Brian Williams: 'In an Effort to Honor and Thank a Veteran, I Made a Mistake' — Transcript

Full transcript

1. 0:00he's the anchor of nbc's flagship
2. 0:02evening news show
3. 0:04and he's had to swallow his pride and
4. 0:06apologize to some 9 million viewers
5. 0:09it's a story brian williams has told
6. 0:11many times on air
7. 0:12but the facts have drifted apart over
8. 0:14the years
9. 0:15i made a mistake in recalling the events
10. 0:18of 12 years ago
11. 0:19i want to apologize i said i was
12. 0:21traveling in an aircraft that was hit by
13. 0:24rpg
14. 0:24fire i was instead in a following
15. 0:27aircraft
16. 0:28the revelation came when veterans
17. 0:30interviewed for the stars and stripes
18. 0:32newspaper
19. 0:33pointed out the error williams claimed a
20. 0:35memory lapse on repeatedly watching a
21. 0:38video of himself looking at the impact
22. 0:40damage to the helicopter
23. 0:41and what he called the fog of memory
24. 0:44over 12 years
25. 0:45but the apology has done little to calm
26. 0:47the flames many critics say they don't
27. 0:50believe this was an honest mistake
28. 0:52and call for his resignation soldiers
29. 0:54are very sensitive
30. 0:56to what they perceive as people
31. 0:59either misrepresenting their roles in
32. 1:02life-threatening situations
33. 1:04or what they consider
34. 1:07attempts to get reflected glory nbc have
35. 1:10launched an internal probe to straighten
36. 1:12out the facts behind williams reporting
37. 1:14as their poster journalist's credibility
38. 1:17lies on the line
39. 1:18to make something like that up in a
40. 1:20situation where there's
41. 1:21where there's war if he's already over
42. 1:23there i don't know that's pretty that's
43. 1:24brave enough you know having to
44. 1:26pick up a story they were the helicopter
45. 1:27shot down it seems pointless
46. 1:29doubts over details in williams
47. 1:31award-winning coverage of hurricane
48. 1:33katrina
49. 1:34have now also begun to emerge