Courageous reporting indeed by NBC's Richard Engel and hair beyond cool, and I will tune in for

further developments by him in the volatile situation in Libya. Be safe, Richard! And my prayers

are with the Rebels and the Libyan people as they strive for freedom and write a new page in

history for that region. Not same-O-same 0 God bless!!!

Sorry about the earthquakeyou guys it's normal for me living in California. It's not common but as we see Global Warming is real and showing us everyday.

Richard is doing a great job and our prayers for safety is with him. Just think President Obama was advised by the GOP and those war hero's like Senator McCain and Graham to let NATO handle it and the US should stay out of stopping a Dictator. Americans agreed with the Law Makers and attacked Obama. Well the President had to again educate both the Law Makers and American people that the United States is a member of NATO. Well that was then this is now. The same Law Makers are now cheering the results and of course accepting the thanks from the Libyan people but reporting Obama did nothing. Yes you can't fix stupid but the GOP still tries. A big sign held by the Libyan people thanking President Obama and NATO as it's shown around the World, but we are not to believe it. What a difference as for many years we saw hate/burning pictures of our President all that changed in Jan. 2009.

DSK case was about money and opportunity and had nothing to do with crimes. Our Legal System is broken from the bottom to the top. Money rules the system and we have unqualified Prosecutors/Judges who paid for their degrees and ever appointed to do as their told. Law 101 says you don't annonce a charge until you finish the investigation as not to defame a person, but it seems money overrides Law 101. Now the victim quickly contacted her boyfriend in jail to see how much this wealthy man would pay. Well opportunity come to France law makers and enemies of DSK, as was a rush to guilt before the truth came out. When people saw how easy it is to pay off those who work in the US Legal System and watched 8 years of the crime wave look for others to do the same. Casey Anthony lucked out with an unqualified Prosecutor and a murder Casey Anthony walked out a free woman. Crimes does pay in America. Eric Holder now see how deep these fake unqualified appointees are in all levels and each State of this USA.

see you same to time same place

The last straw. Now we have to outsource the making of our statues. Unbelieveable that we contract out the making of the Dr. Martin Luther King memorial statue to the Cinese. Even had to bring 10 of them here to assemble the monument.

So much for creating jobs in the USA.

Probably will have to bring the same Chinese artist to put the Obama face on Mt. Rushmore!!!!!!

Brian, Always good to see you and Lester; you have such great rapport.

If New York has never experienced an earthquake, to me, that means

it is unprecedented. Phyllis

Good Evening Mr.Williams, A truly great broadcast this evening. The earthquake felt along the Eastern part of the country in covering 22 States, Hurricane Irene strengthening and heading towards the Eastern seaboard and the fall of Qadhafi's regime with the rebels storming Qadhafi's compound and taking everything they could find. Certainly a huge day in news.

First of all Richard's report from Tripoli showed how the rebels with the help of NATO overcame Qadhafi's compound. Seeing all the intense gunfire battles outside the compound revealed the fierce resistence by loyalists to Qadhafi and all the bullet holes at the gate of the compound are evidence. The rebels fought hard to overtake the compound and are taking full advantage by taking all the weapons they could find along with much other ammunition. As Richard showed by asking the rebels what they took and showing the weapons in boxes. The rebels are truly celebrating a victory over Qadhafi's regime and all the gunfire in Green Square is major evidence of their excitement. One does hope that all the journalists held by Qadhafi loyalists at the Rixos Hotel are released safe and sound. Including as Richard stated journalist John Ray of ITN.

Excellent Reporting Richard! Please Stay Extra,Extra Safe and Well!

The report by Mr.Holt from NYC about the 5.8 earthquake that was centered in Mineral, Virginia and was felt in Washington D.C, NYC, Philadelphia along with many other States. All told 22 States felt the earthquake. Scary to many, many people as they went into the streets in major cities while the White House and other Historical Monuments were evacuated. Seeing the inside of buidings shake was disturbing. Not alot of damage done to structures and no reportes injuries, but a scary time for many people.

Mr.Costello's report from Mineral, VA showed how much damage wasc done to the Town Hall. Good to know at the nuclear plant shutdown and there is no danger to anyone in the area. A rare event for people living along the Eastcoast.

The report by Janice Huff about Hurricane Irene showed how the storm will intensify overv the next few days and cause heavy rainfall along with strong winds along the Eastern Seaboard. Hopefully, everyone will be safe and sound. And I agree with you Mr.Williams I would want Janice Huff to try and move the storm out to sea. :)

Interesting piece by Mr.Tibbles about the Class of 2015 and what they know in this changing world.

I agree Richard knows much about a changing world especially this year in the Middle East and other regions.

Thank You for the broadcast Mr.Williams. Peace to You and to All!

Be Well Everyone!

Stay Extra,Extra Safe and Well Richard! Excellent Reporting as Aways! Even though it was hard to hear you over the celebratory gunfire of the rebels. One could still hear you.

Take Extra,Extra Good Care Richard and Crew!

Lisa

Why does Brian Williams take 6 or 7 sentences to intro a story-sheesz, what a ham! If he spent as much time just being a better news reader than a comedian maybe we can get more than 4 or 5 five stories a night on NBC Nightly News! What an idiot-and if push comes to shove Brian picks the cheesiest, most East Coast story that is humanly possible whether it's interviewing Bruce Springsteen-really?! Or being a nerdy "Jersey Shore' fan . . . birds of a feather once an Jersey idiot always a . . . oh, wait! I get it, sorry . . . I know the pollution does brain damage. I'm sorry for my rant. BTW, I DO NOT CARE IF YOUR VACATIONS HAVE BEEN INTERRUPTED THIS SUMMER-MANY PEOPLE DON'T HAVE FUNCKIN' JOBS TO HAVE A VACATION YOU DOUCHE BAG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

During the intro to Saturday's Nightly News, a clip from an upcoming story about the two Americans imprisoned in Iran was labeled "Judgement Day". Apparently, none of the Nightly News producers know how to spell "judgment". What a surprise.

On Friday's broadcast, a promo for "Meet the Press" identified Robert Gibbs as an Obama campaign "Adviser". On Saturday's broadcast, a MTP promo identified Gibbs as an Obama campaign "Advisor". When it comes to spelling, Nightly News flip-flops more than Mitt Romney.

On Saturday's broadcast, we were treated to a two-and-a-half-minute "news story" about a man who provides sound effects for movies. The producers should have attached a "breaking news" banner to this one. Obviously, it was just an excuse to pander to the viewers by showing clips from movies like "The Devil Wears Prada", "The Big Lebowski", True Grit", "Goodfellas", "Shutter Island" and "Murder By Numbers". By the way, what is the deal with Nightly News's obsession with "The Devil Wears Prada"? They showed clips from that movie twice in five days for two different stories. It wasn't released by Universal, but I'm betting that it has some connection to NBC Universal. After all, why else would Nightly News be promoting it twice in five days unless Comcast could make some money off it?

On Saturday's story about the Republican presidential candidates, Mitt Romney was identified as a "former governor". But a week earlier (8/13), Tim Pawlenty was identified as a "governor", even though he's been out of office for more than six months. I'm just curious--at what point will the Nightly News producers begin identifying Pawlenty as a former governor?

Sunday's Nightly News featured a two-and-a-half-minute story in which Peter Alexander swims with sharks. In what alternate universe is this a news story? Only in the Bizarro world of Nightly News.

Last Thursday, Nightly News aired a story about how dogs may be able to use their sense of smell to detect tumors during the early stages of cancer. (This was the fourth Nightly News story featuring dogs in less than two weeks. Obviously, someone from the NBC News research department informed Brian Williams that dog stories test extremely well and deliver high ratings.) After the story, Brian told Nancy Snyderman, "Full disclosure--I'm a dog person." Full disclosure. That's an interesting phrase coming from Brian because he never actually offers the disclosures that he is ethically obligated to offer. People expect their news anchors to be forthright, honest and transparent. They do not expect their anchors to hide or disguise their motives for reporting certain stories. Here are some things Brian Williams should be disclosing to his viewers:

*Brian frequently uses his anchor chair to promote products that advertise on Nightly News and other NBC shows. In fact, he will read a company's press release verbatim as if it's an actual news story. Recently, he has done this with McDonald's, Walmart, Starbucks, Subway, Heinz, Frito-Lay and Kraft--among others. Sometimes, Brian and his producers will do an entire news story--often lasting more than two minutes--about an advertiser's product. Recent examples include Pringles, Microsoft Bing, United Airlines, Chrysler, McDonald's, Cheerios, Boniva, Aleve and many GlaxoSmithKline products. Brian and his producers are also fond of helping out their sponsors by including product placements in news stories. They have done this with Chevy, Cheerios, McDonald's and Bayer. Despite all these promos and product placements, Brian has never once disclosed that a product featured in a Nightly News story was also a paid advertiser. For all we know, these products are paying to be featured in the news story. Conversely, Brian also protects NBC advertisers from bad publicity. If a product that advertises on Nightly News is involved in a recall or is proven to have harmful side effects, Brian will often bury the story by delaying it until the weekend or neglecting to report it altogether.
*Brian frequently inserts clips of NBC Universal shows into news stories in order to shamelessly promote those shows. The most frequently promoted shows are "Saturday Night Live", "30 Rock", "The Office" and NBC's late-night shows hosted by Jay Leno and Jimmy Fallon. He never discloses that these clips are promos.
*Brian and his producers regularly allow news segments (or the entire broadcast) to be sponsored by products whose industry is reported on by Nightly News. In some cases, the sponsored segment is directly related to the product that is sponsoring it. This is completely unethical. Are we supposed to believe that these sponsorships have no bearing on the way Nightly News covers a product or an industry? Brian has never once disclosed the relationship between segment sponsors and the way he covers the news.
*Brian often brags about high ratings for NBC shows (his and others). But after Brian claims a certain rating for a show, information in a New York Times article or on the TV by the Numbers website will often list a significantly lower rating for the program in question. And the Nightly News ratings are artificially inflated because Brian and his producers often submit their show to Nielsen intentionally misspelled as "Nitely News". This allows lower-rated Nightly News broadcasts to be counted separately so they don't bring down the ratings of the higher-rated broadcasts. I won't hold my breath waiting for Brian to disclose this.
*Brian frequently reports on the military and on Medal of Honor winners. But Brian has never once disclosed that he serves on the Board of Directors for the Congressional Medal of Honor Foundation. Using your newscast to promote your favorite organization is unethical. Failing to disclose your connection to the organization is really unethical.
*Several months ago, Nightly News became available as an iPad app. And as soon as that happened, Brian and his producers began showing parts of news stories as if they were appearing on an iPad. Clearly, this was only done as a shameless promotion. Of course, Brian offered no disclosure.
*A significant portion of Nightly News stories are put on the air not for their news value, but for their ability to attract viewers and boost the ratings. This includes entertainment stories, Will & Kate stories (and other Royal stories), animal stories, "Making A Difference" segments, weepy rah-rah gung-ho military stories--basically everything that airs in the second half of the broadcast. I have never once heard Brian Williams offer "full disclosure" that he is airing a story solely because it will boost his ratings.

So Brian may think it's amusing for him to say, "Full disclosure--I'm a dog person." But in reality it only serves to point out the huge ethical chasm that exists in the situations where he refuses to disclose his ulterior motives for reporting a story. Full disclosure. That's a good one.

Hi Brian,

I have never experienced an earthquake, nor do I want to.....it was felt in Toronto and Ottawa to some degree, I learned on Canada's nightly newscast...did I ever mention that our "Nightly News" comes on at 11pm!! And hey I have never seen Lester really laugh and smile the way you had him a chuckling tonight!

One of your "fans" had mentioned the spelling of the word judgement and I had never given it much thought but his comments prompted me to look it up. Here is what I found out:

To spell judgement without an "e," while spelling abridgement, acknowledgement, arrangement, engagement, and the 40 other words in English with a soft "g" before -ment with an "e," is an act of bewildering inconsistency that makes learning the spelling system unnecessarily difficult. It is not a new problem; both spellings have trailed this word throughout history and all English-language dictionaries assure us that both are acceptable. However, we are offering a reasoned resolution to the dilemma that allows us to spell all such words accurately and consistently, making our kids' task of learning the language just a bit easier. We should use the "e" after "g" and "c" (e.g. "advancement" when they are are soft and omit it when they are hard (e.g. segment, pigment).

Judgment is American English just the way I can finish my entry to the blog....which I miss you writing on very dearly....no pressure :) by saying in my Canadian/British English "I liked the "colours" of your tie tonight."

sure hope that they get those journalists they are holding in the hotel released.

Lester, Always good to see you filling in for Brian and as always a terrific

broadcast. You appeared on our new flat television screen and your tie

was vivid stripe purple Very attractive. As alway, great coverage on Libya by Richard

About Gadhafi, paraphasing Lady MacBeth, I see no reason why we cannot

kill him. I loved June Cleever who said "It's not women's work if you can

get out of it." --my kind of woman. Have a nice evening. Phyllis