Should NBC fire Brian Williams?

Brian Williams has recently been suspended from NBC for six months due to the fabrication of news stories that occurred during the war in Iraq and Hurricane Katrina. Many questions loom, such as: should Brian Williams be fired or suspended?

 

In my opinion, the suspension is acceptable and a firing would be non-beneficial for both parties involved. Brian Williams is a major face for the network of NBC, and if he were to be fired, NBC could lose core fans who accept and forgive what Williams has done. Someone of Brian Williams’ caliber would surely be hired if NBC did decide to fire him. Williams surely bolstered the NBC Nightly News viewers and his loss would cause their viewership to stagger.

America is deemed or thought of as the land of second chances, as in “Brian Williams’ fib,” an article by Jules Witcover for the Baltimore Sun and “Was Brian Williams a Victim of False Memory?” an article by Tara Parker-Pope for the New York Times states that famous leaders in America have fabricated stories before and have seemingly been forgiven. One prime example was Hillary Clinton embellishing a story that she was under sniper fire in Bosnia, which she later admitted she got her facts wrong.

Famous media personalities are subjected to much more media criticism than those of lesser fame. I’ll provide three notable incidents in recent years. Famous football player, Michael Vick was suspended from the NFL in 2007 for dog fighting in which he was later reinstated. In 2009, popular music artist, Chris Brown, pleaded guilty to a felony assault on then-girlfriend Rihanna, where he received probation and eventually began to make music again. Popular football player, Ray Rice had footage released of him punching his then-fiancée Janay Palmer last year where he was suspended then eventually reinstated.

These famous personalities committed more heinous crimes, that involved legal issues, than Williams. These individuals lost royalties, sponsor ships, and even their salary because of their atrocious actions, but in the end these individuals were reinstated or allowed to return to their profession regardless of the media’s view on them.

The mortal sin of journalism is in fact plagiarism, embellishment, and fabricating, but to demonize a man for making mistakes is not just.There are ways to amend the actions of one’s mistakes. Michael Vick became of face for PETA, Chris Brown made a public statement apologizing for his actions and so did Ray Rice.I’m not justifying what they did was right, their actions were morally wrong and traumatizing, but after the dust settled they returned to the profession that allowed them to reach the platform they have today.

Some may provide the argument that the guys previously mentioned are not held to a standard such as those of a journalist, but I viewed the issue as an employer managing an employee. The NFL manages its players in legal trouble. The NFL has guidelines for first and second offenses. Plagiarism is not a guideline to be broken but for many news organizations, but I would assume the first offense would not result in termination, simply a corrective, which NBC has already done in suspending Williams.

The one exception was Jason Blair. In a Baltimore Sun article titled, “The making of Jayson Blair,” by David Folkenflik, substantial evidence proved Blair built his career off plagiarizing, embellishing, and fabricating stories. Currently we don’t know how many stories Williams embellished but if the situation remains unchanged, Williams should keep his job.