The Hat Trick of Arrogant Anchor Scandals
The NY Post is trying to latch on to ABC newsman George Stephanopoulos and pull him under the tide.
The Post writes, Dan Rather of CBS was toppled by a phony document scam. Lyin’ Brian Williams at NBC casually mixed fact with self-aggrandizing fiction. Now George Stephanopoulos is caught in a Clinton web of deceit at ABC.
The hat trick of arrogant anchor scandals helps explain why Americans don’t trust network news. With apologies to Walter Cronkite, that’s the way it is, and the way it is stinks.
Stephanopoulos shares with Rather and Williams the rotten distinction of fessing up only after being exposed by real journalists. In his case, the Washington Free Beacon uncovered his secret donations to the Clinton Foundation and contacted ABC for a response.
That was the honorable thing to do — get the other side of the story before publishing it. But Stephanopoulos ditched his journalistic veneer and reverted to his Clinton White House roots by quickly leaking the info to what he regarded as a more friendly news outlet, Politico.
His track record of secrecy, partisanship and dishonorable behavior blows up his claim that he made an honest mistake. He engaged in a prolonged and brazen act of dishonesty.
As FTVLive predicted, the conservative media is pouncing of the Stephanopoulos hard.
So far, ABC News is standing behind the Anchor, but will the drumbeat from the right get so loud, that Stephanopoulos will be asked to fall on his sword?
Stephanopoulos has already pulled out as a debate moderator, but has said he will still be covering the political race for the 2016 White House. ABC might be smart to pull Stephanopoulos off political coverage completely.
But, Stephanopoulos is a political junkie and taking away politics away from him would be like taking tax money away from Al Sharpton.
So now ABC News finds themselves in a catch 22 and somewhere in the world, Brian Williams and Dan Rather have a big old smile on their faces.
Just saying....