As a journalism student, the news of Brian Williams comes as a wave of frustration.
Our major already comes with skepticism and comments such as, “Anyone can tell a story,” and “You’re not really studying anything hard.” These comments come with little to no understanding of the job force and the intention that runs behind it.
Journalism is hard. Facts need to be checked. Biased remarks are withheld. But most of all, news is told.
Williams is renowned for his integrity in world news and his consistency on the air, but recent news has put his credibility into questioning.
Many are now starting to ask what else was false, what else was untrue. This puts the media, especially journalism, in a box. However, I see a problem with the hate mail and accusations lining up at his door and filling the walls of Twitter. His flaws are being put at the stake, and nobody is considering the most obvious part of this whole trial. …
He’s human.
Lung-breathing, heart-pumping human. He made a flaw that has now publically become a disaster.
If all cases were treated the same, then the Patriots and Tom Brady would be hugging jail cell walls and drowning in disappointed remarks. But they’re not.
The world has found it easier to push someone down for over exaggerating the truth — without hurting anyone — than to convict someone, or a team, of cheating intentionally with the goal of winning unfairly.
It's fair to say Williams wasn’t fabricating his news stories with the intent of winning unfairly. He wasn’t in a competition; he just wanted to evoke emotion from his audience.
Of course I do not support manufacturing a story or embellishment of the news, but I am saying there are a lot loftier crimes not stuck under the microscope next to him.
What’s the difference between “I walked to school” and “I trudged to school in the snow as it came rushing down”?
Emphasis.
Now that sentence may or may not be true, but I can see the reasoning as to why the second one was wordier. That second sentence was created to make a moment more appealing.
I believe Williams just wanted to get our attention and create interest in our society. Again, I believe what he did was unnecessary, but I also believe how we are portraying him and treating him is unequivocally more uncalled for.
As a student of journalism but also a fellow human being, I am asking that we all sit back and take a break from throwing darts at people. Every “crime” has an intention, and I don’t believe Williams intended to hurt anyone. He is a human who messed up, and hey, so am I.
