Commentary: NBC Williams' false Iraq story hurts news media's credibility

NBC News anchor Brian Williams' admission of falsely claiming that he was on a helicopter forced down in Iraq in 2003 drew harsh words from media critics as well as people on social media on Thursday.

Usually, it is admirable for a person, especially a celebrity, to honestly confess his or her wrongdoing as most people tend to weasel out of their mistakes.

However, the timing and approach of the anchor's apology was dubious.

Williams retracted his story only after being challenged by veterans writing on the Facebook and a military publication, "Stars and Stripes," which has a timeline showing his shifting version of events over the years.

Crew members said that the NBC anchor was not on board the aircraft which was hit by two rockets and small arms and that Williams arrived in the area about an hour later on another helicopter after the crippled aircraft made an emergency landing. ' In Williams' case, fabricating a story of him surviving an air attack broke the basic code of media ethics, whose harm can not be repaired by a mere apology.

In the long run, the episode may not only damage the anchor's own credibility, but even further erode Americans' trust in news media as well as the world's faith in the U.S. media.

For decades, credibility, the most valuable asset for news media, has been edging downward from high levels in the United States.

According to a recent Gallup poll, Americans' confidence in the media's ability to report "the news fully, accurately, and fairly" was at its all-time low of 40 percent in 2014.

The falloff in credibility is partly due to many ultra-hyped stories that pandered to lurid curiosity or practices of rushing to judgement on unverified information, including the lack of professionalism in news reports about the Ferguson incident and the Syrian crisis, among others.

The Society of Professional Journalists has declared four principles as the foundation of ethical journalism and encouraged their use in its practice by all people in all media. They are: Seek Truth and Report It; Minimize Harm; Act Independently; Be Accountable and Transparent.

This code of ethics should be upheld by all news professionals. As the U.S. media is suffering a crisis of confidence, its journalists should work hard to restore their credibility by firmly following these principles. Endit