In His Own Words – Brian Williams on Katrina. Oct. 27, 2005. (Part 3)
Part 1: www.youtube.com Part 2: www.youtube.com Part 3: www.youtube.com ______________________________________ The New York Times Oct. 27, 2005. “In His Own Words: Brian Williams on Hurricane Katrina” on the Sundance Channel serves as a study aid for those who wish to re-examine the government’s neglect of the poorest victims of that terrible storm. On “In His Own Words,” Mr. Williams reminisces while perched on a backstage stool in his shirt sleeves, his tie loosened, looking a little like Joey Bishop in the days of cabaret. This normally suave anchorman talks a lot about his own feelings. “I can’t get the faces out of my mind,” he says, referring to victims he bonded with during their long wait for rescue. “But I shouldn’t. They are part of who I am.” It’s easy to sneer at the self-referential tone and show-biz touches, but the truth is, the hurricane did deeply affect the reporters who covered it. And Mr. Williams, whose previous experience in the field was broad but thin, burrowed deeper into that story than anchors usually do, under conditions most anchors manage to skirt. He impressed viewers both by providing calm, authoritative on-the-scene reports, and also by occasionally venting his own fury at the authorities’ missteps. “I carried a case of Vienna sausage, cans of Vienna sausage, as collateral in case we had a smash-and-grab car jack, I was going to offer it to someone in exchange for my life,” he says on the Sundance documentary, describing the lawlessness …