Wednesday, June 17, 2015

Wanker, Not Anchor

I just got the breaking-news email from the New York Times: Lyin' Brian Williams is being kicked downstairs to MSNBC from his coveted anchor spot at the network. He will reportedly only be allowed to read breaking-news items at relatively rare intervals on the supposition that it would be exceedingly hard to insert a lie or a joke into only one or two telepromptered paragraphs. But never say never.

No word whether he will endure a salary cut from his reported $10 million-a-year contract. No word either on how many low-level reporters and crew will have be fired to make room for the Great One's return. But leave it to the Times to commiserate with a plutocratic wanker:
The new role is a humbling comedown for Mr. Williams, who before the controversy was one of the country’s most prominent and respected broadcast journalists.
They got that one-fourth right. Williams is a broadcaster, but whether he is also respected or a journalist or humble is very much a matter of opinion. Then again, he and the Times honchos are all members of an elite club where nobody fails even when mistakes are made. Like the mistake of blaming a group of Irish students for falling to their own deaths because of their failure to notice the shoddy construction they were standing on.

2 comments:

  1. Thanks for keeping us up to date, K.

    So this becomes the newest way to "fail up?"

    MSNBC is hardly a punishment.

    And we all know that none of these guys ever get docked a cent.

    So, he gets to retire on $10M a year until he actually retires.

    On the hundreds of millions he's "saved" from having one of the best "lying" in jobs in Amurrika.

    USA USA USA!!!

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  2. Here is a link to the story in the NYT - Business!

    http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/18/business/nbc-plans-to-let-brian-williams-stay-but-not-as-news-anchor.html?emc=edit_th_20150618&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=32573252

    As usual, I read maybe three or four paragraphs and then jump to the comments. Here is one that I found particularly funny. Short and too the point is good.

    "Williams is too narcissistic to be humbled. He will continue to grab any spotlight even if it is coming from a pen flashlight. Since he is said to be witty and have an engaging manner, perhaps he can host a game show like Family Feud or Wheel of Fortune." ~ from Lynn in DC.

    I don't know about Family Feud. My wife would be very upset as she is in love with Steve Harvey. I would be OK with replacing Pat Sajak. His hair really bothers me. It is like really? They let you walk on stage with that hair, no military buzz-job or a shaved head with facial hair? And his stage presence is abominable. He is to talky, jokey, homespun, or engaging as Lynn says. Something that I find terribly annoying and that is the one thing, when I did watch Brian Williams was his snarky, "And I hope to see you right back here tomorrow night." Stick it Brian.

    Such is life in AmeriKa.

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