GMA's Robin Roberts Bashes ABC's Tabloid Obsession: 'I Don't Want to Sell My Soul'

Good Morning America co-host Robin Roberts bashed her own network, Monday, decrying GMA's obsession with tabloid stories. In a Daily Beast article, she lamented, "I’ll be honest, it’s been an adjustment for me, the lighter fare...I want to be No. 1. I don’t want to sell my soul to the devil to be No. 1."

The Howard Kurtz piece contained several gossipy nuggets, including a possible icy relationship between Roberts and co-host George Stephanopoulos. Kurtz related that the two "almost never chat during the show when the cameras are off, with Stephanopoulos usually tapping on his BlackBerry."

Since Stephanopoulos arrived at GMA in December of 2009, Roberts has largely been shut out of political stories and relegated to mostly tabloid stories. On January 6, 2010, NewsBusters looked at how Roberts quickly lost her previous claim on serious interviews:

Despite promises from ABC to the contrary, Good Morning America co-host Robin Roberts appears to have been almost completely shut out from political and policy interviews since George Stephanopoulos joined the show on December 14. The former Democratic operative has now anchored 11 mornings and conducted all but one of the big interviews.

It should also be pointed out that GMA has always been tabloid heavy. On August 3, 2007, then-host Diane Sawyer hyped, "And your heart's racing. Your palm's sweating. It's fear of bridges."

On June 20, 2007, she blared, "And is this America's new hobby? 80 percent of robberies now by amateurs."

In his piece, Kurtz quoted Today's Ann Curry also deriding the gossip heavy morning shows: "I’m at my core a hard-news reporter. I want more spinach and less sugar in this big meal we give viewers. Sometimes I feel personally our balance isn’t quite right. I fight for stories that matter."

To read some of Curry's goofy, non-serious comments, see the MRC's Profile in Bias.

Here's one example:

On the Feb 4, 2008 Today show co-host Ann Curry was breaking down the delegate counts for each Super Tuesday state with NBC's political director Chuck Todd, but when it came to finding Obama's home state of Illinois on the map, Curry pointed to Minnesota instead.

Speaking of her new role as a co-host Curry gushed, "I feel like Cinderella, like I’m dancing with the prince at the ball and I’m wearing a pretty dress."