Brian Williams interview
June 24, 2007
BY DOUG ELFMAN Television Critic
Brian Williams tries to explain to me why the news industry has run the same redundant story for the past few months -- that actor Fred Thompson still hadn't announced his presidential campaign.
"Look at what makes our culture go: the moving image," Williams says during a recent Chicago visit. "So when someone from 'Law & Order' might run for president, I think it adds fascination."
"He's not very attractive, though," I say about Thompson.
"I think that's a value judgment you're making, and I think you should go to anger management," Williams says.
There's Brian Williams in a nutshell. Like Peter Jennings and Tom Brokaw before him, he'll respond playfully if someone tries to goad him into revealing feelings. But the "NBC Nightly News" anchor won't squander his objectivity.
With all his name and face recognition, Williams could also run for office. But he has no interest, he says fairly forcefully.
"After seeing what I've seen of politics? No, thank you. No! I can be much happier and effect much more change by covering them," he says.
"Apparently," I tempt him, "if you're a star on NBC, you can run for president."
"Only in the entertainment division," he says.
You wouldn't think Williams is fair and balanced if you read bloggers of all stripes. On the left, they've assailed him for -- among other things -- once lauding Rush Limbaugh.
"The Rush Limbaugh quote -- I was just saying, of course people should listen. I listen all the time," he says.
"A New York radio station took the audio of that answer ... and cut a promo so you hear my voice saying, 'I like Rush,' followed by the music of Rush the band. So really, you can't say a thing. That's the lesson today."
I ask him if he thinks Fox News is a news channel or an opinion station. Williams spins a reply a political writer would be proud of:
"It's in the eye of the beholder. The great thing about choice in America today, in news media, is there's plenty for everybody. We all get to run our news divisions as we see fit, and the audience votes with the most powerful tool in modern history: the remote control."
I ask if he'd answer the same way about CNN. He hems the high road.
"I watch them both," he says. "I'm a news consumer. I just think people are smart enough to know exactly what they're getting."
Interestingly, he speaks most flatteringly about Comedy Central's "The Daily Show With Jon Stewart." "It's as well-produced as anything on this newscast" at NBC, he says.
I ask Williams why network news can't borrow ideas from "The Daily Show," like when Stewart screens video showing inconsistencies spoken by politicians over long periods of time. He says NBC already does this.
"We do analysis pieces that show President Bush quotes over six years, and [they have] either incredible consistency or what some would call an inconsistency."
But he says there is a "separation of powers" between network news and "The Daily Show."
"I have to exist as Jon's raw material every day," Williams says. "In the post-9/11 world, it's been really serious business, so it's hard to be shecky. It's hard to be Jon Stewart in the same half-hour as 'Eight Americans Killed.' "
From the outside looking in, it also seems tough being Brian Williams. He doesn't characterize his hectic job as anything but a "dream." But, in addition to anchoring, he cuts pieces for the NBC Web site. And he writes a daily blog.
I ask him if he's actually writing his blog, unlike Katie Couric, who has had producers pen large parts of hers.
"I am writing my own blog, and I write every word, and no one has ever written a word for me," he says.
For all his toiling, NBC has stayed on top in the ratings, though lately it's been falling behind "World News With Charles Gibson." Last week, ABC's Gibson averaged 7.5 million viwers' to Williams' 7.1 million.
So after just two years of anchoring "NBC News," he is the de jure dean of network news.
"Can you believe that? A 48-year-old dean? Wouldn't be allowed at any college," Williams says.
His career interferes with what other people would call a "life." Williams says he loves to read fiction, but he didn't buy a novel for two decades. Some weeks ago, he finally picked up Falling Man: A Novel, a fictional account of 9/11.
"My first novel since 1988," he says, looking relieved, not proud, and he shows me the book as proof.
On weekends, he tries to "hunker down" with his wife and two kids, and maybe watch a DVD in between giving commencement addresses or tackling other duties.
"Every day, I hit 'dump' on my hard drive, and I can't tell you anything about last night's broadcast," he says.
He swears this is an enjoyable existence. "If that went away, I might atrophy and die," he says and then paraphrases a Woody Allen quote to define his true nature: "I'm like a shark. I gotta keep moving."
delfman@suntimes.com
BY DOUG ELFMAN Television Critic
Brian Williams tries to explain to me why the news industry has run the same redundant story for the past few months -- that actor Fred Thompson still hadn't announced his presidential campaign.
"Look at what makes our culture go: the moving image," Williams says during a recent Chicago visit. "So when someone from 'Law & Order' might run for president, I think it adds fascination."
"He's not very attractive, though," I say about Thompson.
"I think that's a value judgment you're making, and I think you should go to anger management," Williams says.
There's Brian Williams in a nutshell. Like Peter Jennings and Tom Brokaw before him, he'll respond playfully if someone tries to goad him into revealing feelings. But the "NBC Nightly News" anchor won't squander his objectivity.
With all his name and face recognition, Williams could also run for office. But he has no interest, he says fairly forcefully.
"After seeing what I've seen of politics? No, thank you. No! I can be much happier and effect much more change by covering them," he says.
"Apparently," I tempt him, "if you're a star on NBC, you can run for president."
"Only in the entertainment division," he says.
You wouldn't think Williams is fair and balanced if you read bloggers of all stripes. On the left, they've assailed him for -- among other things -- once lauding Rush Limbaugh.
"The Rush Limbaugh quote -- I was just saying, of course people should listen. I listen all the time," he says.
"A New York radio station took the audio of that answer ... and cut a promo so you hear my voice saying, 'I like Rush,' followed by the music of Rush the band. So really, you can't say a thing. That's the lesson today."
I ask him if he thinks Fox News is a news channel or an opinion station. Williams spins a reply a political writer would be proud of:
"It's in the eye of the beholder. The great thing about choice in America today, in news media, is there's plenty for everybody. We all get to run our news divisions as we see fit, and the audience votes with the most powerful tool in modern history: the remote control."
I ask if he'd answer the same way about CNN. He hems the high road.
"I watch them both," he says. "I'm a news consumer. I just think people are smart enough to know exactly what they're getting."
Interestingly, he speaks most flatteringly about Comedy Central's "The Daily Show With Jon Stewart." "It's as well-produced as anything on this newscast" at NBC, he says.
I ask Williams why network news can't borrow ideas from "The Daily Show," like when Stewart screens video showing inconsistencies spoken by politicians over long periods of time. He says NBC already does this.
"We do analysis pieces that show President Bush quotes over six years, and [they have] either incredible consistency or what some would call an inconsistency."
But he says there is a "separation of powers" between network news and "The Daily Show."
"I have to exist as Jon's raw material every day," Williams says. "In the post-9/11 world, it's been really serious business, so it's hard to be shecky. It's hard to be Jon Stewart in the same half-hour as 'Eight Americans Killed.' "
From the outside looking in, it also seems tough being Brian Williams. He doesn't characterize his hectic job as anything but a "dream." But, in addition to anchoring, he cuts pieces for the NBC Web site. And he writes a daily blog.
I ask him if he's actually writing his blog, unlike Katie Couric, who has had producers pen large parts of hers.
"I am writing my own blog, and I write every word, and no one has ever written a word for me," he says.
For all his toiling, NBC has stayed on top in the ratings, though lately it's been falling behind "World News With Charles Gibson." Last week, ABC's Gibson averaged 7.5 million viwers' to Williams' 7.1 million.
So after just two years of anchoring "NBC News," he is the de jure dean of network news.
"Can you believe that? A 48-year-old dean? Wouldn't be allowed at any college," Williams says.
His career interferes with what other people would call a "life." Williams says he loves to read fiction, but he didn't buy a novel for two decades. Some weeks ago, he finally picked up Falling Man: A Novel, a fictional account of 9/11.
"My first novel since 1988," he says, looking relieved, not proud, and he shows me the book as proof.
On weekends, he tries to "hunker down" with his wife and two kids, and maybe watch a DVD in between giving commencement addresses or tackling other duties.
"Every day, I hit 'dump' on my hard drive, and I can't tell you anything about last night's broadcast," he says.
He swears this is an enjoyable existence. "If that went away, I might atrophy and die," he says and then paraphrases a Woody Allen quote to define his true nature: "I'm like a shark. I gotta keep moving."
delfman@suntimes.com
Comments