Justin Danhof, General Counsel for the National Center for Public Policy Research, on Wednesday confronted the new CEO of Disney about ABC's obviously slanted political coverage. (Disney owns ABC.) CEO Bob Chapek laughably touted the “stellar record” of objectivity from the network's news division. Considering that ABC just had to suspend a reporter for bragging about his socialism, this may not exactly be convincing.
Danhof appeared at a shareholder meeting in Raleigh, North Carolina and said to Chapek: “It appears that, for now, the palpable anti-conservative bias will continue at ABC News. We call on more consumers and shareholders to make their voices heard, and we applaud the true journalism of the folks at Project Veritas that continues to expose the lies and hypocrisy stemming from mainstream media outlets such as ABC.”
Chapek replied:
So, interestingly enough, the first trip I took after I got the new job was to ABC News in New York. And I must say I was overwhelmed by their professionalism and their commitment to objectivity.
In terms of Mr. Wright, he said some things that made us question his objectivity. And, obviously, when you’re reporting the news, that’s no place for somebody who’s got a heavy, subjective opinion. So – internally – we dealt with that situation.
But, ah, I think ABC News has a stellar track record of being objective in reporting the news and it’ll continue in the future.
A stellar record? Let’s review. ABC in February was forced to suspend David Wright after he was caught on a Project Veritas sting video.
PROJECT VERITAS: You consider yourself a Democrat socialist?
DAVID WRIGHT: Oh yeah. More than that. I’d consider myself a socialist.
His bias was evident to anyone who watched. In past reporting, he cheered Bernie Sanders’s “revolution,” hyping the campaign as “on fire.” In the Project Veritas video, this journalist who would report on politics for the network, spewed venom at Donald Trump, calling him a “dick” and the “fucking president.”
In 2012, ABC’s Brian Ross, without evidence, went on air to falsely connect the Tea Party to the mass murder in Aurora, Colorado. In 2018, Ross left the network after a false story about former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn.
On the National Center website, Danhof described the out-of-touch attitude at ABC News.
“After I asked my question, I was heartened by the applause in the room,” concluded Danhof. “Americans of all political stripes care about objective news reporting. And it is clear that our broadcast networks have strayed far from that standard. The support for my question should signal to Disney’s bosses that they are wasting a prime business opportunity by only catering to a small subset of liberal viewers rather than all Americans.”
ABC has a stellar record? Not by a long shot.
