What took so long?
The question isnt whether George Stephanopoulos compromised his credentials as a journalist by failing to reveal his donations to the Clinton Foundation. The question is why immediately after Stephanopoulos left the Clinton administration ABC hired this partisan in the first place.
In 1996 when ABC hired him the initial press release said he would serve both as a political analyst and as a correspondent. The correspondent role caused such an uproar -- even in liberal mainstream media -- that a few days later ABC quickly retreated: I dont know how that got into the press release said a spokeswoman. He will not report the news.
Then-ABC News Vice President Joanna Bistany said Stephanopoulos would be a commentator like ABC contributor William Kristol Republican Dan Quayles former chief of staff. I view it the same way as Kristol she said. He has a point of view a political persuasion. Bistany also said We want a mix of voices assuring that Stephanopoulos wouldnt do anything that has any appearance of conflict.
Then came the double cross.
By 1999 Stephanopoulos was a regular contributor on World News Tonight and Good Morning America and had co-anchored ABCs overnight news program. Still ABC assured viewers that hed stay away from partisan political stories. Were all conscious of the sensitivity with him having been part of the news in Washington said then-ABC News President David Westin. We wouldnt have him be the beat reporter on the (Al) Gore campaign. An ABC spokeswoman added He will not be the beat reporter assigned to a campaign although that does not mean that we wont have him doing more general political stories.
In 2002 Stephanopoulos became host of This Week and two years later ABC named him chief Washington correspondent.
Now comes the news that Stephanopoulos gave $75000 to the Clinton Foundation but failed to disclose the contribution to his employer and to his viewers. He offered this apology: Those donations were a matter of public record but I should have made additional disclosures on-air when we covered the foundation and I now believe that directing personal donations to that foundation was a mistake. ... 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.
Stephanopoulos however has yet to publicly disclose further ties to the Clinton Foundation. He served several times as a panelist moderator or featured attendee for the foundation. Also the Washington Free Beacon reports that Hillary Clintons campaign manager Robby Mook once worked as an intern for Stephanopoulos when he briefly taught at Columbia.
Did ABC not see the political documentary The War Room? Filmmakers during the 1992 presidential campaign followed Bill Clintons top campaign advisers James Carville and Stephanopoulos. Both were passionate political operatives. Stephanopoulos for example aggressively defended Clinton against charges of infidelity and of lacking character. Consider this exchange with ABCs Sam Donaldson:
Donaldson: Now Gov. Clinton has a character problem but I take it that your line of counterattack is that its--
Stephanopoulos: Gov. Clinton has no character problem. Hes passed his character tests.
Donaldson: Well I mean he has not denied that he has engaged in marital infidelity. He denied a specific one--
Stephanopoulos: He has said that he had problems in his marriage.
Donaldson: Thats right. And he has talked about the draft and to some people its a character problem.
Stephanopoulos: Bill Clintons passed his character test throughout his life and throughout this campaign. ... (The American people) dont want to be diverted by side issues and theyre not going to let the Republican attack machine divert them.
After the 92 election Stephanopoulos served as White House communications director and senior adviser on policy and strategy. During Clintons Monica Lewinsky/perjury scandal a Time magazine cover showed a grim president with his equally grim domestic policy adviser Stephanopoulos. The headline read: Deep Water: How the Presidents men tried to hinder the Whitewater investigation.
Stephanopoulos recent grilling of Clinton Cash author Peter Schweizer becomes all the more brazen given Stephanopoulos own then-undisclosed 75K contribution to the Clinton Foundation. Schweizers book questions whether donors received favors from then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Stephanopoulos repeatedly asked whether he had evidence or any kind of smoking gun.
Carole Simpson a former colleague at ABC was blunt: Theres a coziness that George cannot escape. ... While he did try to separate himself from his political background to become a journalist he really is not a journalist.
When Stephanopoulos apologized for failing to disclose his contributions he said he should have avoided even the appearance of a conflict. Doesnt this standard apply to Clinton Foundation donors and Hillary Clintons job as secretary of state? Doesnt this standard also apply to ABC and Stephanopoulos job as news correspondent or anchor?
Finally why during all these years that ABC fraudulently passed off Stephanopoulos as a journalist did real journalists say nothing?
Larry Elder is a best-selling author and radio talk-show host. To find out more about Larry Elder or become an Elderado visit www.LarryElder.com.
What took so long?
The question isnt whether George Stephanopoulos compromised his credentials as a journalist by failing to reveal his donations to the Clinton Foundation. The question is why immediately after Stephanopoulos left the Clinton administration ABC hired this partisan in the first place.
In 1996 when ABC hired him the initial press release said he would serve both as a political analyst and as a correspondent. The correspondent role caused such an uproar -- even in liberal mainstream media -- that a few days later ABC quickly retreated: I dont know how that got into the press release said a spokeswoman. He will not report the news.
Then-ABC News Vice President Joanna Bistany said Stephanopoulos would be a commentator like ABC contributor William Kristol Republican Dan Quayles former chief of staff. I view it the same way as Kristol she said. He has a point of view a political persuasion. Bistany also said We want a mix of voices assuring that Stephanopoulos wouldnt do anything that has any appearance of conflict.
Then came the double cross.
By 1999 Stephanopoulos was a regular contributor on World News Tonight and Good Morning America and had co-anchored ABCs overnight news program. Still ABC assured viewers that hed stay away from partisan political stories. Were all conscious of the sensitivity with him having been part of the news in Washington said then-ABC News President David Westin. We wouldnt have him be the beat reporter on the (Al) Gore campaign. An ABC spokeswoman added He will not be the beat reporter assigned to a campaign although that does not mean that we wont have him doing more general political stories.
In 2002 Stephanopoulos became host of This Week and two years later ABC named him chief Washington correspondent.
Now comes the news that Stephanopoulos gave $75000 to the Clinton Foundation but failed to disclose the contribution to his employer and to his viewers. He offered this apology: Those donations were a matter of public record but I should have made additional disclosures on-air when we covered the foundation and I now believe that directing personal donations to that foundation was a mistake. ... 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.
Stephanopoulos however has yet to publicly disclose further ties to the Clinton Foundation. He served several times as a panelist moderator or featured attendee for the foundation. Also the Washington Free Beacon reports that Hillary Clintons campaign manager Robby Mook once worked as an intern for Stephanopoulos when he briefly taught at Columbia.
Did ABC not see the political documentary The War Room? Filmmakers during the 1992 presidential campaign followed Bill Clintons top campaign advisers James Carville and Stephanopoulos. Both were passionate political operatives. Stephanopoulos for example aggressively defended Clinton against charges of infidelity and of lacking character. Consider this exchange with ABCs Sam Donaldson:
Donaldson: Now Gov. Clinton has a character problem but I take it that your line of counterattack is that its--
Stephanopoulos: Gov. Clinton has no character problem. Hes passed his character tests.
Donaldson: Well I mean he has not denied that he has engaged in marital infidelity. He denied a specific one--
Stephanopoulos: He has said that he had problems in his marriage.
Donaldson: Thats right. And he has talked about the draft and to some people its a character problem.
Stephanopoulos: Bill Clintons passed his character test throughout his life and throughout this campaign. ... (The American people) dont want to be diverted by side issues and theyre not going to let the Republican attack machine divert them.
After the 92 election Stephanopoulos served as White House communications director and senior adviser on policy and strategy. During Clintons Monica Lewinsky/perjury scandal a Time magazine cover showed a grim president with his equally grim domestic policy adviser Stephanopoulos. The headline read: Deep Water: How the Presidents men tried to hinder the Whitewater investigation.
Stephanopoulos recent grilling of Clinton Cash author Peter Schweizer becomes all the more brazen given Stephanopoulos own then-undisclosed 75K contribution to the Clinton Foundation. Schweizers book questions whether donors received favors from then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Stephanopoulos repeatedly asked whether he had evidence or any kind of smoking gun.
Carole Simpson a former colleague at ABC was blunt: Theres a coziness that George cannot escape. ... While he did try to separate himself from his political background to become a journalist he really is not a journalist.
When Stephanopoulos apologized for failing to disclose his contributions he said he should have avoided even the appearance of a conflict. Doesnt this standard apply to Clinton Foundation donors and Hillary Clintons job as secretary of state? Doesnt this standard also apply to ABC and Stephanopoulos job as news correspondent or anchor?
Finally why during all these years that ABC fraudulently passed off Stephanopoulos as a journalist did real journalists say nothing?
Larry Elder is a best-selling author and radio talk-show host. To find out more about Larry Elder or become an Elderado visit www.LarryElder.com.
