Toni-Ann Hall, Staff Writer
Brian Williams is a well-known journalist who is best known for being an NBC Nightly News anchor and editor. According to the Peabody Awards Website, the NBC news team, including Williams, displayed the “highest levels of journalistic excellence” in their coverage and reporting of Hurricane Katrina in 2004. Just 11 years later, this same highly revered news station is under fire for the questionable integrity of the stories that are released on their watch. Brian Williams was suspended from Nightly News in February 2015 for six months for “misrepresent[ing] events which occurred while he was covering the Iraq War in 2003,” according to NBC News President Deborah Turness. Williams claimed in a report that one of the helicopters that he was flying in was hit with a grenade and had to make an emergency landing. A flight engineer, who was on one of the planes that were shot, later criticized the story; and that’s when news enthusiasts and critics weighed in on the issue. This story has been covered by many news sources, and Brian Williams has been judged for his initial actions as well as his apologetic reaction to the controversy.
The bottom line is that the purpose of news stations is to inform citizens. Even though this story has been covered in multiple aspects, some people could care less because it’s not a prison, murder, kidnapping or tragic story—it’s about a fallacy—something each of us are capable of. According to a Gallop poll, 60 percent of Americans do not trust the mass media. Situations like this will only bring that number to an even higher percentage and heighten the political and social barricade-like perceptions that people develop about the impartiality of news stations.
When I decided to apply to be a staff writer for The Sentinel, I was one month into being a high school graduate with a love for writing. I wanted to find a way to turn my occasional and passionate hobby into a stable and passionate hobby. I’m not one to search for controversy, but I will address issues when I find it necessary and pertinent to do so. At times, I become uncomfortable with “taking sides” because I don’t believe that it is an honest reflection of my thought process. I aim to see all three sides to an issues: what’s really happening, what the affirmative side believes and what the opposing side believes. Even if I hold my own strong opinions, I am typically on a journey of understanding an issue before I attempt go around discussing it, much less claiming to have even an ounce of expertise concerning it. There are few things in life that I view in black and white.
If I am misinformed, biased, or nonchalant about an issue, I find it necessary to state that when approaching a story or an opinion piece. After all, it is my opinion and there is more to having a stance than just left and right. My goals as a writer is to push myself to be more comfortable in written form of self-expression, introduce or further drive the possibility for readers to analyze themselves and their thoughts about the particular issue at hand. It is never my aim to compel others to switch sides, because even if I completely appalled by an opposite view and I don’t see myself thinking differently, I still respect it. Much like how I am free to disagree, agree or be in the process of making a decision, so is every other person without the platform of written expression for the public—even if it’s just a university newspaper. Although I provide commentary on news, rather than reporting it, I would hate to have people turn away from my work because they think that is fabricated and dishonest. If people don’t want to read The Sentinel or my pieces because there is an abundance of grammatical, content-related or stylistic issues present, that is reasonable and understandable. But if there is a decrease in the credibility of the newspaper due to my own replacement of fact versus fable, then that could reflect negatively on the university and the entire staff of editors and writers. It’s an inconsiderate, ego-boosting, intrinsic action that is hard to push through.
If you are passionate about something and have attained a certain level of trust through audience and employers, it is not an excuse to slack off and have an “everything goes” attitude. Much like notice of accomplishments spread, so do notices of wrong doings. The Brian William controversy is yet another reminder that everything follows us and can come back to bite, whether we are in the spotlight or in the background.
