News Extra: Brian Williams

     I've been avoiding the Brian Williams debacle because, well  a) there is no shortage of comment out there, and b) He's the lead anchor at our sole competitor station in Montgomery, and I didn't want to sound like I was providing unfairly biased commentary.

     Here, though, is a memo the NBC News President sent to staff about the well-documented lying on his part:

The following memo was sent from NBC News President Deborah Turness to NBC news staff on Friday:

All,
This has been a difficult few days for all of us at NBC News.
Yesterday, Brian and I spoke to the Nightly News team. And this morning at the Editorial Exchange, we both addressed the wider group. Brian apologized once again, and specifically expressed how sorry he is for the impact this has had on all of you and on this proud organization.
As you would expect, we have a team dedicated to gathering the facts to help us make sense of all that has transpired. We're working on what the best next steps are — and when we have something to communicate we will of course share it with you.
Since joining NBC News, I've seen great strength and resilience. We are a close-knit family, and your response this week has made that even clearer.
As a relentless news agenda marches on, thank you again for continuing to do what we do best — bring the most important stories of the day to our audience.
Deborah

     I'll only add one thing, as both a Vietnam Veteran and as a life long broadcast news journalist. He did the one thing people in my field are most expected to avoid, and did so repeatedly. Can he continue to have credibility after that? 

[UPDATE, Saturday 2-7-14. He "takes himself" off the desk, temporarily. AL.COM headline: "

Brian Williams temporarily steps down from 'NBC Nightly News' following apology for mistakes.

Mistakes? Was it a mistake or an intentional lie?]