Lewis Donohew: Fox News’ views on the Brian Williams saga are hypocritical at best

Brian Williams’ story that he had been on a helicopter forced down by hostile fire in Iraq (for which he has now apologized and been put on unpaid leave for six months), generated this comment from a Fox News analyst:

“The admission raises serious questions about his credibility in a business that values that quality above all else.”

When you stop laughing, I’d like to point out that what the commentator said about Williams’ situation is true. Other analysts said much the same thing, but we didn’t laugh when they said it. We laugh now because the judgment was offered on someone else’s credibility by a representative of Fox News–which spreads so many rumors and outright falsehoods it is a subject of jokes not only in the United States, but also abroad.

Remember the statement that some European cities are now primarily Moslem? Or the continued claims that President Obama wasn’t born in the United States? Or suggesting that the data have been falsified when there is an uptick in the economy or a reduction in the number of unemployed?

But probably most hypocritical of all is that Fox commentator Bill O’Reilly, one of its superstars, has frequently bragged about his military experiences in Desert Storm, experiences he also never had. Perhaps the Fox commentator giving advice to Williams should pass on some of his advice closer to home.

As you no doubt know by now, Williams was actually on a helicopter following the one that was forced down. Somehow, the temptation to say he was on the lead helicopter was too great, and he succumbed. These events remind me of a couple of other stories in which the temptation was there to embroider on the facts.

Even the prominent ones among us seem to want to be seen as heroic and sometimes that leads them into errors of judgment. You may recall that something similar happened to Hillary Clinton a few years back. Her story was that she came under fire upon deplaning in a combat area. It turned out she wasn’t and she had to admit it. Embarrassing. Now that she is likely to be a presidential candidate you’ll almost certainly hear that story a few more times, especially by the commentators on Fox.

I know what a temptation it is to alter the facts somewhat in such a situation. I was once flying from Athens down to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on a plane which made a brief stop on the way in an area disputed by rebels. We were warned that there were snipers in the area who sometimes fired on passengers on their way into the airport, so we should move quickly. We did, but nobody fired on us.

Hearing the outcomes to the Williams and Clinton stories, in which they had to admit they had varnished on the events, I am happy that I didn’t fall into the trap of improving on the story. But then if O’Reilly gets away with it, whose example will we follow?

Lewis Donohew retired from the University of Kentucky College of Communications in 1999 after nearly 35 years of service and having earned a national reputation as a communications scholar and researcher. Now down on his farm growing grapes and living close to the earth, he contemplates issues of the day from a lifetime of experience and a love of the land.