On Twitter, Terry Moran Slams 'Nixonian Abuse of Power By the Obama Administration'; His Own Show Skips Story

May 11th, 2013 9:30 AM

On Friday morning, Nightline co-anchor Terry Moran took to Twitter to slam the Obama administration for news that the Internal Revenue Service targeted conservative groups in 2012 for reviews. Yet, the powerful journalist and his television program avoided the subject. (Bill Weir hosted on Friday.) Moran tweeted, "A truly Nixonian abuse of power by the Obama administration: IRS Apologizes for Targeting Conservative Groups."

He followed up with another tweet, explaining, "IRS targeted 'about 75' groups because they had the words 'tea party' or 'patriot' in their applications for tax-exempt." Yet, when given the opportunity to take his journalistic outrage beyond the internet, his show skipped it (at least so far).

An AP article explained:

The Internal Revenue Service inappropriately flagged conservative political groups for additional reviews during the 2012 election to see if they were violating their tax-exempt status, a top IRS official said Friday.

...

In some cases, groups were asked for their list of donors, which violates IRS policy in most cases, [Lois Lerner, head of the division that oversees tax-exempt groups] said.

"That was wrong. That was absolutely incorrect, it was insensitive and it was inappropriate. That's not how we go about selecting cases for further review," Lerner said at a conference sponsored by the American Bar Association.

"The IRS would like to apologize for that," she added.

This isn't the first time Moran has tweeted about a case conservatives cared about and then failed to cover it on his TV show. On April 12, 2013, the host tweeted, "Kermit Gosnell is probably the most successful serial killer in the history of the world."

Nightline and the ABC network have never mentioned Gosnell, charged with murdering four babies, or the gory details of the abortionist's trial. Not once.

Most Americans don't have their own TV show. Moran does. Perhaps rather than lamenting stories online, he should actually cover them.