First there was the Dan Rather (than tell the truth)
fiasco a few years ago when the
long-time lead anchorman for CBS’s national news touted the authenticity of forged
documents he was brandishing pertaining to George W. Bush’s stint in the Air
National Guard. Then, a couple of months back, Brian (was I on the Lusitania?) Williams, famed and trusted anchor of NBC
news, made an ass out of himself with false claims of his journalistic heroism.
Now we have George Stephanopoulos from ABC donating $75,000 to the Clinton
Foundation and failing to disclose that information to his bosses or his
viewers, even as he interviewed Peter Schweizer, author of “Clinton Cash,” a
book that chronicles the involvement of organizations that have donated to the
foundation.
Stephanopoulos,
that network’s chief anchor and host
of “Good Morning America” and “This Week,” was a top Clinton aide during the
1992 presidential election campaign and later in the Clinton White House.
Conflict of interest? Bias? No!
Perish the thought!
Stephanopoulos has since repented
to his viewers, stating, “I should have gone the extra mile to avoid even the
appearance of a conflict. I apologize to all of you for failing to do that.”
He is currently also a Democratic
Party political advisor.
Schweizer stated that
Stephanopoulos’ donations “highlight precisely the lack of transparency and
cronyism that I report on.”
Yet, incredibly, ABC proclaimed via
a Thursday, May 14th statement that it stands behind Stephanopoulos
and that the anchor made an honest mistake.
Former ABC News president David Westin, who hired Mr. Stephanopoulos 18
years ago, while President Clinton was still in office, said he believed the
network was right to stand by him despite the “bad mistake.”
It’s small wonder the American
people don’t trust the mainstream media.
All three of the major network’s news heads have now glaringly, if
inadvertently, revealed their bias and lack of integrity in remarkably short
order.
Imagine, if you will, what would
have been the result if one of these Big Three anchors had donated $75,000 to
the Reagan Foundation or the George W. Bush Foundation, without disclosing that
little nugget before interviewing someone involved with the foundation in
question. Okay, okay, I know that’s impossible to conceive of and is likely
making you giggle or guffaw. Even with
full, prior disclosure they would almost certainly have been summarily
dismissed for the donation alone, in “the interest of fairness, balance,
objectivity and integrity.”
If they had made the donation without disclosing
that fact to their network heads, as in this case, their bosses may well have
asked for the death penalty. Since, however, Stephanopoulos’ beneficence aided a Democrat, they are instead breaking into a rousing rendition of “Stand By Your Man!"
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