Can the faith of nbc survive this credibility crisis . National furor over vaccinating kids as the many stream media scolds candidates that suggesting the parents should have a choice. This is the pandering that is dangerous because rand paul is a doctor, i dont know where he is getting that data from. I dont thing we should be engaging people in this paranoia. That is what you are. You myselfno people. You nonvaxxers. Is it fair for the press to tie the antivaccination movement to conservatives . Rand paul rips an anchor during a contentious interview. Part of the problem is you end up having interviews like this where the interview is so slanted and full of distortions that you do not get useful information. Was the senator treated unfairly or did he overreact . We will go to the video tape in our new segment media buzz saw. This is media buzz, and i am howard kurtz. Brian williams told his staff yesterday it is painfully apparent he is too much part of the news because of his own actions but he will return to nightly news after several days of leave, this Dramatic Development rooted in the invasion of iraq when williams was on an army him corporate grounded by a sandstorm and he recounted what happened to another chopper. On the ground we learned the chinook ahead of us was almost blown out of the sky. By his story kept changing and by 2013 the anchor told this version to David Letterman. Two of our four helicopters were hit by ground fire including the one i was n. What happens when everyone realizes you were hit . We figure how to land safely and we did we landed quickly and hard and we put down and we were stuck. Did you think you would die . Briefly. Sure. Last week he repeated the false account in a ceremony honoring a piece that aids on nbc. It started with a terrible moment, a dozen years back during the invasion of iraq when the helicopter we were traveling in was forced down after being hit by an rpg. Our traveling nbc news team was rescued, surrounded and kept alibby an armored recognized platoon from the United States army. Army veterans on the mission told the stars and stripes newspaper he was not on the chinook that was lit and this week he agencied the story was simply untrue. I made a mistake in recalling the events of 12 years ago. It did not take long to hear from some brave men and women and the air crews who were also in that desert. I want to apologize. I said i was traveling in an aircraft that was hit by rpg fire and i was instead, in a following aircraft. Veterans were just fuming who spoke to stars and stripes. The guys who were there, what do they think is going on, think he has been doing with this story . They think that he wanted the glory, he wants to share in glory of this war story. Even the apology is sparking new questions and we have former United StatesNews Reporter and author of stand walled. And television and media critic for the baltimore sun. And media reporter for the Washington Post and now a moment to update you on exclusionive details i reported last night. Brian williams extend aside voluntarily, he was not pushed or prodded to do this by the nbc brass. There is no internal investigation into the matter it is a factgathering inquiry to answer questions and there will not be any report on his conduct. He is considering an invitation to go on the David Letterman show on thursday to discuss this further. You have had a last experience flying on military aircraft. What is the magnitude of Brian Williams mistake about iraq . A large mistake because unless you have been on so Many Missions and shot at so many times maybe you have confused which mission on which you were shot and which you werent you know. What strikes me as even larger glaring thing is a lot of people know. The people with you know you were not shot at. Your family members know, the crew knows and the network where you worked knows you were not shot at. As he told the story there were a lot of people around him who knew it was not the case for quite a while. And he already told america that it was another chopper was that hit in 2003. What should nbc do faced with this crisis . You know, a , i dont know none of us know. What do you think should happen . He should no longer be managing editor and anchor of 9 lead newscast and i wrote this on wednesday if they care about credibility. This is a serious serious why would you trust anything this man says . It isnt just that he lied it is the kind of lie he told. There are so many people in this country who are either part of military family or served in the military who live every day with the wounds and the scars of those battles. Shear a rich anchorman who is over there for a little time and he tries to steal some of the honor they earned. How in the world could anybody in the military or military family not look at him on television and have contempt for this man . I think they should do it. Will they do it . This is a test of nbcs moral character. By the way i give credit for going to iraq and putting his life at risk which makes it all the more inexplicable why he felt the need to embellish the story. And the nbc news president is showing a statement about Brian Williams apology but in word of support, not exactly standing by herman. In your dealings, you have covered this, how is nbc handle this . Trying to get beyond it if they can. The real question is, can they get beyond it in the lack of a statement of support for Brian Williams is striking in itself. Brian williams apparently did not want a particular statement of support because in the case of David Gregory they supported him on meet the press, and look what happened to him. They do not want this kiss of death. A source said it would be the kiss of death but people are asking why nbc. It was not until friday that any statement was put out and i find that odd given the magnitude of the problem. Now, you covered for cbs the story of Hillary Clinton during 2008 campaign she was recounting what happened when she landed in bosnia back in 1997 or 1996. That is senator clinton talking to me on the military flight and these were the pictures of the greeting sent mother when the plane landed compared to her account. I remember landing under sniper fire. Hillary clinton said she landed under sniper fire and you were on the truck and had the video and there was no sniper fire. Is there any similarities . Strange similarities not the least of which is 12 years after the fangs in both cases just a coincidence of time. Also when Hillary Clintons misstatement was exposed she doubled down rather than apologizing she said, yes i shook hands with the little girl and then i ran and ducked and ran if cover so we did a second story that showed, no, she posed for pictures with 7th grader and visited the troops. That is like the Brian Williams story and is unexplained. Does she convince herself that it happened . Were there people around her such as her daughter who was on the trip saying, mom, we were not shot at. A celebrity sheryl crow and sinbad were on the trip. Want she afraid other people would be able to say we were not shot at . The question everyone is asking because it is a story that everyone is talking about at the Grocery Store and the water cooler, it is sufficiently a self inflicted wound why would he feel the need do this . He was to iraq, why would he feel the need . The one thing i have avoided steadfastly is try and analyze and figure what is going on in brain williams ahead. We cannot answer it. We cannot answer it. If you look at his career since he took the anchor seat of branding himself, of promoting himself and that is part of the industry today. Here is where i think the sin of this is. He never took the journalism part of the job when he became anchor and managinged store as seriously as the celebrity portion. I dont think that is fair. Wait. He guest hosted saturday night live, and uses his sense a humor to be more than reading off the prompter anchor but he also has traveled around the world and when you say he did not take the journalism part seriously what did you base it on . They gave him a rhyme time Network Magazine show he showcased Chelsea Clinton as a special correspondent at 600,000 a segment. That is behalf i mean. This is not ultimately about journalism but about the promotion of journalism. It is about what brain williams has said in many years since he reported this story and there is not a question around what he reported but the way he is characterized it since. Part of his charm is that he gets on the shows and he sells his charm, he sells himself. That is why he is the number one anchor in part. The question now, did he go too far in doing that . He has nine Million Viewers for nbc news. You made a point and i want to put up video from the airing of the news at the ceremony of new york rangers hockey game about the way it was edited. Look at this. Ed. So take a look at that. It to s it appears to she him on the chinook the way they road it and it appears to show him leaving at the rpg injury to the chinook as if he were on it and what i was saying, whoever looked at the video, producers and editors and so on, at some point, i would think would know that he was not on that chinook. My question is, who did know this . Were they forced to cut the video if a way that support add story they knew not to be true . Were there come complaints internally . The problem with the apology, williams said he was in a following aircraft and it sounds like he was 20 behind the chopper that was hit but it was a different Helicopter Company that passed this other group of those fires on and going in a different direction. Briefly it seemed when cnn reported based on an interview with the guy who said he was the pilot of williams chopper there was small arms fire and people said maybe he only exaggerate add bit. Here is a clip of a pilot on cnn. Did the helicopter you were in that Brian Williams was in, did it take rpg fire . Any small arms fire . We were a flight of three and i was on the second aircraft and mr. Williams was on my aircraft and we took small arms fire. Krell has retracted that and was not the pilot on that chopper. Cnn should have been more careful. When stars and stripes, reported the story they had a wall of people who were there talking about it. All of a sudden, on wednesday or thursday, one guy comes out and is going to contradict everything. You really have to vet it it is a discipline and verification they did did not do that and the next day he recaned and said he didnt want to talk about it and disaperred. Cnn had to go on and they called it a revision. It was retraction. A problem for Brian Williams right now, headlines called him liin brian, and the pinocchio nosegrowing, sorted of a cultural story and a story that everyone is making fun of which is not a comfortable place for an anchor. Send me a tweet and we will read near messages later. When we come back more on the saga. Brian williams saga with new questions being raised about his Hurricane Katrina reporting. Is this just piling on . And later a look at the coverage of the vaccination uproar and whether some politicians are being treated unfairly. [ female announcer ] we help make secure financial tomorrows a reality for over 19 million people. [ mom ] with life insurance, were not just insuring our lives. Were helping protect his. [ female announcer ] everyone has a moment when tomorrow becomes real. Transamerica. Transform tomorrow. Eh, you dont want that one. Yea, actually i do. Its Mucinex Fastmax night time and its got a nasal decongestant. Is that really a thing . It sounds made up. Mucinex fast max night time for multisymptom relief. Breathe easy. Sleep easy. Lets end this. When it comes to good nutrition. Im no expert. That would be my daughter hi dad. Shes a dietitian. And back when i wasnt eating right, she got me drinking boost. Its got a great taste and it helps give me the nutrition i was missing. Helping me stay more like me. [ female announcer ] boost complete nutritional drink has 26 essential vitamins and minerals, including calcium and vitamin d to support strong bones and 10 grams of protein to help maintain muscle. All with a delicious taste. Grandpa [ female announcer ] stay strong, stay active with boost. How do i get hotel deals nobody else gets . I know a guy. Priceline negotiator i know this guy. Konohito. And this guy. Who knows a guy. Hey guy. I know a guy in new york, vegas, dallas. Ive known some guys for decades and some, nice to meet ya, lets deal. My competitors may know a guy, but i know over 60,000 guys. And gals. Exclusive hotel deals up to 60 off. Priceline. Com whats that thing . I moved our old Security System out here to see if it could monitor the front yard. Why dont you switch to xfinity home . I get live video monitoring and 24 7 professional monitoring that i can arm and disarm from anywhere. Hear ye the awkward teenage one has arrived dont be old fashioned. Xfinity customers add xfinity home for 29. 95 a month for 12 months. Plus for a limited time, get a Free Security camera call 1800 xfinity or visit comcast. Com xfinityhome. There are also new questions about Brian Williams reporting on Hurricane Katrina. When you look out of your hotel room and watch a man float by face down when you see bodies that you last saw in indonesia and swore to yourself that you would never see in your country. The new orleans advocate says it doesnt believe williams saw floating bodies. But yesterday a respected newspaper saying there was water there and a couple people had seen dead bodies. Is this now piling on . Thats what is really going to be tough i think for williams and nbc is everybody will go over every inch of this and it will be fact checked that way. I thought on this one i thought, well, when i first heard it i thought either you can find out there is a fact. Either there was water there or not, lets find it out before publishing it. So i think in some case there is is a tendency to do that. I went to new orleans with brey an Brian Williams some months after katrina and he showed me where he saw the first body. He was very emotionally invested in this story. Went back to new orleans eight or nine times. So this didnt ring true to me. The floating body story is the least questionable element of what he has said about his katrina coverage. He said that gangs were overrunning his hotel. No the hotel was a staging area for law enforcement. Very, very unlikely that there were gangs overrunning that hotel. There were other claims, as well. And all of them add up to a record, not a piling organization but a record that needs to be examined. Now weve reached the point where some Media Outlets said because brian is famously a new jersey volunteer fireman at one time he said he saved a pup if i from a fire, puppies from a fire. So it comes back to the question of the anchor credibility, and what nbc news how it deals with it. Maybe the biggest problem is not just the examination of what hes said in the past, but how he moves forward. What sort of things can he cover now. Lets say there is another military conflict. There will be lingering questions. Just briefly, he has ten year career, some people like Brian Williams some people think he leans to the left. But is that career just sort of wiped out by the one egregious terrible mistake . I dont know that its wiped out. Hes actually been a very good reporter over the years. The question is his credibility so damaged that you cant watch Brian Williams deliver the news and believe what hes saying. Thats what anchor men sell. Does he still have it. And if he loses a piece of thatted that audience thats a big big. But if hes two or three instead of one, thats another thing sflp well have to go. Thanks for joining us. Ahead with the isis butchers putting out that video of burning a jordanian pilot to death, how should the media handle those horrifying images some but up next president obama causes a furor by bringing christianity into a discussion of isis but some Media Outlets gont think thats news. At ally bank no branches equals great rates. Its a fact. Kind of like shopping hungry equals overshopping. President obama made some very controversial remarks at a white house Prayer Breakfast this week, but the coverage has been remarkably spotty. Heres what the president said. We see isil, brutal that in the name of religious uncarries out unspeakable acts of barbarism. Unless we got on our high horse and position thatthink this is unique remember during the crusade, people committed terrible deeds in the name of christ. Joining us now nina easton, jim geraghty, and mara liasson. Jim, the president makes these very controversial marks. The cameras are rolling. Newscasts devoted zero minutes. Because these are embarrassing remarks. Were all watching isis setting a guy on fire and then at the national Prayer Breakfast, he thinks highest priority is high horse of american christians. Most krichristians are saying why are you giving me grief in . Because the fact president obama chose to are you suggesting that because this was embarrassing for the president , some found it offensive, thats the reason it didnt make air . In strange strangely enough, people are much more interested in the gaffes of their opponents than the ones they like. At the very least, how far you view these remarks, isnt it a story in . I think its a story. There might have been a lot going on this week, but it is a story. It is true the ku klux klan burned crosses. Hes factually correct. But there has been so much coverage of the president s unwillingness to call isis cad radical islamists. And i thought it was interesting that he called them a vicious death cult. Hes tiptoeing his way to strike them that they have an ideology, theyre not just criminals.