In terms of rating how significant some stories are in the news today.....I'd consider this NBC anchor guy....Brian Williams....and his story to be a "three" on a scale of one to ten. Yeah, it really begs some questions, but it's the network's issue to look over and feel the heat about.
Here is the odd part about Brian Williams because I spent some time looking at his timeline.
The guy finishes high school and briefly attends a local community college. Then he goes to the Catholic University of America, and then he transfers over to George Washington University in the District of Columbia. He admits....he's got roughly eighteen total classes finished....so no degree. Oddly, he hooks up as an intern with the Jimmy Carter White House, and that's the end of schooling for him.
The cost of GW University in DC? Just one year....tuition only....is $48,000 today. You can guesstimate what it was in late-1970s....but it wasn't cheap.
So, he moves on (without a degree) to Kansas. He works for a year for KOAM-TV....a minimum wage rookie. A year into this....he gets hired for WTTG (a independent network in DC at the time....it belongs to Fox now).
After roughly a year at the DC situation....he gets hired to moves to Philly for WCAU....an NBC flag-station in the local area. It's a pretty big step....just two years prior being a minor no-name guy with a mid-Kansas TV station.
Roughly four years later....he's brought to New York City, and part of the CBS team there. In six years....he's picked up as a weekend guy for NBC and is now a major player.
A couple of months ago....Williams ends up signing a five-year contract with NBC....for roughly $10 million a year.
You just start to look at this guy and how he moves around every year or two, and wonder about his resume and what exactly it says.
The chief problems? Lets say you terminate Williams.....which would be the logical point to take in a case like this....what bill do you get stuck with? He'll take you to court and by the contract.....he's entitled to a fair sum of money. Maybe the contract allows for them to pay him off with $20 million....maybe he's entitled to the whole sum. No one has said much over that.
The other problem is who you bring in....Matt Lauer of the Today Show? I sat and read several stories which note the back-up plan is now considered to be Tom Brokaw coming in for a month or two while they hire up another wiz-kid....or bring Matt Lauer into the situation and then play games over who is hired to replace Matt on the Today Show.
Matt as the evening anchor guy for NBC? Well....yeah. Maybe if you did a couple of shots of booze prior to the evening news, and try to avoid hitting the mute button constantly....it'd all work out.
But the real question is.....does any of this matter? I mean....Brian was telling bogus stories....but it's an accepted part of the position.....which anchor has not made up various bogus stories over the past decade. Since Harry Reasoner, Frank Reynolds and Harold K. Smith have all passed on.....we really don't have news anchors at night....we have some story-teller-wizards who pick up stories to emphasize or de-emphasize.
My advice....if channel seven is offering Andy Griffith or Judge Judy episodes while NBC news is on....you might want to check them out.....or consider resodding the backyard.
