Pete Williams
Encyclopedia
Pete Williams is an NBC News
NBC News
NBC News is the news division of American television network NBC. It first started broadcasting in February 21, 1940. NBC Nightly News has aired from Studio 3B, located on floors 3 of the NBC Studios is the headquarters of the GE Building forms the centerpiece of 30th Rockefeller Center it is...

 television correspondent based in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....

 He has been covering the Justice Department
United States Department of Justice
The United States Department of Justice , is the United States federal executive department responsible for the enforcement of the law and administration of justice, equivalent to the justice or interior ministries of other countries.The Department is led by the Attorney General, who is nominated...

 and the U.S. Supreme Court since April 1993. Williams was also a key reporter on the Microsoft anti-trust trial
United States v. Microsoft
United States v. Microsoft was a set of civil actions filed against Microsoft Corporation pursuant to the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890 Section 1 and 2 on May 8, 1998 by the United States Department of Justice and 20 U.S. states. Joel I. Klein was the lead prosecutor...

 and Judge Jackson's
Thomas Penfield Jackson
Thomas Penfield Jackson is a former United States District Court Judge for the District of Columbia....

 decision.

Biography

Prior to joining NBC, Williams served as a press official on Capitol Hill for many years. In 1986 he joined the Washington, D.C. staff of then Congressman Dick Cheney
Dick Cheney
Richard Bruce "Dick" Cheney served as the 46th Vice President of the United States , under George W. Bush....

 as press secretary
Press secretary
A press secretary or press officer is a senior advisor who provides advice on how to deal with the news media and, using news management techniques, helps their employer to maintain a positive public image and avoid negative media coverage....

 and legislative assistant. In 1989, when Cheney was named Secretary of Defense
United States Secretary of Defense
The Secretary of Defense is the head and chief executive officer of the Department of Defense of the United States of America. This position corresponds to what is generally known as a Defense Minister in other countries...

, Williams was appointed Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs
Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs
The Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs, or ASD is the principal staff advisor and assistant to the Secretary of Defense and Deputy Secretary of Defense for public information, internal information, community relations, information training, and audiovisual matters in support of...

. He also served as Pentagon Press Secretary. While in that position, Williams was named Government Communicator of the Year in 1991 by the National Association of Government Communicators. While serving as a Pentagon spokesperson he allegedly worked to conceal military atrocities during the Panama Invasion. This activity was featured in the documentary The Panama Deception. That same year, Williams was outed
Outing
Outing is the act of disclosing a gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender person's true sexual orientation or gender identity without that person's consent. Outing gives rise to issues of privacy, choice, hypocrisy, and harm in addition to sparking debate on what constitutes common good in efforts...

 as gay by liberal gay activist and author Michelangelo Signorile
Michelangelo Signorile
Michelangelo Signorile is a gay American writer, a national talk radio host whose program is aired each weekday across the United States and Canada. He is a political liberal, and covers a wide variety of political and cultural issues...

.

Williams started at KATI 1400 am in Casper, WY. A 1971 graduate of Casper, Wyoming
Casper, Wyoming
Casper is the county seat of Natrona County, Wyoming, United States.. Casper is the second-largest city in Wyoming , according to the 2010 census, with a population of 55,316...

's Natrona County High School
Natrona County High School
Natrona County High School is a public secondary school located in Casper, Wyoming, and serves Natrona County School District #1, which encompasses all of Natrona County, Wyoming. The school remains a rival of Kelly Walsh High School, one of Casper's other two high schools along with Roosevelt...

, Williams won the national Radio Speaking event at the 1970 National Forensics League competition. He graduated from Stanford University
Stanford University
The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...

 in 1974 and worked thereafter as a reporter and news director at KTWO-TV
KTWO-TV
KTWO-TV is the ABC affiliate television station for most of the state of Wyoming. It is licensed to Casper owned by Silverton Broadcasting. The station broadcasts on digital channel 17, which redirects to former analog channel 2 via PSIP...

 and Radio in his hometown of Casper, Wyoming
Casper, Wyoming
Casper is the county seat of Natrona County, Wyoming, United States.. Casper is the second-largest city in Wyoming , according to the 2010 census, with a population of 55,316...

 until 1985. Working with the Radio and Television News Directors Association
Radio and Television News Directors Association
The Radio Television Digital News Association , formerly the Radio-Television News Directors Association , is a United States-based membership organization of radio, television and online news directors, producers, executives and educators...

, for which he served as a member of the board of directors, he successfully lobbied the Wyoming Supreme Court to permit broadcast coverage of its proceedings and twice sued Wyoming judges over pre-trial exclusion of reporters from the courtroom. For these efforts, he received a First Amendment Award from the Society of Professional Journalists. Although he presently works as the "justice" correspondent covering the U.S. Supreme Court, he does not have a law or other graduate or professional degree.

External links

  • NBC News Bio
  • The Panama Deception
    The Panama Deception
    The Panama Deception is a 1992 documentary film that won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature. The film is critical of the actions of the US military during the 1989 invasion of Panama by the United States, covering the conflicting reasons for the invasion and the depicting of the US...

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