Once again, CBS This Morning co-host Gayle King has demonstrated her networking skills. As the media reported how the Obamas rode Hollywood producer David Geffen’s super-yacht in Tahiti with bold-faced names including Oprah Winfrey, Tom Hanks, and Bruce Springsteen, there was another TV name in the mix. CNN media reporter Brian Stelter relayed the news in his “Reliable Sources” newsletter:
Another vacationer that wasn't mentioned in the news coverage: Gayle King. But she was visible in one of the paparazzi photos from the trip. When I inquired, a CBS News spokeswoman confirmed that King was in the photo... but declined to comment on the ethical quandaries that a vacation with a recent ex-president might present. Of course, it's no secret that King travels in A-list circles... she sometimes talks about it on CBS This Morning...
CBS has never had any “ethical quandaries” when it comes to Gayle and her pals named Obama. She and her friend Oprah partied after the first inauguration at the White House. Between the 2008 campaign and her sign-on with CBS in 2012, she donated $4,800 to Obama and more than $33,000 to the Democratic Party.
King didn't talk about the trip on CBS this time, but she did discuss her cover story in the latest Variety magazine, the "Women In Power" issue. In a video interview, King was asked about the state of journalism in the Trump era:
KING: I think it's a challenge because, you know, the White House has a job to do, and we have a job to do. I think that it's frustrating sometimes where two plus two doesn't always equal four. But the fact is two plus two really is four.
So I think it's a challenge to cover a story that always seems to be changing. Even when you have photographic evidence, audio evidence, there's always a different story. I think that, you know, as a journalist, you present the facts, you present the story and let the audience decide.
Speaking of "photographic evidence," we see again how two plus two adds up to Gayle King hobnobbing with the Obamas in the most privileged settings, but somehow we're supposed to expect her journalism is just about "facts" and letting the audience decide.
