So how did Politico break the George Stephanopoulos Clinton Foundation donations story? Actually they didn't break it at all. The story was shopped to Politico after the Washington Free Beacon made inquiries to ABC News about Stephanopoulos' contributions to the Clinton Foundation. Apparently ABC News thought Politico would offer more favorable coverage so they leaked the story to Politico. However, to his great credit, Politico writer Jack Shafer not only acknowledged the crucial role of the Free Beacon but was also highly critical of ABC News for this tactic.
First let us look at this morning's Free Beacon announcement of who really broke this story:
Stephanopoulos, a former aide to President Bill Clinton, confirmed the donation to POLITICO’s Dylan Byers after the Free Beacon contacted ABC News for comment. The host, who acknowledged making two donations of $25,000 between 2013 and 2014, issued a statement of apology for failing to disclose his contributions.
If ABC News thought their selective shopping of the story would ease the pain about the Stephanopoulos revelation they were woefully misguided since Politico's Shafer let them have it with both barrels:
A worthy side-note to the Stephanopoulos expose is contained in its genesis. The story appears to have originated at the Washington Free Beacon, which asked ABC News for comment about the Stephanopoulos contributions last night. The next thing the Free Beacon knew, Politico had broken the story this morning. Free Beacon writer Andrew Stiles and site editor Matthew Continetti accused Stephanopoulos’ office and ABC of shipping the scoop to Politico. I sent email to ABC News seeking clarification on this point and did not hear back. I also asked Byers about the origin of his scoop to which he responded, “I’m not going to be able to talk about matters related to sourcing.”
If ABC News shopped the scoop, as the Beaconites claim, it wouldn’t be the first time that a news organization has been so preempted. Government and business play this retaliatory game all the time when journalists surprise them with a request for comment. What’s unbecoming is that a news organization might engage in this practice.
Come to think of it, that’s precisely the type of thing you can imagine the Stephanopoulos-era Clinton administration doing without compunction.
OUCH! And congratulations to Jack Shafer for giving credit where credit is due...the Washington Free Beacon.
