On Friday morning, NBC’s Today completely ignored a statement published late Thursday night by Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg denying claims that his site has censored conservative news stories and promoted some topics as trending even though they weren’t.
CBS This Morning and ABC’s Good Morning America devoted full stories to defending Zuckerberg and thus furthering the narrative from the past week that the networks seemed astonished that this could ever happen to begin with.
With the on-screen headline reading “Facebook Fights Back,” CBS This Morning co-host Norah O’Donnell stated that “Zuckerberg is defending his company against accusations of political bias” by “invit[ing] conservative leaders to meet about a report that it cites liberal views in trending topics.”
Chief legal correspondent Jan Crawford followed soon after by mentioning Zuckerberg’s late-night post defending the company and noting that “his decision to personally address the controversy comes after Facebook announced it was investigating claims that workers put a liberal spin on social media content.”
She added that the Facebook founder “is battling claims the site doesn't play fair” and later concluded that “the company is really trying to emphasize in its words that while a team of editors vets the content, that what's trending — well, that’s primarily generated by those computer algorithms.”
Over on ABC, Good Morning America co-host Robin Roberts tossed to correspondent Rebecca Jarvis by dubbing the scandal a “firestorm surrounding Facebook, supposedly stopping conservative topics from its trending list.”
Rehashing the allegations from Gizmodo’s original piece Monday morning, Jarvis mentioned that “the Senate Committee on Commerce has launched an inquiry into the claims but this morning and overnight Mark Zuckerberg writing these claims have no merit, that they have launched an investigation, that they have found no evidence that this report is true.”
“But, Robin, he says he will stick to his principles, Facebook will stick to their principles and if they find any wrongdoing they will proceed,” she ruled in going back to Roberts.
As for the statement itself, Zuckerberg assured everyone that “Facebook stands for giving everyone a voice” and, spoken like a true liberal, proclaimed that “[w]e believe the world is better when people from different backgrounds and with different ideas all have the power to share their thoughts and experiences.”
“To serve our diverse community, we are committed to building a platform for all ideas. Trending Topics is designed to surface the most newsworthy and popular conversations on Facebook. We have rigorous guidelines that do not permit the prioritization of one viewpoint over another or the suppression of political perspectives,” he disclosed before revealing that they’ve launched “a full investigation” into the claims.
The relevant portions of the transcript from May 13's CBS This Morning can be found below.
CBS This Morning
May 13, 2016
7:12 a.m. Eastern[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: Facebook Fights Back; Zuckerberg Breaks Silence on “Trending” Bias Claim]
NORAH O’DONNELL: Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is defending his company against accusations of political bias. He invited conservative leaders to meet about a report that it cites liberal views in trending topics. Zuckerberg writes in a post, quote, “we have rigorous guidelines that do not permit the prioritization of one viewpoint over another.” Jan Crawford shows us how Facebook is being pressured to review secrets. Jan, good morning.
JAN CRAWFORD: Well, good morning, so in that online post, Zuckerberg said that Facebook does not sensor conservative topics. Now, his decision to personally address the controversy comes after Facebook announced it was investigating claims that workers put a liberal spin on social media content.
MARK ZUCKERBERG [on 04/12/16]: The internet has enabled all of us to access and share more ideas and information than ever before.
CRAWFORD: With more than 1.6 billion users, Facebook has become a key player in the distribution of news, but CEO Mark Zuckerberg is battling claims the site doesn't play fair.
(....)
CRAWFORD: At issue is a process Facebook uses to decide what's trending after a report that Facebook manipulates user data to weed out politically conservative news stories. The Guardian newspaper got a copy of Facebook's internal guidelines. Reporter Sam Fieldman.
SAM FIELDMAN: They can go in and inject new topics. They can delete topics that are duplicate or inappropriate. They can blacklist things. I think the guidelines themselves are straightforward, and I think they try hard to maintain objectivity.
(....)
CRAWFORD: Zuckerberg says he wants to meet with “leading conservatives and people from across the political spectrum” to discuss how Facebook can remain, quote, “as open as possible."
(....)
CRAWFORD: After those internal documents were leaked, Facebook then made those internal guidelines public and the company is really trying to emphasize in its words that while a team of editors vets the content, that what's trending — well, that’s primarily generated by those computer algorithms.
The transcript of the segment from ABC’s Good Morning America on May 13 can be found below.
ABC’s Good Morning America
May 13, 2016
7:15 a.m. Eastern[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: New This Morning; Zuckerberg Responds to Facebook Firestorm; Addresses Claims “Trending Topics” Are Biased]
ROBIN ROBERTS: Now to Mark Zuckerberg's making his first public comments about the firestorm surrounding Facebook, supposedly stopping conservative topics from its trending list. ABC's Rebecca Jarvis is here. She'll tell us more. Good morning.
REBECCA JARVIS: That’s right, Robin. Good morning and this is the CEO and founder of Facebook speaking out for the first time, his comments coming after a Gizmodo report citing anonymous former employees alleging that employees at the site intentionally suppressed conservative news stories from the trending topics list and forced topics that weren't trending to appear on the list. Well, the Senate Committee on Commerce has launched an inquiry into the claims but this morning and overnight Mark Zuckerberg writing these claims have no merit, that they have launched an investigation, that they have found no evidence that this report is true, but, Robin, he says he will stick to his principles, Facebook will stick to their principles and if they find any wrongdoing they will proceed?
ROBERTS: We'll see what happens. Alright, Rebecca, thank you.
