NBC - NBC'S WILLIAMS ATTACKED RIGHT AND LEFT

NBC'S WILLIAMS ATTACKED RIGHT AND LEFT

NBC anchor Brian Williams said Thursday that he was "taken aback" by the overwhelmingly negative response to his interview this week with President Bush. Writing in his TheDailyNightly blog, Williams said that 70 percent of his emails were critical of the interview, while only 30 percent wee positive, with many of the negative emailers agreeing with commentator Rush Limbaugh's assessment that his questioning was disrespectful and unprofessional. "Asking tough questions is one thing, but I am constitutionally unable to be disrespectful around the President of the United States," Williams wrote (referring psychological constitution, rather than the law of the land). However, the conservative website NewsBusters ("Exposing and Combating Liberal Media Bias") charged that the interview had made Williams "a hero of the loony left." The interview was also criticized by liberal bloggers. MediaMatters accused Williams of allowing the president "to make false and misleading assertions."

01/09/2006