more than thirty five years, working both in Australia and the UK. As Senior Lecturer, Joseph teaches across the undergraduate and postgraduate programmes at UTS, in both the journalism and writing schools. She has published four books: She's my wife, he's just sex (1997), The literary journalist and degrees of detachment: An ethical investigation (2009), Speaking secrets (2012) and Behind the text: Candid conversations with Australian creative nonfiction writers (2016). Last year, she co-edited two books: The profiling handbook and Profile pieces: Journalism and the 'human interest' bias. Her research interests have been around sexuality, secrets and confession, framed by the media, trauma narrative, HDR supervision, creative nonfiction and literary journalism, memoir and creative writing, including poetry and short stories.

Dr Carolyn Rickett is an Assistant Dean of Research, Senior Lecturer in Communication and creative arts practitioner at Avondale College of Higher Education. She has worked as co-ordinator for the New Leaves writing project, an initiative for people who have experienced or are experiencing the trauma of a life-threatening illness. Together with Judith Beveridge, she is co-editor of the New Leaves poetry anthology. Other anthologies she has co-edited with Judith include Wording the world, Here, not there and A way of happening. Carolyn's research publications include the areas of: trauma studies, writing as therapeutic intervention, memoir, cancer narratives, journalism, literary studies, poetry praxis and professional ethics.