ABC News Apologizes For Breaking News
By K. Daniel Glover | September 16, 2009
When the president of the United States calls a celebrity musician a "jackass," that's news, even if it occurs in an "off the record" conversation. So why is ABC News apologizing for breaking the news on Twitter?
President Barack Obama called hip-hop musician Kanye West a "jackass" on Monday in an off-the-record comment during an interview with CNBC, an ABC News anchor reported on Twitter. ...
"Pres. Obama just called Kanye West a 'jackass' for his outburst at VMAs when Taylor Swift won. Now THAT'S presidential," "Nightline" co-anchor Terry Moran wrote Monday evening to his more than 1 million followers.
The tweet forced the network to issue an apology after the Internet quickly became abuzz over the stunning remark published on the microblogging site.
An ABC spokesperson said, "In the process of reporting on remarks by President Obama that were made during a CNBC interview, ABC News employees prematurely tweeted a portion of those remarks that turned out to be from an off-the-record portion of the interview," Politico reported. "This was done before our editorial process had been completed. That was wrong. We apologize to the White House and CNBC and are taking steps to ensure that it will not happen again."
Moran's tweet has since been deleted.
My question was rhetorical. Everyone knows that ABC apologized because it's never OK for the liberal media to embarrass the president it helped elect. Rest assured that ABC would not have apologized for exposing any off-the-record comments by President Bush.
K. Daniel Glover is a project manager for Accuracy In Media. He has worked as an editor, writer and new media specialist in the Washington area since 1991, spending most of that time at National Journal and Congressional Quarterly.
30 Comments | Post a Comment
The only jackass here would be the one who labeled Kayne West a “celebrity musician”.you go Barack.
No Mr. Brown, Obama is an expert at jackasses, starting with the one he looks at in the mirror every morning to the ones he’s surrounded himself with, criminal jackasses.
I agree that it’s silly for ABC News to apologize. But allow me to propose an alternate point of view on Obama’s comment: the White House is pleased that this leaked out.
Terry Moran is hardly shy in sharing liberal views in his Twitter stream, so I wonder if he didn’t tweet this to benefit Obama. There aren’t many Americans who disagree with Obama’s blunt assessment of Kanye West, and Moran’s tweeting/untweeting provides the perfect avenue for Obama’s opinion to filter out. No?
The only reason the President called Kanye West a name is because Mr. West is a black musician.
Our president is a RACIST for calling a black man an a-hole. How dare he.
Obviously any critizism of Kanye West has a racial tone to it, and is based soley on his race. I think that President Jimmy Carter would agree.
/sarcasm
Give me a break.
ABC can appologize all they want, but it does not change the fact that ABC is dead to me.
“Rest assured that ABC would not have apologized for exposing any off-the-record comments by President Bush.”
Wondering if you have any examples of ABC News disseminating an off-the-record comment by President Bush for which they did not apologize.
“Off the record” means just that. In these cases there is a “gentlepersons’ agreement” that the interviewee can let his guard down a bit, with confidence that what he says is not for public consumption. However inadvertent (or not), this was a breach of that agreement, which definitely demanded apology.
But I wouldn’t expect the pseudo-journalists at “Accuracy in Media” or their lemmings to understand or appreciate that.
It demands appology, but we’ll never get one. It just goes to show you what a dirtbag he really is. Letting his own party crucify Joe Wilson and by not denouncing it, which gives them his unspoken blessing.
Dirtbag la
Huhh??? Unfortunately it’s hard to argue with incoherence. But I guess that’s par for the course with “Accuracy in Media” readers.
Before I let my “incoherence” insult stand, let me be clear in case it wasn’t obvious:
However inadvertent (or not) ABC NEWS’ TERRY MORAN WAS IN TWITTERING A QUOTE THAT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE OFF-THE-RECORD, this was a breach of that agreement, which definitely demanded an apology FROM ABC NEWS.
What did you think I meant, Jules, that Obama owed West an apology? Are you upset that Obama won’t apologize to West, and are you equating West’s boorish outburst to that of Joe Wilson?
On that I guess I can agree.
In 1995 CBS and Connie Chung ambushed Kathleen Gingrich the mother of Newt Gingrich with an ” off the record comment ” RE: Hillary Clinton - She’s a bitch. No apologies there !
If what you say is true, that the comment was off the record, then there should have been an apology back in 1995.
Is this the fruit of day’s worth of right-wing research in the service of “a past wrong makes a current amend not right?”
Jeff,
My comment was sarcasm. It was not meant to upset you or even to attack you in anyway. I am not sure where you are going with your rant toward me, but whatever. This issue is so minor in the big scheme of things that I refuse to engage in some huge debate with you.
We have much bigger fish to fry, and I refuse to waste time here trying to make sense out of your comments.
btw, when I said ‘we’ would not get an appology, I meant from our president. Our president is acting shamefully while letting Joe Wilson hang for the same thing, except Joe Wilson was a man and he Appologized. Our president has no honor and would never stoop so low to gain it.
Do the MSM and the Democratic party even matter anymore? I think not, and 2010 and 2012 will tell.
Jules, to whom does Obama owe an apology and for what? To Kanye West for a comment about his assinine behavior that was made off-the-record and shouldn’t have been reported? How exactly does that compare to the assinine behavior of Joe Wilson, who proactively shouted his insult to the President on the floor of the House of Representatives during a joint session of Congress?
The problem with you righties is you’re so consumed by irrational hatred that you can’t think straight.
RE: Post # 11
Mr. Ostroth :
I am old as dirt - 1995 was yesterday. As was 1962 when Barry Goldwater was ambushed by CBS over links to the John Birch society. These are memories - not research. Please review the history for yourself as I would not ask you to assume truth on the unfiltered internet.
I am in complete agreement with you: many wrongs do not make a right. I would just like to see consistent behavior form the left leaning media.
I also agree It was critical thinking on the part of President Obama when he labeled Kanye West a Jackass. Did I Write that out loud - I am sorry.
I don’t know if this situation has as many political parallels as some of you make it seem. Whether or not you think Obama is a jackass is irrelevant in this situation. Kanye West definitely is one. Terry Moran violated a gentleman’s understanding about being off the record and for that violation ABC apologized. It wasn’t necessarily wrong, just ungentlemanly. Kanye also apologized on his blog.
If you’re going to draw a parallel to Joe Wilson, yes it is somewhat (though not really) similar. Wilson had a verbal outburst, apologized for it, and Obama accepted the apology.
If you’re holding Obama responsible for what others subsequently say about Wilson in the aftermath, it would then make sense that you’d hold Taylor Swift responsible for what people say about Kanye in the aftermath. If you’re really drawing a parallel between the two situations.
True saying: IT TAKES ONE TO REGOGNIZE ONE.
I rather believe that Obama sees HIMSELF in those
with whom he has as “inner-sanctum, “Czars,”
“associates,” “appointees,” etc ad naseum.
Yeah, it’s almost like his “inner man” is part
of them. WHAT DOES THAT SAY?
Carolyn, does that mean you are one too?
Poor Jeffie - Doesn’t like to admit the so-called MSM treated Bush much worse than their slobbering admiration for the Obamadonna Incarnate.
He’s probably not well-read enough to remember the Adam Clymer off the record comment by Bush that was trumpeted endlessly by the left-wing grackles.
As far as gentlemen’s agreements by “MSM” journalists - first you have to find a gentleman or two - good luck on that.
Uhhm, can you hate-warped righties see any kind of “analogy” through to its logical conclusion?
When Bush called Clymer a “major league a—hole” it was on an open mike for anyone to hear. True, he didn’t mean it for public consumption but there was no agreement, gentlemanly or other, to keep that from going out to the public.
Who exactly owed Bush an apology for this, C.Roy—the microphone for not turning itself off????
As for gentlemen, I seriously doubt that anyone who listens to such vile, immoral, dishonest, self-aggrandizing, repulsive pigs as Rush, Glenn, Bill and Sean has the first idea of what a gentleman is.
Imagine that…Jeffie calling US hate-warped!
Go back and read your own sweet, loving messages.
If sanctimonious self-rightousness were money, the entire Loony Left, From “BO”, Dingey Harry, and “Nazi” Nancy on down would be able to pay off the national debt they’re so quickly expanding.
As for repulsive pigs, check out your own poster boy, Michael Moore.
CeRoy,
I actually don’t think Michael Moore helps the cause of reason in the long run, so if you want to lump him in with Rush and the other repulsive pigs I mentioned, I won’t quibble with you.
In fact, I thought you might like to know that just today, the Sunday New York Times ran an article on Moore in its Arts section. Here’s an interesting outtake from it:
“Through President Ronald Reagan, both Bushes, Whitewater and Kenneth W. Starr, some liberals have craved their own class warrior, a Rush Limbaugh for the left who would take the fight unapologetically to the Republicans.
“But faced with Mr. Moore (and later, Keith Olbermann) they recoil, claiming that kind of aggressiveness is somehow at odds with the notion of being a liberal. In a famous attack, Pauline Kael wrote that ‘Roger & Me’ was ‘gonzo demagoguery that made me feel cheap for laughing.’ Funny — none of Rush’s listeners ever say that about him.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/20/movies/20head.html?ref=movies
RE: Post # 21
Mr. Ostroth:
In 2000 when then Gov. Bush made his remarks about Mr. Clymer he did so in a whisper to now Former Vice President Cheney. Mr. Bush was wearing a microphone. However - This microphone was not playing through the public address system.
Mr. Bush was at a Labor Day rally: He was there to give a campaign speech. The microphone he was wearing was connected to a mixing board. The Bush/Cheney conversation was recorded prior to the speech. The pre-speech conversation was disseminated to the the press by the actions of the mixing board operator without the knowledge or consent of the former President.
I submit that that this was private conversation and it was more sacred than President Obama and his “gentleman’s agreement”.
END
Mr./Ms. downstate:
Thank you for staying on point. While I’m sure you were provided this information and believe it to be true, I have to say I’m skeptical. Even after adding the term “mixing board” to “Bush,” “Clymer” and Bush’s notorious phrase in my Google search, the only relevant result I got was this very page. Otherwise, the reports I found say that the remark wasn’t audible to most people over the crowd’s pre-event chatter, but that the mike was on and more to the point, the media were already hooked up to the sound system.
Even if I were convinced that this version of the incident is true, however, I would still disagree that Bush’s “conversation” with Cheney was “more sacred”—and more “private”—“than President Obama[‘s] and his ‘gentleman’s agreement.’”
Presumably, the mixing board operator was in the employ or subcontracted employ of the Bush campaign, so he may have had an ethical obligation not to disseminate the remark (which I clearly remember was videotaped). But as with other leaked information, the press is under no obligation to worry about the leaker’s obligations. Even more to the point, they were not a party to any agreement, whether explicit, tacit, gentlemanly or what have you, to keep it “off the record.”
I’m sure you will still disagree, and that’s fine. And I won’t ask you to thus condemn Fox News for broadcasting Jesse Jackson’s whispered, private, pre-interview remark to his co-interviewee that he wanted to castrate Obama. I would only hearken back to your comment at Post #16, in which you said you “would just like to see consistent behavior from the left leaning media.”
Likewise, I would like to see consistent behavior from the right slanted media. I’m sure we would argue over whose hypocrisy is more endemic and consistently egregious, but no doubt we can both agree that there’s hypocrisy on both sides.
*****
P.S. The Connie Chung incident game back to me after a little Googling, and I agree she was wrong to take advantage of Gingrich’s “civilian” mother the way she did. And while CBS “sort of” stood behind her (which they shouldn’t have), the incident does seem to mark the beginning of her career’s downhill slide.
RE: Post # 25
Dear Jeff,
I was at the 04 SEP 2000 Naperville, IL Campaign Rally. I did not here the Clymer comment over the P. A. . When I returned home to all the media buzz - I telephoned a well-informed friend and I got the ” mixing board story “. For whatever that statement may be worth to you - I do trust the source information. I do not offer it as proof - only a contemporaneous account of the day. Additionally I did a quick internet search and found a link that somewhat supports my memory - but better supports your view. Take a look for yourself.
By Jake Tapper
http://archive.salon.com/politics/feature/2000/09/04/cuss_word/
You should like it. - it is from a Salon Archive.
I will concede that people tend to put the best spin they can on any event - reflecting the position they hold. Keep in mind leaving information out of a news story is one way to accomplish that task. This would be true from the right or the left. Bad Behavior is bad behavior. Fox News can make me very mad at times.
I grew-up in a small town in East Central IL for approximately 30 years beginning around 1954 my household received just one TV station. It was a CBS affiliate. It was all I knew aside from radio and news papers which in retrospect were left leaning as well. I really enjoy alternate media (” right slanted media “) for the fresh perspective it provides.
Thanks for your time.
Mr. Downstate - JPD - Downstate, IL
Also…
RE: Your P.S.
The Journal of Mass Media Ethics had very a very similar response to yours about the 05 JAN 1995 broadcast of CBS’s Eye to Eye with Connie Chung.
RE: Post # 26
To Whom it may concern:
I did not hear the Clymer comment over the P. A. ...
I thought I would share the results of a Metasearch I did for G. W. Bush and Mixing Board. The vast majority of the returns were with regard to the Dixie Chick(s).
Any comment on that would be off focus.
” Rest assured that ABC would not have apologized for exposing any off-the-record comments by President Bush. “
This was the basically the lead - although it was the conclusion. And I so Agree !
I have flogged this story beyond death.
So I apologize to the horse/house.
Jeffie keeps harping on all the hate he sees from the right. How about:
1. Nancy Pelosi calls half of America “Nazis” - you call that love?
2. Harry Reid calls Bush a “loser” in front of some high schoolers. Pretty classy, huh?
3. Dave Letterman makes a disgusting comment about Sarah Palin’s young daughter. Just your style, Jeffie.
4. The democrats boo Bush during his state of the Union speech. More left-wing class.
5. Obama says the cops acted “stupidly” admittedly without knowing the facts. Does this show an attitude of love???
6. How about the t-shirts at the Obama rallies saying “Sarah Palin is a c**t?
You talk about hate, Jeffie…you guys are masters at it!
Jeffie probably works for ACORN!
He might even abduct your 14 or 15 year old daughter if given the chance.
Quote:
“An ABC spokesperson said, “In the process of reporting on remarks by President Obama that were made during a CNBC interview, ABC News employees prematurely tweeted a portion of those remarks that turned out to be from an off-the-record portion of the interview,” Politico reported. “This was done before our editorial process had been completed. That was wrong. We apologize to the White House and CNBC and are taking steps to ensure that it will not happen again.”
Moran’s tweet has since been deleted.”
In our current transition from immediacy to real time news. At least ABC took the right step and apologized for this.
September 16 at 11:44 am | #1 | Link
And…..we’re supposed to be surprised at that?