![\"Photo](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/254\/2015\/02\/brian-williams.jpg\")
<\/a>I\u2019ve been looking at videos of Brian Williams. The thing that jumps out at me is that he has been more of a personality than a journalist for quite a while.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s something vaguely trashy about the anchor of a network\u00a0news show performing as he does in these videos. However, it goes a long way toward explaining his I Caught a Fish THAT BIG story about coming under fire in Iraq. That story was part of the Brian Williams act, the Brian Williams persona.<\/p>\n
All this is in keeping with the way \u201cnews\u201d has been trending for a long time. On cable news channels, they don\u2019t so much report the news as they talk about it.<\/p>\n
Each of the cable channels brings in \u201cexperts\u201d of one sort or the other to dice up some itty bitty story or an itty bitty aspect of a large story that they\u2019ve decided to focus on. Invariably, this chosen aspect they are going to dissect with talk, talk, talk is something that they can massage to put forth the slant, the bias, of that particular network. The \u201cexperts\u201d viewpoints reflect the cable \u201cnews\u201d channel\u2019s bias, as well.<\/p>\n
On network news, there\u2019s a bit more reporting, but they have been overtaken by the star power of their anchors. The whole idea of a journalist being a \u201cstar\u201d is antithetical to journalism. When the guy reading the news becomes bigger than the news he\u2019s reading, we get a messy, viewpoint-driven version of events that veers haplessly toward propaganda and flat-out lying.<\/p>\n
What I\u2019m saying is that \u201cnews\u201d as it\u2019s being served up to the American people on television is one part trashy entertainment, complete with verbal pushing and shoving, one part star bias, one part network bias and a smidge of actual reporting.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s why news channels report, report, report non-news about one story: It\u2019s cheaper to produce and easier to do than actual journalism.<\/p>\n
The problem we are experiencing with our free press, at least on television, is that it\u2019s not a free press. In fact, it\u2019s not a press at all. It\u2019s a corporate-owned propaganda machine that is being used to drive public opinion in order to control rather than inform the populace.<\/p>\n
Brian Williams, star anchor and teller of tall tales, is just a symptom of the overall lack of credibility and journalistic chops in our money-driven television news empires. He\u2019s just a good looking guy who reads the news.<\/p>\n
I\u2019d rather have homely folks who report the news without becoming the news themselves.<\/p>\n
Brian Williams\u2019 apology.<\/p>\nhttp:\/\/youtu.be\/sW6AbX2q0fM<\/a>\n Brian Williams, describing the helicopter story in 2003, before it became the I Caught a Fish THIS BIG story.<\/p>\nhttp:\/\/youtu.be\/Bdrtoy8P3po<\/a>\n Brian Willaims, telling the full I Caught a Fish THIS BIG story on Letterman.<\/p>\nhttp:\/\/youtu.be\/xS3NAwZ4hGk<\/a>\n Brian Williams\u2019 newscast in which tells his I Caught a Fish THIS BIG on NBC news. The self-promotion in this is shameless.<\/p>\n