Good to be King
By King Harris

For 20 years of my life, I was a local television news anchor, and for more than half that time, a news director as well, so it shouldn’t be much of a surprise that I’ve been following with great interest the salacious saga of former NBC news anchor Brian Williams, who was suspended earlier this year then demoted last week for embellishing several news accounts that he was involved in.
I blame NBC for letting the situation get out of hand as it did, but as far as I’m concerned William’s first big mistake is that he let it get away from him.
It’s easy to do when you are suddenly thrust into the spotlight and become the celebrity that everyone else thinks you are.
It’s an ego trip just waiting to happen when your real purpose for being there was to present in the most effective way you could, news reports and features that would have some value to your viewers. Credibility here was the key, and that’s not something you build in just one day.
Trust was essential. The goal of smaller market anchors and reporters was to advance to the three major networks, which no longer have the influence they once did due to the rise of cable and other information sources.
People don’t have to wait any longer for the nightly news when they have all they need in the palm of their hand. It’s been interesting to me that since the 1970’s (think “Anchorman”) not much has changed in local TV news: usually two co-anchors, a weather guy (excuse me, meteorologist) and a sports guy, all competing with each other for happy chatter. Back to you guys…
Before entertainment entered the TV news arena, and it was bound to, there were in the black and white days, veteran radio journalists making the transition from radio to television, from Murrow to Pearson to Huntley and Brinkley to Cronkite, some even wearing hats on the anchor desk.
But they were judged on their journalistic expertise. None would have ever appeared on a late night television show, they were newsmen, not entertainers. They represented network news, the pinnacle of truth, honesty, and respect.
So what is Brian Williams doing appearing on the David Letterman Show, or other venues like it? What is he trying to prove, or reveal? Is it all about him, or his responsibility?
From all that I’ve read about his trials and tribulations, during his 10-year tenure as NBC’s anchor, no one in management was overseeing his duties, and he got little respect from many of his co-workers.
Mix that with arrogance, pomposity, and ego, along with lies about his mission in the Iraq War (I mean, how do you claim your helicopter was shot down when it wasn’t?), along with Comcast Corporate brass who know next to nothing about running a news department, and you’ve got a volatile situation that’s bound to lead to disaster.
Plus appointing him with a position at MSNBC, followed by an insincere apology isn’t, I feel, going to fix NBC’s credibility problem. Thank God the network has Lester Holt to turn to.
As for the glory days of the network anchor, the nights when the likes of Cronkite, Jennings, and Brokaw graced the screen, I’m afraid they are long gone.
The older generations may cling to what has become an anachronism, but the younger generations and others will find somewhere else to get the information they need. And that’s too bad. We need media pros we can trust now more than ever.