Mix in the arrogance of the professional journalism class, a little simple mathematics and you get the comic relief issued on MSNBC’s The 11th Hour with Brian Williams.

“True” and “disturbing” is pretty close to the mark here.

Let’s try and keep this simple for the “journalists”. Three hundred twenty-seven million people given $1 each equals $327 million.

Had Williams and Gay gotten that through their numerically-challenged heads immediately after reading Rivas’ Tweet, the segment would not have gone so south, so quickly. Three hundred twenty-seven million people given $1 million each would require Mike Bloomberg to have at least $327 trillion in the bank.

We all know about the credibility challenges rightfully sticking to Brian Williams, so moving right along….

Mekita Rivas boasts of being a writer for Refinery29, Yahoo News UK, Yahoo Lifestyle, Teen Vogue, The Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, Sydney Morning Herald, Broadly, GARAGE Magazine, CNBC, Eventbrite Rally, The (Toronto) Star and other blogs. Williams’ on-air guest Mara Gay is a member of the New York Times editorial board and also wrote for The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic, New York Daily News, MarketWatch, New York Magazine, The Dallas Morning News, Fox Business, RealClearPolitics, Pulse Nigeria, Salt Lake Tribune. One would think these women would appreciate the gravity of what they put out on social media or say on national television, no matter how small the audience.

Rivas has since protected her Twitter account AND her website because she appears to be one of those arrogant, thin skinned bloggers who can dish it but retreats when self-inflicted public stupidity smacks her back in the face.

“Blah blah math blah blah”….

Of course, one of Rivas’ colleagues rushed to the defense of the narcissistic butthurt.

Humans aren’t necessarily bad at math, but we are indisputably bad at scale. As we evolved, we had no need to intuitively understand the concept of a million, much less a billion. We get the difference between $1 and $1,000, but the transition from “million” to “billion” feels more like the transition from 10 to 20 than going from a thousand thousands to a thousand thousand thousands. Combine that blind spot with a predisposition to see Bloomberg’s spending as wasteful and here we are.
— Philip Bump, Washington Post, 3/6/20

Remember this when the media trashes President Trump, claims he lies and/or misrepresents facts. As a successful businessman, he’s obviously mastered rather simple math, unlike his college-educated critics.

When today’s journalists get it wrong, especially the younger ones, there are seldom apologies and/or sincere contrition. We’re supposed to understand what they meant, no matter how badly they mangle the obvious.

It was the word “trust” that set us off in near howls of laughter, considering the source: Brian Williams.

As in sports, it’s hard to dump a “troubled” player with a five-year, $15 million salary so some of us obviously get more opportunities for redemption than others. Seeing how his job was to deliver accurate information to the American people, Williams will NEVER be able to do that without that justified cloud of doubt hanging over every word he utters.

As long as NBC News and MSNBC continues to employ a congenital liar like Brian Williams and the rest of the media is okay with it (because we don’t know how many of them also have “embellished” over the years), the overall honesty and/or credibility of the professional media will continue to be justifiably called into question.

BTW — It would appear NBC News is aware and concerned of the joke-status perception of their brand. The disputed segment which resulted in a “worldwide” block came from a compilation video by the New York Times posted on YouTube, but they’re okay.