Williams' popularity, ratings could save his job

Beyond being the most popular evening network news anchor, Brian Williams is a brand.

The 55-year-old newsman routinely yucks it up with David Letterman and Jimmy Fallon on the talk show circuit. He's made self-deprecating appearances with Tina Fey on 30 Rock.

It was this synergistic stretch that may have triggered his biggest professional crisis. It may also possibly save his career.

Last week, Williams showed up at a New York Rangers game with a soldier who helped guard him and other American soldiers while a convoy of military helicopters they were flying on was forced to land in a deserted part of Iraq in 2003. Williams said the helicopter he was on had been hit by enemy fire and forced down. Veterans from the convoy challenged Williams' story — which he has repeated in the past — on Facebook, forcing the anchorman to recant the story on air Wednesday. Williams didn't address the issue again on Thursday's broadcast.

Journalists have been known to occasionally exaggerate their exploits. But Williams' misstatements have unleashed a firestorm on the Internet and social media, with some critics calling for his firing and others more tolerant of Williams' account that it was simply a matter of "misremembering."

The seething reactions also speak to the jarring oddity of an evening network news anchor — fading in influence as a group, but still the most visible paragon of trust and journalistic integrity — caught in a lie that seems beneath his position.

"The job of network anchorman has been extended to other things," says Andrew Tyndall, who monitors evening news shows on TyndallReport.com. "The reason why he got into this trouble is because his job description is shifting. He's had to become a personality."

NBC News declined to comment on its deliberations about Williams, though an imminent ouster — given his popularity and financial considerations — seems unlikely.

David Zurawik, who writes about the media for The Baltimore Sun, was one of the quickest and most vocal in calling for Williams to be fired. "If credibility means anything to NBC News, Brian Williams will no longer be managing editor and anchor of the evening newscast by the end of the day Friday," he wrote.

For the vast majority of Millennials and others who have never known the tradition of watching the evening news, Williams' tribulation may seem a trifling affair. NBC Nightly News reached more than 11 million in the early 1990s, and has lost about 17% of its audience since, according to data from Nielsen.

Still, NBC News seized the lead from ABC News in the late 1990s, and Williams has helped keep the network out front. With about 9 million viewers, NBC Nightly News is the top rated news show among the three network newscasts. That will factor into NBC's decision. "These are still mass-media news outlets by the standards we have today," says Tom Rosenstiel, executive director of the American Press Institute. "We are in a more fragmented world, but if you want to point to five to 10 institutions that have a large influence, they'd be in that circle."

Williams' seemingly genial personality and likability could work in his favor. "Do they toss out a multimillion-dollar brand after he apologized?" asks Judy Muller, professor of journalism at the University of Southern California. "You may find people are more forgiving than not."

The nature of Williams' fib will also be weighed in NBC News' decision, Tyndall says. Williams wasn't guilty of inaccurate or deceptive reporting, but rather embellishing a personal story. "Reasons when they fire journalists are for journalistic reasons," Tyndall says. "This doesn't rise to the level."

Williams may have gotten a boost Thursday, when the pilot of the helicopter he was on, Rich Krell, told reporters that their helicopter did take fire, though it wasn't hit.

Rosenstiel noted that Williams' body of work should be accounted for in deciding his future. "This is not a pattern, and I think that matters," he says.

But regaining his credibility could be a lingering problem. "To me, that's the only thing an anchor is selling," says Tim McGuire, professor of journalism ethics at Arizona State University. "That's been seriously eroded. If he keeps his job, it's going to be a hard go."