The fallout in the wake of the Brian Williams scandal has been an interesting one. While the internet has had its requisite fun and meme-generating with the situation, many are lamenting what may be the loss of a once-revered news anchor. Last night on Jimmy Kimmel Live, fellow journalist (or, “journalist”) Bill O’Reilly offered his take on what’s going on, and maybe it’s partly due to the fact that O’Reilly himself has dealt with near-insurmountable scrutiny in the past that he’s willing to give Williams the benefit of the doubt.
The guy actually makes a pretty valid point. If it’s “just this,” Williams is probably going to bounce back with just a slight tarnish on his career in broadcast journalism. But if there’s anything else out there, it will come to the surface, so the next few days and weeks will be telling. What I could do without is O’Reilly comparing the internet to “a sewer.” *cough* Some of us work for the internet, you know.
If anyone out there is still unclear as to what exactly Brian Williams exaggerated about, The New York Times put this video together a few days ago to demonstrate how his story has changed over the years, via The Daily Banter: