Brian Williams won’t make MSNBC more objective

When your sole job requirement is to deliver information to millions of people every night, the audience’s trust matters.

In January, Brian Williams, then anchor of “NBC Nightly News,” lost that trust. After a very public fall from grace for sensationalizing reporting experiences, the network suspended Williams — leading many to question whether he would return at all.

Now Williams is back, but rather than returning to his old desk, NBC has moved him to its liberal cable news network, MSNBC. While this may end up being a lucrative move for both Williams and the channel, it speaks to how misguided the network really is — his past will only serve to undermine MSNBC’s already polarizing reputation.

Williams’ troubles began when NBC learned he embellished a story from his 2003 trip to Iraq. According to multiple interviews in which he recounted the incident, the helicopter he was in took fire from an RPG. Members of the platoon on board, however, claimed that this never happened, according to The Washington Post.

The inaccurate report forced NBC to investigate some of his other reports. As it turns out, the helicopter fib may have been part of a larger trend.

For instance, New York Magazine, CNN and the Washington Post have all reported conflicting accounts of some of Williams’ recollections of big stories. One such account was when he claimed to have contracted dysentery while reporting from Hurricane Katrina-stricken New Orleans. He said he had declined IV and had “no medicine, nothing.” However, the general manager of the hotel Williams was staying at told The Washington Post that there were enough medicine and doctors available to help him.

Williams returned to television for the first time since his ousting to apologize on “The Today Show” for his actions in June. NBC announced his return to reporting soon after to help rebuild MSNBC.

Williams’ is actually part of a larger attempt by MSNBC to focus on news rather than its traditional progressive punditry. For instance, the network has moved journalist Kate Snow in as regular news anchor and will work more closely with NBC News proper to produce content, attempting to shift the focus from political and social commentary to objective news reporting.

With its lowest ratings since 2005, the network is undeniably in need of a change. Politico’s Dylan Byers reported in March that since the start of 2014, the network’s viewership dropped 21 percent overall and 41 percent in its core 25-54 demographic. Falling far behind both CNN and Fox News, the network attracts an average of only 300,000 viewers during the day.

One reason for the slump may be that with a liberal president in office, the liberal masses aren’t interested in broadcast news. MSNBC’s peak ratings were during George W. Bush’s administration, when pundits like Keith Olbermann would go on the air nightly and fume about wars and economic turmoil. As a result, the commentary side of the network took over MSNBC. Olbermann, Rachel Maddow and Chris Matthews came to define MSNBC as a whole: a source for liberal venting to push back on Fox News.

For mainstream liberals today, however, there is just less to be angry about.

Gay marriage is legal, the Affordable Care Act is secure for the foreseeable future and the economy has made a steady turnaround since President Obama took office. Obviously the country still has massive issues, but fewer points of outrage means fewer reasons to watch others be outraged.

To fit the successful model of Fox News, which garners an average of about 2.667 million viewers for “The O’Reilly Factor” alone, it seems as though MSNBC has nowhere to go but further left. However, it’s doubtful that MSNBC is not quite liberal enough for the entirety of the 26 percent of registered voters who identify as liberal in the first place.

Hoping for a conservative president to criticize is not a very sustainable business model. Instead, the network has decided to move to the center, closer to CNN in its news coverage rather than liberal analysis — this is where Williams is supposed to come in.

During his return to television, Williams anchored MSNBC’s coverage of Pope Francis’ arrival in the United States last week. MSNBC did not promote Williams’ appearance, and it did not mention his prior indiscretions. He was perfectly adequate, though, spending most of the program throwing to other correspondents like Chuck Todd for comments, rather than lending his own. From now on, he will be a “breaking news anchor” for the network.

The problem is that Williams, the sensationalist, celebrity anchor, who lobbied to replace David Letterman, is supposed to spearhead a push for objective news. That math does not work for me. Yes, he has earned credentials from all of his years spent on “Nightly News,” but he checked those at the door once he put himself before the news.

Back in 2004, legendary CBS anchor Dan Rather reported on documents alleging that President Bush had received special treatment while in the Air National Guard. CBS later found them to be inauthentic, and CBS forced Rather to resign, ending his 24-year career as an anchor.

I don’t believe that Williams deserves softer treatment than Rather. His fabrications undermine both his personal trustworthiness and his network’s push for objectivity. Maybe Williams has changed and is genuinely going to fight for his credibility, but even if he does, this is a step in the wrong direction if MSNBC wants to be an impartial news source.

Don’t get me wrong, I have fond memories of Williams. He is the only anchor I knew growing up, and his visits to “The Daily Show” and “Saturday Night Live” helped make news accessible to me. I sincerely hope that he wins me back. But he is the opposite of what MSNBC should value during this transition. Credibility and insightful perspectives make up the core of reporting and commentary. Williams offers neither.

On the first day of Williams’ return, MSNBC saw an astounding 169 percent increase in viewership. That being said, it still remained behind CNN and Fox News, with all three seeing a spike from coverage of the Pope’s arrival. It is entirely possible that he could help save the network, but this bump is neither sufficient nor reliable.

Investing more in news is a commendable move by MSNBC, if only because it is reinventing itself while maintaining the progressive commentary that made it important. However, news should come before the personalities. MSNBC has chosen to lead with the most recent figure to fail at that task. In doing so, it entirely misses the point of the journalism, and that’s a point I don’t need to embellish.

Matt Moret primarily writes on politics and rhetoric for The Pitt News.

Write to Matt at mdm123@pitt.edu