Brian Williams draws my sympathy. The NBC anchorman sits in the awkward position of having to be an easy-to-look-at newsreader and a model of absolute trust. He never graduated from college, though he did a stint at The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. But, like other newsmakers, is supposed to opine like a grand scholar. He is expected to captivate us every night but relies on producers and researchers to do his work. He has to keep a high profile and be a man of derring-do, which led him to an accusation that he falsely claimed to have dodged terrorist fire in the Middle East. If he did get caught up in image-enhancing, he should not have done so, but there is a lot of blame to go around.

How about blaming the network that wanted him in the dangerous situation to boost ratings? How about the military seeking news coverage by putting soldiers into P.R. work and facilitating it by escorting Williams over the perilous landscape? How about the public that wants more than just the facts?

A news executive once stated that the worst day in the news business was when CBS made a profit with “60 Minutes,” the Sunday magazine show that moved the news business to show business. The need to showboat in the news biz continues to grow and does not bode well.

In some jobs one has to be “Caesar’s wife”—above reproach—and it may be Williams’s misfortune to be in one of them. Some viewers make the mistake of dehumanizing persons who become media personalities and exaggerating both their faults and virtues. They are usually seen as heroes or villains. Never are they viewed as ordinary people capable of both venial and mortal sins whose virtues should not be entirely forgotten when their vices are exposed. Hopefully, a balance might still be achieved between criticism of Williams for this genuine faults and keeping in mind his genuine contributions. Also, a distinction should not be lost between exaggerating one’s own experiences and failing to report accurately on matters of public concern. After all, what Williams did (or didn’t do) in the war can’t compare with the media’s failure to raise important questions that may have affected the decision to go to war in the first place.

Brian Williams has much to say for himself. He was gutsy to even have gone to the war-torn Middle East. He is a generous colleague who has helped whomever he could. He got burned when he touched the third rail of media politics and the network competition, however.

Today media outlets need to give more attention to resources of news coverage than to the money-making ratings wars. There are lessons here. One hopes Brian Williams as whipping boy in this saga isn’t one of them.

Mary Ann Walsh, R.S.M., is a member of the Northeast Community of the Sisters of Mercy of the Americas and U.S. Church correspondent for America.

Mary Ann Walsh, R.S.M., is America's U.S. Church Correspondent. She is responsible for planning and producing America’s coverage of the U.S. Church. In addition to feature writing, Sr. Walsh makes contributions to America’s blogs and other digital platforms and will wrote a column on the U.S. Church for the print edition. She served as a correspondent for Catholic News Service in Rome and Washington and as director of communications for World Youth Day in Denver in 1993. She then began her work in media relations for the U.S. bishops. She is an award-winning writer and has been published in The Washington Post, USA Today and Editor & Publisher, among others, and is the editor of three books:Pope John Paul II: A Light for the World; From John Paul II to Benedict XVI: An Inside Look at the End of an Era…; and Benedict XVI: Essays and Reflections on His Papacy.