Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin blasted Brian Williams’s colleagues in the mainstream media “crime syndicate” for enabling and covering up his Iraq War lies.
“It appears that some at NBC did know that Williams was lying for over a decade but never said a thing about it,” Palin wrote of Williams’ stolen valor in a Friday evening Facebook post. “Keep in mind that Williams repeated his bogus story many times on air, yukked it up with David Letterman over the made up drama, and even accepted praise as a ‘war hero.'”
Williams admitted this week that he was not in a helicopter that was shot down at the beginning of the Iraq War and claimed that he “misremembered” the incident that he and the network repeatedly publicized. Palin had previously asked of the mainstream press after Williams’s admission, “what and who else do they lie about?” The day after that Facebook post, reports surfaced that Williams may have fabricated numerous tales while covering Katrina–like claiming he had seen dead bodies floating in the French Quarter when that area only saw minimal flooding.
Palin compared the corrupt mainstream media to a crime syndicate that empowers and then covers up for each other, and she specifically mentioned the “JournoList” scandal in which mainstream media reporters mocked conservatives and strategized on how to advance the left-wing agenda:
Let’s consider the herd mentality these journalists use to empower and cover for each other. It’s precisely the way a corrupt organization works, like a crime syndicate. Remember the “JournoList” scandal where hundreds of prominent members of the media were finally exposed for operating a secret internet chat group to strategize on how they would cover (read: spin) the news of the day to fit their leftwing agenda, regardless of truth? I haven’t forgotten. They would stop at nothing. I was aware of their collective unethical character not only because my college degree was earned using the complete opposite journalism tactics of JournoList’s, but also because I lived it first hand as they began their relentless BS about my family, my hometown, and my record when I was asked to come on the national scene in 2008.
She also ripped Williams for repeating outright lies about her during the 2008 election to paint her as a “wacko” who had banned books. Williams aired those falsehoods because he and his producers knew that Palin could not defend herself against the mainstream media herd that was hellbent on destroying a conservative who had captivated America with her convention speech and record of reform in Alaska, which pissed off the establishments of both political parties. As Palin noted, once the mainstream press rings the bell and the herd blindly follows, it is nearly impossible to “un-ring” it:
My parents just reminded me that right after my acceptance speech at the RNC in 2008, Brian Williams repeated on national television a completely false story that I banned books while I served in office. He did so by reading on air a completely false op-ed by another unethical character who’s never clarified nor apologized for including that outrageous censorship lie, among many others. (Thanks, Joe Klein, hope you’re keeping it classy.) Those lies – proclaimed on air as if Williams was merely reporting “the news” – were heard by many that night. Lies like that were like a gut punch to my parents that knocked down the foundation of trust they’ve lived their good lives upon, for they realized, defenselessly, the power of a corrupt press. The media lies rung a bell that can never be “un-rung.” In the minds of millions of Americans, I was tainted as an anti-First Amendment book banning wacko.
“Brian Williams lied about me in order to affect the way I would be perceived by Americans during the 2008 election. He lies. There is no other way around it,” she added. “But what’s especially disgusting is the way his corrupt colleagues covered for him.”
Palin also pointed out that this is far more than an NBC problem. She called out “all the major networks” and specifically mentioned “the outrageous media bias at CNN at the same time Williams was making up stories about his ‘war valor.'”
“There is a serious problem with the liberal media’s herd mentality. It’s too late for their mea culpa because they’ve already lost America’s trust, and that is a dangerous thing,” she continued. “But while they’re still on our airwaves, they need to clean up their act as the rest of us turn to new media that will be held accountable. A free press is a cornerstone of our democracy. They have the tools to be our watchdogs, not liars and lapdogs for the powers that be.”
Perhaps believing that Williams may be more useful as NBC’s and the mainstream press’s “Scarlet Letter” to remind Americans of the legacy media’s lies, omissions, and biases, Palin said she personally hoped that “Williams keeps his job as the face of network news to remind America how this all works, and to justify our complete turning away from his ilk in mainstream media.”