In the fall of 2003, NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams visited the Walter Reed Medical Center in Washington, D.C., where he reported on a number of injured U.S. soldiers, including Sgt. Peter Damon, who lost both his arms in a helicopter crash in Iraq.
“I still feel like I have hands,” said Damon at the time. “And the pain is like my hands are being crushed in a vice. But they do a lot to help it. And they take a lot of the edge off of it. And it makes … it a lot more tolerable, you know, so I can just be a lot more comfortable.”
That clip, which originally aired on October 31, 2003, was once again in the news this week as the centerpiece in a well-publicized multi-million-dollar lawsuit against filmmaker Michael Moore.
Damon filed the suit on May 25, alleging that the filmmaker used the aforementioned clip out of context in his movie Fahrenheit 9/11 and did so without Damon’s permission. NBC is also named in the suit.
This week, dozens of news outlets, including everyone from CNN to Fox News to E! On-line to the Long Island Press and Reason reported on the lawsuit.
But so far, reporters at the Nightly News have commemorated the occasion with a loud silence.
Which is a little surprising, not only because the producers at NBC’s Nightly News were responsible for shooting and editing the original footage now at the center of the controversy, but also because they have done a couple of subsequent pieces on Damon.
In June of 2004, Brian Williams filed a follow-up report on Damon’s recovery and how the injured soldier, along with his wife and young son, would be the first family to receive a customized house through a charitable organization called Homes for Our Troops.
Last summer, Damon was once again back on the Nightly News. This time, Williams reported on Damon tossing out the first pitch at a Red Sox-Orioles game with his artificial arm.
But now, with Damon back in the public eye claiming that he got burned not just by Moore but also by NBC, Williams appears to be ignoring his thrice-visited former subject. Why?
Perhaps NBC producers have simply decided that amid the ongoing war in Iraq, the start of hurricane season, and the nascent nuclear negotiations with Iran, Damon’s lawsuit doesn’t merit any of the limited air space on the Nightly News. Or perhaps NBC’s lawyers have slapped a gag order on Williams and everyone else involved.
If only Williams had some other outlet to share his thoughts and opinions. Like, say, a blog. Check that. Williams does have a blog –the dreadfully named Daily Nightly.
Earlier this week, as we noted, the Daily Nightly celebrated its one-year anniversary. “More than 815 posts and 10,000+ comments later, we’re very proud to have been the first network evening newscast to wade into the blogosphere,” wrote editor Rob Merrill on Wednesday. “Needless to say, we couldn’t have done it without an anchorman who is willing to share his unique thoughts and observations with viewers…”
Unfortunately for those of us who are curious about Williams’ “unique thoughts and observations” about Sgt. Damon, to date The Daily Nightly staff has been too busy patting itself on the back to weigh in on the obviously altered situation.
Where others see a dilemma, we see opportunity — in this case, the perfect opportunity for Williams to kick off his second year as a blogger by actually sharing an opinion on a subject that is both provocative and topical.
Even if the network’s lawyers have tied his hands, not to mention his tongue, Williams (or someone else) could use The Daily Nightly to at least explain that much to us, before lapsing once again into silence.
Felix Gillette writes about the media for The New York Observer.