Bozell: Congratulations to ABC News on Departure of President David Westin

Congratulations, ABC News! You are now free from the 14-year reign of the news president that helped drive your ratings into the ground.

Under his leadership, Westin continually promoted some of the most liberally biased reporters in news, including George Stephanopoulos, Diane Sawyer, Christine Amanpour and Bill Weir.  He hired an Obama donor as ABC’s new Senior Medical Editor in the midst of the healthcare debate and ignored the 83,000 Americans who petitioned him to ensure that ABC reported the truth about Obama’s government takeover of healthcare. Westin neglected to address the obvious conflict of interest in George Stephanopoulos’ daily strategy phone call with Rahm Emanuel, and failed to keep his promise that ABC News would offer ‘objective’ reporting on the War on Terror in 2003. He even had the gall to suggest that the Pentagon was a legitimate terrorism target in the wake of September 11th. Two years later, he banned any ABC News personnel from wearing a patriotic flag lapel pin.

ABC should seize the opportunity to replace Westin with a president who will deliver what the American people want and deserve – real journalism. It’s ABC’s only glimmer of hope for surviving in the news industry.