Photos: Getty Images
Brian Williams has discovered the downside of blogging in your spare time. Blogs let you run your mouth, and then everyone holds you accountable for what you say when you go back to your real job. Yesterday, in a blog post titled “What Times Is It?,” Williams blasted the New York Times for running puff pieces on sex chairs and travel destinations for nudists. Then hours later he turned around and devoted an NBC “Nightly News” segment to Miley Cyrus’s racy photos in Vanity Fair.
MediaBloodhound points out that he spent even less time covering a significantly weightier story, the Supreme Court ruling on voter I.D.’s in Indiana. He allocated only 80 seconds to the case (as opposed to the two minutes spent on Miley), at one point asking correspondent Pete Williams, “In a nation where, in the post-9/11 era, we need a photo I.D. to fly, why was it a big story today, this court ruling that we need it to vote?”
Presumably, he was just setting up the reporter’s response and already knew the answer: because more than 20 percent of black voters in Indiana do not have access to a valid photo I.D., which could drastically affect the outcome of the primary. But still, it’s lucky he didn’t throw out the “Why was this a big story today?” question for the Hannah Montana piece, resulting in the answer, “Um, I don’t really know, Brian,” followed by rampant cricket chirping.
On that note, can we go back to these sex chairs please? Because living-room furniture that can also get you off is always a big story to us. —Noelle Hancock
What Times Is It? [Daily Nightly]
Brian Williams Slams NYT for Tabloid Coverage, Then Runs Miley Cyrus Story [Crooks and Liars]
Miley Cyrus Trumps Voter ID Ruling on NBC Nightly News [MediaBloodhound]
