This past week, we learned startling news about the involvement of one of television’s biggest news anchors with a false news story. On Feb. 10, NBC News President Deborah Turness announced that “NBC Nightly News” host Brian Williams will be suspended from the network for a period of six months as a result of falsely reporting an event that occurred during his coverage of the invasion of Iraq in 2003. Over a period of 10 years, Williams reported that he was aboard a Chinook helicopter that was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade and was forced to land. The situation came to a head on Jan. 30 of this year when, after repeating the story again, members of the helicopter crew criticised his claims. Williams then recanted the story.
Following this revelation, Williams was criticized even further. Audience members even scrutinized his reporting during the events of Hurricane Katrina and the comments he made about his experiences there in a 2006 interview.
Journalists often come under fire for their reporting, but do not often have to deal with repercussions of this degree of severity. Williams’ suspension means viewers will see a new face on the television. But just how will Williams’ suspension from NBC affect the company’s role in the news industry?
Audience members do not often see a change of faces when it comes to nightly news programs. For any prime-time network news program, the audience always looks for a familiar face to present the day’s top stories. Quality news has a brand name, and any corporation that plays tricks with its brand is subject to criticism. This new revelation is sure to shake up broadcast media and the audience that follows this critically-acclaimed program.
Readers and viewers alike are wired to appreciate a journalist’s credibility. To the millennial generation Williams is similar to Walter Cronkite, a news anchor praised for his credibility, who instilled a sense of trustworthiness during his broadcasts. When he retired from his position as the “CBS Evening News” anchorman, he left behind an empty void and his successor, Dan Rather, could not maintain the stellar ratings the show originally received, dropping to No. 3 behind “NBC Nightly News” and “ABC World News Tonight.”
Lester Holt will be the interim anchorman during Williams’ suspension. As the frontman for the weekend editions of the program, Holt already has made some headway with viewers. His presence will not totally bust NBC’s ratings, but a fluctuation should be expected since his style is unfamiliar.
In an interview with The Christian Science Monitor, Joe Peyronnin, an associate journalism professor at Hofstra University and adjunct professor at New York University, shed some light on what can happen when an anchor leaves their position: “In a case like that of NBC’s Brian Williams, it’s more than one man’s or even a network’s reputation, but millions of dollars in ad revenue and ratings at stake. For most people who watch the news, they form a very tight bond with a news channel and their anchor of choice. It’s very hard to break that bond. For a news organization, it’s smart business, but it comes with a very steep downside.”
The fabrication of the events of that one day in 2003 in Iraq have taken 12 years to resurface and put NBC News on bad ground with the viewing public. Once a journalist’s credibility is lost, it is difficult to regain and even harder to disprove further accusations of inaccuracy while reporting.
NBC has proved time and time again that it is one of the best news corporations on the market. No doubt, they will regain their composure once the issue settles in the next few weeks. We will see how the problem plays out, though, when Williams’ six month suspension is finished.