Pete Williams, former Cheney staffer, covering Libby indictment for NBC

[Bush_Eats_Beef]

http://www.workingforchange.com/blog/index.cfm?mode=entry&entry=42CA4708-D0AB-EDCC-7A5F370C730B573A

Cheney staffer-turned-reporter now covering Libby indictment for NBC News
Over at the Huffington Post, Dan Carol asks a great question: how can NBC's Pete Williams be allowed to cover the Scooter Libby story for the network, considering Williams was a longtime former staffer for Dick Cheney?

That's right – according to Williams' biography on NBC's website, Williams is "a native of Casper, Wyoming" – where Cheney is from. In 1986, Williams "joined the Washington, DC staff of then Congressman Dick Cheney as press secretary and a legislative assistant. In 1989, when Cheney was named Assistant Secretary of Defense, Williams was appointed Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs."

Now Williams is being allowed to report on the indictment of Cheney's chief of staff for NBC News, as if he was just a regular old nonpartisan objective journalist. And, as Carol points out, Williams seems to be using his position on TV in some pretty questionable ways when it comes to the case.

UPDATE: I received a hysterical, breathless email from a well-known NBC reporter complaining about the fact that I raised questions about Williams' objectivity. He whined that I am overlooking "14 years of spotless, impartial work for NBC News" by Williams. But as I told him, here's the deal: Dick Cheney's former longtime flack is reporting for NBC on a scandal surrounding Dick Cheney. If you can't see the conflict there...well, then the media really has bigger problems than even I had originally thought. Regardless of Williams' previous reporting (which has been fine), this is about as blatant a conflict-of-interest as you can get. It's one thing for him to be reporting on the Bush administration in general, despite being a former Republican flack. But it is quite another for him to be reporting directly on a scandal surrounding his longtime former boss. It's right out of Journalism 101 in terms of what not to allow. Period. Not only has Dan Carol raised questions about it, but so has the New York Times, and plenty of others. The media is quick to demand politicians recuse themselves from any situation that even appears to look like a conflict of interest. But when the public asks the same of the media - surprise surprise - the media goes and cries. Pathetic.

Posted by David Sirota at 10:28 AM | Link
categories: Media Bias/Idiocy

NBC BIO:



Pete Williams is an NBC News correspondent based in Washington, D.C. He has been covering the Justice Department and the U.S. Supreme Court since March 1993. Williams was also a key reporter on the Microsoft anti-trust trial and Judge Jackson's decision.

Prior to joining NBC, Williams served as a press official on Capitol Hill for many years. In 1986 he joined the Washington, DC staff of then Congressman Dick Cheney as press secretary and a legislative assistant. In 1989, when Cheney was named Assistant Secretary of Defense, Williams was appointed Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs. While in that position, Williams was named Government Communicator of the Year in 1991 by the National Association of Government Communicators.

[gordianot]

1. Bet Russert is happy they can give him a rest and call Pete Williams.

Next time Cheney wants to complain about something they see on NBC.

[Democrats_win]

2. Absolutely a flak. BTW, he was famously OUTED as Gay.

He can't cover this story, it is a conflict of interest. There is no shame in the press corp these days, because they should all be ashamed of what they've been doing. The media moguls are complicit in the crimes of this administration.

Many people were being outed several years ago by Gay rights advocates because these people were working against gay rights. So here we have yet another gay Republican.

[Norquist Nemesis]

3. Well, it obliterates the Liberal Media canard n/t

[Supersedeas]

5. only a Liberal Media watchdawg would complain about a Cheney shill

[Norquist Nemesis]

6. Only a NON-Liberal Media would make the assignment

in the first place.

[redacted]

4. That's right! NOW I remember. I saw him probably hundreds of times

delivering press briefings in news clips and on CSPAN.

[redacted]

8. There must be a ton of archival news footage available of Williams

delivering DOD briefings around the time of Desert Storm.

[TahitiNut]

7. NBC is totally blind to CRONYISM

This is not just a "conflict of interest" issue, it's clearly a case of the media adopting lobbyist ethics and accepting the (corrupt) 'realities' of gaining access by virture of the Boys' Club. That's a de facto accommodation of cronyism ... exploiting it rather than standing against it.

When such an organization benefits from unethical systems of privilege and entitlement, they are far less likely to accommodate the abolition of such undemocratic and elitist practices.

[gordianot]

9. In some ways NBC is more insidious than Faux.

Russert admitted the phone call he took from Libby was based on complaint of something that was broadcast on MS NBC. Russert then called either a Vice President or the President of NBC. NBC wanted to exclude Russert from Testimony in the Grand Jury over the phone call (which all knew was not a news story but a complaint from the Bush administration).

Little Timmy was too stupid to be embarrassed by this sad incident shilling for Bush-co.

[TahitiNut]

10. Russert is just a Customer Service Rep for GE -- GOPigs are the customers.

Remember, the customer is always right ... far right. :eyes:

[NNN0LHI]

11. kick

[Cvllelaw]

12. Pete Williams

I am biased -- Pete has been a friend of mine since our days at Stanford. I have watched him in the last few days, particularly on Washington Week in Review on Friday night, and I thought that he has been fairly even-handed in his comments. And to respond to one of the flaming posts here -- Pete didn't need any political help to get into Stanford. He had the scholastic resume, the grades, the test scores, the extra-curriculars, and the overall "juice" to get in, and he did well.

Pete has been a friend of Dick Cheney's for many years, and when Cheney went to D.C. as a Congressman, it was very natural for him to take Casper's finest with him. When Cheney went to the Defense Department, he took his press secretary with him. That doesn't mean that Pete is a flack -- it means that he was good at his job and that Cheney was smart enough to recognize it. One of the reasons that he went to cover the Justice Department when Bush 41 left office was that it seemed unlikely to pose a conflict after his work at the Pentagon. Another reason was that he knew a heck of a lot about the law, again going back to coursework at Stanford.

Remember -- although I personally wish this case was more about Cheney than it has shown so far, it is NOT about Cheney. It is NOT about Rove. And unless Libby is a complete wimp, he is going to take a bullet for Cheney, and it isn't going to become about Cheney. There is no indication in the record here about whether Pete has any inside relationship with Libby.

The last point that I would make about the notion of reporters covering their friends is that it happens all the time in Washington. Russert will go to a party with politicos on Friday night, and question them on Sunday. It happens in small towns too -- reporters will have "off the record" lunches with politicos, and then write editorials condemning what the guys just did. It's not immoral. And with a 12-year gap since Pete last worked for Cheney, I don't think it requires a disclaimer for him to report on the Libby indictment.

Now, if you want to look for conspiracy theories, try these bits of information: Chris Matthews' wife worked at the Stanford campus radio station when Pete was news director. One of Pete's best friends from Stanford -- his successor as news director -- covers Capitol Hill for a major radio network. The Washington Bureau Chief of the New York Times was Editor of the Stanford Daily when Pete was there. Doyle McManus, Washington Bureau Chief for the LA Times and frequent panelist on the talk shows, worked for the Stanford Daily when Pete was at Stanford.

They're everywhere...

[Gabi Hayes]

15. well....goody for you! at least you admit your bias.

where Williams does not.

his questions during Fitzgerald revealed quite clearly his biases, and he repeated an out and out LIE about Wilson on Russert's CNBC show of last Saturday.

not that he was alone in doing that: Mrs. Greenspan (how's that for another unacknowledged bit of corporate 'embeddedness'), repeated another oft-told canard, spread by the RW propaganda machine

If you'd care for the details, feel free to ask, cause I have it on tape, and recall screaming at the TV during both of the obvious lies these two so-called unbiased journalists spread.

you can reassure us all you want about Williams' allegedly pristine journalistic ethics, but he's shown himself, over the last week, especially, to be nothing but a deeply compromised pawn of the current regime, who really showed his true colors last weekend.

and, as far as that steamer of a PBS show...I saw that, and you seem to be the only poster I've read here who didn't have a problem with Williams' clear pro-Bush slanting of the Fitzgerald news conference/Plame outing.

one last thing:

"And unless Libby is a complete wimp, he is going to take a bullet for Cheney, and it isn't going to become about Cheney."

are you dyslexic? did you confurse Libby with G. Gordon Liddy, or something? why are you so concerned that this investo go no further than Libby? aren't you concerned in the least with finding out what really happened? It's obvious that the only reason others haven't been indicted yet is that this regime is doing the SAME thing the Nixonites did thiry years ago: lie, obuscate, delay, and stonewall.
Fitzgerald specifically alluded to this in his statememt, but, for whatever reason, didn't come right out and state it in more obvious terms.

oh...enjoy your stay

[NNN0LHI]

13. kick

[kentuck]

14. Can it be anything but a coverup?

With Williams and Russert reporting on this story?

[PhilipShore]

16. Taliban supporter linked to indicted Scooter Libby’s PNAC.

Right Web

http://rightweb.irc-online.org/ind/khalilzad/khalilzad.php

Despite his connections to the Taliban, which were developed when he aided the Reagan administration's anti-Soviet activities in Afghanistan, Khalilzad -- an Afghan native -- quickly changed his tune when Osama bin Laden's connections to the group surfaced...

Khalilzad is a Washington insider with tight connections to several Bush administration figures and high profile neocons. Before being nominated in late 2003 to be the U.S. ambassador in Afghanistan, Khalilzad served as President Bush's envoy to Iraq and Afghanistan and oversaw the Bush-Cheney Defense Department transition team. He worked closely with Paul Wolfowitz in the Bush Sr. and Reagan administrations, and has collaborated with the Project for the New American Century (PNAC) on its lobbying efforts.

Project for the New American Century (PNAC): Signed PNAC's 1997 founding statement of principles as well as several PNAC sign-on letters (3)

Friends of Afghanistan (Mujahedin Support Group): Former Executive Director (4)