ABC News suspended Brian Ross for his incorrect report last Friday about former Trump adviser Michael Flynn. Ross is currently enjoying a four week long suspension without pay.
Now the network has decided he won’t cover stories related to President Donald Trump.
Professor Jacobson addressed the seriousness of the situation in a post over the weekend:
ABC News appears to be taking the error seriously. Oliver Darcy and Brian Stelter of CNN report:
ABC News president excoriates staff over Brian Ross’ Michael Flynn errorABC News president James Goldston excoriated staff Monday over Brian Ross’ major error on a report about former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, and announced that Ross, the network’s chief investigative reporter, will no longer cover stories related to President Trump.Goldston also told staffers that the network was conducting a “full review” of the error and its aftermath.Ross had initially reported Friday morning that Flynn was prepared to testify that Donald Trump as a candidate had instructed him to reach out to the Russians. Ross said more than seven hours later on “World News Tonight” that his information was actually that Flynn was prepared to testify Trump made the request as president-elect. On Saturday evening, ABC News said Ross had been suspended for four weeks without pay for what it termed the “serious error.”During ABC News’ morning editorial call Monday, audio of which was obtained by CNN, Goldston excoriated his staff for the error.”I don’t think ever in my career have I felt more rage and disappointment and frustration that I felt through this weekend and through the last half of Friday,” Goldston said.
While it is gratifying to see Ross suffer real consequences for this, especially given his history, one has to wonder if Ross is simply being used as a scapegoat. This is after all, the home of “anchor” George Stephanopoulos.
Chris White of the Daily Caller has more on the uproar at ABC:
ABC News President: ‘We Have Taken A Huge Hit’ Over Bungled Flynn ReportABC News president James Goldston blasted the outlet’s staff Monday over a report about former national security adviser Michael Flynn that contained major errors and eventually caused the stock market to tank.ABC News “spent this weekend getting absolutely pilloried as a news division for reporting fake news,” Goldston noted, according to a CNN report Monday afternoon. “250,000 tweets. One percent positive, 99 percent negative about this news division. Two tweets from the president,” he told staff…“If it isn’t obvious to everyone in this news division, we have taken a huge hit and we have made the job of every single person in this news division harder as a result,” he said. “It’s much, much harder. We have people in Washington who are going to bear the brunt of this today and in the days forward. Very, very, very, very unfortunate. Really, really angry about it.”
Last word goes to Brit Hume:
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