How do you feel about the fact that George Stephanopoulos, host of Sunday Morning\’s “This Week” show on ABC, is a partisan politician who has contributed $75,000 (not $50,000 as first reported) to the political piggy bank known as The Clinton Foundation?
Are you at all surprised, given that Stephanopoulos was the closest of close confidantes to the Clintons, and has remained close ever since? If so, why?
Do you think this relationship has affected Mr. Stephanopoulos\’ neutrality over the years? That\’s like asking if a broken leg affects whether you\’ll compete in a marathon.
Do you think ABC News will fire Stephanopoulos for his contribution to The Clinton Foundation? That one I\’ll answer myself: not a chance. Ratings are good, and this juicy little scandal will probably – at least in the short run – make them even better. Ethics, integrity, professionalism? Get to the back of the bus, guys. Those are ratings we\’re talking about.
Should ABC News have hired an overtly partisan player like George Stephanopoulos in the first place? No, of course not. Not if it had any interest in running a neutral shop. But, since it did not then, and does not now, have such an interest, the answer is “sure, why not?”.
Is ABC News an outlier in hiring an obviously partisan “newsperson” who is then put in charge of one form or another of news reportage? Absolutely not.
Is this use of partisans for news reportage spread about evenly between Democrats and Republicans? Yeah, right. And Hillary Clinton is giving up her presidential candidacy to compete in the Miss Teen America contest.
Ok, that about covers it. Next subject.
