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The admission by NBC's Brian Williams that he fibbed about being on a U.S. military helicopter that took enemy fire during the Iraq War prompted the hashtag: #BrianWilliamsMemories.
In case you missed it, Williams, the anchor of the "NBC Nightly News," apologized on Wednesday for multiple claims over the years that he'd been aboard a helicopter that was "forced down after being hit by an RPG." The incident happened on March 24, 2003.
A helicopter was forced down by enemy fire. But Williams wasn't on it. His chopper arrived about an hour later and landed next to the damaged one.
Williams blamed his version of the incident on foggy memory, and said he felt terrible.
"There is no such thing, at this date of the world's history, in America, as an independent press. You know it and I know it. There is not one of you who dares to write your honest opinions, and if you did, you know beforehand that it would never appear in print. I am paid weekly for keeping my honest opinion out of the paper I am connected with. Others of you are paid similar salaries for similar things, and any of you who would be so foolish as to write honest opinions would be out on the streets looking for another job. If I allowed my honest opinions to appear in one issue of my paper, before twenty-four hours my occupation would be gone. The business of the journalists is to destroy the truth; to lie outright; to pervert; to vilify; to fawn at the feet of mammon, and to sell his country and his race for his daily bread. You know it and I know it and what folly is this toasting an independent press? We are the tools and vassals of rich men behind the scenes. We are the jumping jacks, they pull the strings and we dance. Our talents, our possibilities and our lives are all the property of other men. We are intellectual prostitutes." John Swinton, former Chief of Staff, The New York Times.