To Our Readers
Brian Williams was the television anchor everybody just, well, liked. He was that approachable guy who attended Mater Dei, volunteered at Middletown’s Old Village Fire Department and attended Brookdale Community College.
When he was honored at Monmouth University, a large contingent from the Middletown fire department cheered and he acknowledged them with the easy familiarity that comes from being a “regular” guy. Maybe that’s why he was such a success. That appeal to the everyday person.
So, it’s almost harder to accept that he fell from grace and betrayed the public trust.
He was wrong, no denying it, and NBC’s suspension was more than fair although it’s doubtful he’ll ever return.
But maybe what’s most disturbing is the lynch mob that’s formed around his demise.
Social media has always been pretty cruel and very often untrue but the entire media has fallen into lockstep in the Brian bashing.
Was he robbed at gunpoint while selling Christmas trees off the back of a truck in Red Bank in the late 1970s? I don’t know and I doubt anyone else but his family does.
So, why are people who don’t even know him speculating that it never happened?
Why would local and New York newspapers print such nonsense? It’s speculation and that’s also something the media is not supposed to dabble in.
The public trust is something that’s earned and grabbing every headline challenging Brian William’s integrity is something that violates that trust, especially if it’s not based on fact.
It’s so easy to criticize and say Red Bank was not that “kind” of town back then. That’s baloney too. Anyone who doesn’t remember the perils of Shrewsbury Avenue back then has a short memory.
Brian Williams paid a hard price for mixing fact and fiction. Why should any other media outlet not be held to that same standard?
Let me know your views. I’m listening.
Let’s Have Coffee
Jody Calendar
Executive Editor/Co-Publisher
jcalendar@tworivertimes.com
732-219-5788
