Daily Commentary – Tuesday, April 28, 2015 – Reports Are That NBC is Trying to Force Brian Williams to Resign

• He has a 50 million dollar contract and could get as much as $30 million to resign

Daily Commentary – Tuesday, April 28, 2015 Download

Politico Reports NBC Pressures Brian Williams to Resign

Looks like NBC is trying to give Lying Brian Williams the squeeze …

According to The Politico, NBC News brass is trying to shame suspended news anchor Brian Williams into resigning. One of those not so good stories regarding Williams was that according to their internal investigation, Williams appears to have embellished reporting stories at least 11 times.

Longtime broadcast executives say a triple crown of leaks about Brian Williams late last week appear to be an effort by NBC News to shame him into resigning, to avoid the messiness and possible additional expense of the firing. The brutal leaks were designed to send the message to Brian Williams and his superlawyer, Robert Barnett: “You’re dead. Now negotiate.”

This is the effect of the leaks, if not the intention. NBC insiders say his return is still possible. Look for a resolution over the next several weeks.

Williams was reported to be under a contract of as much as $50 million (five years, at up to $10 million each). Speculation is that he’ll get $20 million to $30 million to leave. The $20 million camp says that he’s so weak, he’ll get less than 50 cents on the dollar. The $30 million camp says Brian has plenty of ways to embarrass the bosses and colleagues who threw him under the bus, and NBC should stop the bleeding/leaking. “He knows things, too,” a wise man pointed out.

THE LEAKS:

• WashPost’s Paul Farhi reported on the front of Friday’s Style section, “NBC’s D.C. news bureau opposed Brian Williams’s return as anchor” (online: … D.C. bureau strongly opposed … Williams’s return in February”)
• NYT’s Ravi Somaiya reported above fold of Saturday’s Business front (with A1 tease), “NBC Inquiry Into Anchor Is Said to Get New Grist”: “[Discrepancies are evident in accounts given by Mr. Williams in February 2011 [about his reporting from Egypt’s Tahrir Square] … In an appearance that month with Jon Stewart on ‘The Daily Show,’ Mr. Williams described his reporting from the square. …
• “Subsequent reports said that Mr. Williams was reporting ‘from a balcony overlooking Tahrir Square,’ rather than from inside the square itself … [E]mployees in the news division provided examples for the investigating team to look into, flagging instances in which they thought Mr. Williams had exaggerated.”
• Farhi reported online Saturday: “NBC News finds Brian Williams embellished at least 11 times.”

Not Looking Good For Brian Willaims … NBC News Finds Brian Williams Embellished At Least 11 Times

As Spinal Tap’s Nigel Tufnel explains about amps and Brian Williams embellishments, this one goes to eleven!!!

When will Brian Williams return to NBC News, if ever? Back in February, NBC News suspended Brian Williams for 6 months without pay for his his faux Iraq war news story in 2003. It only took NBC News more than a decade to get to the bottom of this situation and Williams may never have been suspended at all if he had just shut his trap and stopped telling the false story. However, the NBC internal investigation of their news anchor has turned up at least 11 instances in which Williams publicly embellished details of his reporting exploits. 11!!! Good grief, the New York Times is reporting that NBC is looking into whether Williams fibbed about his reporting during Egypt’s Arab Spring.

Brian Williams’ suspension ends in August; however, I will find it impossible to believe that they could ever bring him back. All a news anchor has is their credibility to report the news and with 11 embellishments to his credit, Williams news cred is shot.

A months-long internal investigation of Brian Williams by NBC News has turned up 11 instances in which the anchorman publicly embellished details of his reporting exploits, according to a person familiar with details of the probe.

NBC undertook the examination of Williams’ statement after he apologized in early February for saying on “NBC Nightly News” that a military helicopter in which he was traveling at the start of the Iraq War had been damaged by rocket fire. His account was challenged by soldiers who were on the flight, leading to a furor that prompted NBC to suspend Williams for six months without pay and to investigate other statements he’s made.

The Iraq claim was one of the 11 suspect statements that a team of NBC News journalists has identified during the inquiry, said the individual, who asked not to be identified because he isn’t authorized to talk about an internal matter.

The investigators, led by NBC News senior executive producer Richard Esposito, have also raised doubts about Williams’ comments about his experiences covering Israel’s military action against Hezbollah in Lebanon in 2006. In an interview with a student-run television station at Fairfield University in Connecticut in 2007, Williams said he saw rockets passing “just beneath” the Israel helicopter in which he was traveling. But Williams gave a less harrowing account of the same trip in an NBC News blog a year earlier

Daily Commentary – Wednesday, April 22, 2015 – Chief of Fox News, Roger Ailes, Opens Up to the Hollywood Reporter

• They talked to him about Hillary Clinton, Brian Williams and answers personal questions

The Dana Pretzer Show – Tuesday, March 10, 2015 – With Special Guests Fred Rosen and Dr. Dale Archer

LISTEN TO THE DANA PRETZER SHOW ON SCARED MONKEYS RADIO AT 9 PM ET

• Fred Rosen: Author and on air consultant to Investigation Discovery
• Dr Dale Archer. Discussing Brian Williams, Bill Cosby and Jodi Arias

LISTEN TONIGHT LIVE AT 9 PM ET

The Dana Pretzer Show – Tuesday, March 10, 2015 Download Podcast