The New Jersey Hall of Fame’s web page for 2014 inductee Brian Williams, as of the morning of June 27.
The New Jersey Hall of Fame announced its class of 2015 yesterday; it will include Kool & the Gang, Jon Stewart, Derek Jeter and 10 others.
It’s lagging a bit behind, though, in the editing of 2014 inductee Brian Williams’ web page on njhalloffame.org. It currently includes just this outdated description: “Succeeding Tom Brokaw as anchor of NBC Nightly News, he is also the managing editor of the program.”
Above is the web page, as of this morning. Note the “Everyone needs a hero” slogan at the top.
Williams, of course, is no longer on the NBC Nightly News staff; he has been reassigned to MSNBC, where he will begin working later this year. In February, he was suspended for misrepresenting his coverage of the Iraq War in 2003. NBC’s subsequent investigation revealed other inaccuracies as well, and the network decided to replace him with Lester Holt, and move Williams to MSNBC.
I’m not suggesting that Williams should be removed from the hall. He has still had many great accomplishments in his career, and they should be celebrated.
However, part of the NJ Hall of Fame’s mission — perhaps the main part — is education, and it shouldn’t hesitate in conveying important information, even if unflattering, about its inductees. And the Williams scandal is not a trivial thing; if it had happened a year earlier, he probably never would have been selected for the hall in the first place.
Here is a video of Williams’ hall of fame acceptance speech from last year, as well as Bruce Springsteen’s induction speech.
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