NBC anchor Brian Williams mocks, belittles bloggers

[JelloSka]

"You're going to be up against people who have an opinion, a modem, and a bathrobe. All of my life, developing credentials to cover my field of work, and now I'm up against a guy named Vinny in an efficiency apartment in the Bronx who hasn't left the efficiency apartment in two years" -- Brian Williams, anchor of the "NBC Nightly News," speaking before New York University journalism students on the challenges traditional journalism faces from online media.

http://crooksandliars.com/2007/04/12/brian-williams-on-bloggersim-up-against-a-guy-named-vinny-in-an-efficiency-apartment

[Divine Discontent]

1. if that quote is 100% accurate and he chose 'efficiency', he shows his arrogant worthless side, &

I will not watch him again - and I watched him all the time. From my 1-bedroom apartment where I perform my menial servant work for the overlords!


ass.

[EmeraldCityGrl]

2. stating his own obsolescence.

what a prick.

[Divine Discontent]

3. exactly...

[avaistheone1]

20. I think THAT is what he is really worried about.

If Brian Williams and the corporate media have made themselves irrelevant.

They have only themselves and particularly their corporate masters to blame.

[Raine]

4. This is such an old article I'm deleting my response nt

[SoCalDem]

5. more like "developing velcro-lips".. all the better for attaching to the asses of the powerful

for the all-important "access"..Without the always-accessible media-schlubs, how would the powerful pass on their propaganda, Brian?

and whenever a journalist actually asks a tough question, they are immediately pilloried for having practiced "ambush journalism"

[Octafish]

6. I'd trust Vinny before Brian Williams.

How'd those slam-dunk WMD's turn out?

[G_j]

22. +1

[Luminous Animal]

7. That's from 2007. Why did you post it now?

[hileeopnyn8d]

12. That's a good question. nt

[NNN0LHI]

19. This isn't LBN. There are no time constraints in GD

I find newer(younger maybe?) posters here all the time that don't know what happened a few years ago.

Here is another one:

http://mediamatters.org/research/200501240007

NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams thinks Limbaugh should get more credit

January 24, 2005 4:50 pm ET

Brian Williams, who replaced Tom Brokaw as anchor and managing editor of NBC's Nightly News on December 2, 2004, said in an interview with C-SPAN founder, president, and CEO Brian Lamb: "it's my duty to listen to Rush" Limbaugh and that "Rush has actually yet to get the credit he is due."

From the December 26, 2004, interview:

WILLIAMS: I do listen to Rush. I listen to it from a radio in my office, or depending on my day, if I'm in the car, I will listen to Rush. And he will tell you I've been listening for years. I think it's my duty to listen to Rush. I think Rush has actually yet to get the credit he is due, because his audience for so many years felt they were in the wilderness of this country. No one was talking to them.

Rush said to millions of Americans, you have a home. Come with me. For three hours a day you can listen and hear the like-minded calling in from across the country, and I'll read to you things perhaps you didn't see that are out there. I think Rush gave birth to the FOX News Channel. I think Rush helped to give birth to a movement. I think he played his part in the Contract with America. So I hope he gets his due as a broadcaster.

[Raine]

23. Yeah really. nt

[Stevenmarc]

24. I guess he was sitting in his bathrobe googling

[David Zephyr]

8. What a snob. Notice the "efficiency apartment" snotty, classist comment?

Maybe Vinny is too poor to have a real one-bedroom apartment or a mulit-million dollar home like you, Brian Williams.

Maybe, just maybe, Brian Williams self-proclaimed "credentials" is that he was a whore for General Electric.

One day, Brian darling, you, like all of us has a bathrobe waiting for us, and you, Brian, will possibly confined to your living quarters, too.

It is my hope that this thread lives on in the internet ether and that when that day arrives, it might find you.

"Efficiency Apartment". Wow. What a fucking snob.

[Robb]

9. He's got a point, although it wasn't his to make.

There are legitimate journalists who spend years actually honing their craft and have every right to feel slighted by overnight internet sensation blogger-types.

Those people of course are not Williams, and make the point without being such an ass about it.

[CLANG]

33. A professional journalist nowadays is just a stenographer and propagandist.

I would trust a non-journalist with a conscience over your typical corporate whore any day of the week. And (SURPRISE) I find them on the internet, not on NBC!

[scentopine]

10. Oops, self deleted, didn't realize it was 2 year old post.

[sabrina 1]

11. Well, I take exception to the bathrobe accusation. Bathrobes

are obsolete aren't they, from another era, like Willians himself?

He's just scared. They can't lie with impunity anymore, and they were so not used to the people having a chance to say 'hey, wait a minute, that doesn't sound right' to their pampered faces.

Bet he wouldn't be willing to debate a blogger about some of the issues he 'reports' on, or more correctly, DOESN'T report on. I would even wear a bathrobe if he would agree to do that ~

[Lex]

13. Brian Williams lips to Bush's ass for 8 years

is what his problem is. Not some guy name Vinny.

[David Zephyr]

15. +1

Sums it up.

[goldcanyonaz]

14. Brian WIlliams looks like Charlie Brown all grown up.

[FarLeftRage]

16. That's rich coming from a limpballs fan...

This "reporter, anchor... newscaster" is not a journalist, but rather a blood-stained purveyor of corpoRATe bullshit. williams is a primo bullshit artist of the highest order, who does not but m$m infotainment for the ignorant masses who tune in to his nightly broadcast of bullshit.

A hearty FUCK YOU to williams and it's despicable existence.

[sendero]

25. In Britain..

... he would correctly be called a "news reader".

Fucking moron.

[ThoughtCriminal]

17. First they ignore you, then they laugh at you...

“First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.” - Mahatma Gandhi

[Skittles]

18. aw FUCK YOU Brian Williams

all your "credentials" and you're nothing but a fucking HACK - at least VINNY lives in the REAL FUCKING WORLD

[GreatCaesarsGhost]

21. Didn't John Hurt play Brian Williams in "Broadcast News"?

[MisterP]

34. sorry, it was Ted Knight nt

[Missy Vixen]

26. Those who work in their PJ's aren't necessarily lazy

I know hundreds of romance authors who laugh knowingly and nod when someone thinks they're really making a point by mentioning what we might be wearing while writing a 100,000 word manuscript. I like working in what I'm comfortable in. I don't dress up to write my blog, either. I get over 40,000 hits per month now. Those who read (and write) blogs lost their faith in traditional media awhile back.

Just because Brian Williams dresses in a suit and tie doesn't mean his opinions or his broadcast has relevance.

[HipChick]

30. Many people work remotely,telecommute etc..clothing is optional..to say the least

[anonymous171]

27. Journalism is dead because journalists like Williams killed it. nt

[unkachuck]

28. I know this is old....

....but it says a lot about corporate shills like cryin' brian, the consummate corporate puppet....the contempt he displays for us is remarkable considering we're the ones providing him with his six figure income....

"All of my life, developing credentials to cover my field of work,..."

....so that's what you've been doing....by the way, what is your 'field of work'?....soap salesman?

[Hawaii Hiker]

29. In the dictionary, under the word SMUG - you will see a picture of Brian Williams

NBC should have kept John Siegenthaler & got rid of that asshole Brian Williams.....He is astonishingly arrogant & remarkably smug...

[marshall]

31. Lots of folks are crying that river of tears

The big wigs at the recording industry who used to hold music sales by the balls are now going the way of the dinosaur thanks to easy downloading. Book publishing is totally turned on its head. Many fat cats are in danger of losing their monopoly on their industries.

[kentuck]

32. Williams and his friends are afraid of the truth...

They pretend that a 'blogger" can just say anything and people will believe it. Very few stories can make it on the Internet unless they have a grain of truth. I would rather have a thousand people on a blog calling each other on their facts than to have one MSM voice deciding what was the truth and what people needed to hear...

[Cleita]

35. Hoho! Haha!

He can see his job becoming obsolete.

[Canuckistanian]

36. He's scared. Shitting his pants.

Because he knows that Vinny from the "efficiency apartment" is kicking his ass in terms of credibility and is rapidly challenging his audience numbers.

Welcome to the 21st century, Brian. And don't let the moat gate hit you in the ass on your way out.

[mkultra]

37. bloggers really arent that valuable

they think they are, but they are really just white noise until the come up with something big.

[abq e streeter]

38. One of my DU heroes, Nance Greggs, wrote a brilliant piece called Brian vs.Vinny

in April 2007. One of her greatest ( and that's against some tough competition)...tore that pompous windbag Williams to shreds...I don't feel like I have a right to repost it without Ms.Greggs approval, but it's there in the DU search feature at the top right of the page....Again, one of her very best, and hits the nail on the head. Though this speech by Williams may be old news, that doesn't make noting that condescending attitude any less relevant today.

[KakistocracyHater]

39. um.......what is

efficiency apartment?

[abq e streeter]

42. small one room apt.; not even a one bedroom; just literally one room .

with a bathroom and maybe a little area to the side as a "kitchen " area.Again, as someone pointed out above, a sickening "classist" remark by Brian; looking down his nose at people who are too poor to live an anything fancier than that.

[laughingliberal]

40. Can't blame 'em, really. Their industry is dying. Might help if they'd do some reporting. nt

[BakedAtAMileHigh]

41. the resentment is pretty funny, really

Williams is pretty full of himself. I think it's fine if he is taken down a notch or two by indymedia.

[Zoeisright]

43. Gee, Brian, if you'd DO your JOB maybe we wouldn't need bloggers.

Instead of bowing to your corporate masters and refusing to do some actual reporting.

What a maroon.

[dorkulon]

44. How dare poor people criticize me, the great Brian Williams!