<\/a>Brian Williams may be about to lose his position as anchor and managing editor of NBC Nightly News. It is now clear that he has deviated from the truth in recalling what happened to him in a 2003 helicopter incident in Iraq, and he may well have told outright falsehoods while reporting on-site about Hurricane Katrina in 2005.<\/p>\n

Once the story became public, Williams, to his credit, acknowledged that he made mistakes. He apologized for what he had done to NBC News and his largely loyal audience. It seemed as if the NBC emperor had no clothes. Williams wisely chose to temporarily remove himself from the tempest by unilaterally taking a few days, or perhaps longer, off from behind the anchor desk.<\/p>\n

Let me state up front that I am not a fan of Brian Williams. The gestalt of NBC News repels me with its blaring music, as opposed to the somewhat soothing Aaron Copeland piece that introduces and closes CBS Evening News.<\/p>\n

Williams has done some thoughtful reporting and is certainly skilled enough to do what is probably the most difficult part of being a television anchor, covering a crisis that is breaking and juggling the information that is coming in from multiple reporters and producers. But even if every word that Williams uttered was truthful and accurate, he would still fall short of the standards of \u201cAmerica\u2019s most trusted journalist,\u201d the moniker once given to Walter Cronkite, the consummate professional.
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