Hopefully, more reporters who insist upon replacing objectivity with opinion will be shown the door
Plus! Sourcing leaves The Economist red-faced, Parliamentary Press Gallery journo takes a hit and the latest moves at Eurasia Group
Terry Moran’s 28-year career at ABC News recently came to a crashing conclusion over Tweets in which the network’s senior national correspondent described US President Donald Trump and his advisor, Stephen Miller as men fueled by hatred.
The network first suspended Moran, who is believed to have been earning between $400,000 and $600,000 US, and then declined to renew his contract. He is now on Substack and, while he had quickly deleted the original Tweets, is defending them as an expression of the truth and “something that was in my heart and mind.”
I have no doubt he’s a hero to many but, as grandpa used to say, just because something pops into your head; it needn’t pop out of your mouth (or keyboard).
ABC called the behaviour a clear violation of company policies designed to ensure its reporters are viewed as unbiased.
“At ABC News, we hold all of our reporters to the highest standards of objectivity, fairness and professionalism,” the company stated. “and we remain committed to delivering straightforward, trusted journalism.”
The New York Times wondered “What was Terry Moran thinking?” and while the Daily’s Show’s Jon Stewart called it “a f#!&ing joke,” Bill Maher backed ABC’s decision, noting there are “lots of jobs you can have and do that, that is the one job (where) I’m looking at you to be impartial.“
“Just give me the facts. I don’t need to know this from you Terry Moran.”
Maher is correct. And I wish more Canadian news organizations were as vigilant as ABC News in protecting their reputations by insisting employees keep their yaps shut and their fingers idle.
Most, if not all, have policies in place regarding social media use but some (the CBC’s is a fine example) are decidedly mushy and don’t appear to be enforced with any spine. Others, such as the Globe and Mail and Toronto Star, keep a pretty close eye on their reporter’s online behaviour. So while they give Bruce Arthur, Andrew Coyne and other opinion columnists plenty of leash to express their biases, reporters such as Tonda Maccharles present themselves as professional journalists, as do the Wall Street Journal’s Paul Vieira and others.
Global News and CTV reporters - at least if David Akin and Judy Trinh are anything to go by - are subject to much less discipline although CTV Atlantic did fire a staffer for doubling as a Palestinian activist. At the Mother Corp., many staffers wisely keep a low social media profile while others such as Evan Dyer and Jason Markusoff are more engaged. They are careful with individual tweets, but members of the public who follow their feeds can easily discern certain predispositions. In Dyer’s case, that involves Israel but that didn’t prevent him from being greenlit to write what CBC calls an analysis and others would call an opinion piece pushing Canada to officially recognize Palestine, which is currently governed by Hamas, a terrorist organization, which is supported by Iran, which is an authoritarian theocracy. National Post, too, appears quite liberal (in the John Stuart Mill sense of the word) in its approach, which seems to line up with its heavy reliance on right of centre opinion.
I am suddenly old. And I am old school. When, after my first 20 years in journalism, I moved from the newsroom onto the Calgary Herald’s editorial board, I figured there was no going back. Once my name was attached to opinions, I believed I could never work as a reporter. And I didn’t.
So not only was ABC News correct to terminate Moran’s employment, managers of Canadian newsrooms should be inspired to do the same when required. And the journalists who report to them should conduct themselves accordingly.
With the exception of TikTok influencer Rachel Gilmore, there are few people working on Parliament Hill who more consistently display bias in their online behaviour than freelancer Dale Smith, aka @journodale.bsky.social.
He recently had to turtle in an exchange with a former journalist, podcaster and author, Andrew Lawton, who on April 28 was elected as the Member of Parliament for Elgin-St Thomas-South London.
Smith accused Lawton, a Conservative, of “mendaciously” editing a video and Lawton replied with both barrels:
“Blatant lie from a Parliament Press Gallery reporter,” Lawton roared on Twitter, demanding - and then getting - a retraction.
Corrections are always welcome but there are times when they can be very embarrassing.
Such was the case last week when The Economist didn’t just correct an article by its Canadian correspondent, Robert Russo, it yanked it. Russo, a regular guest on CBC panels, is a past winner (2010) of the Charles Lynch Award. So it must have been a difficult moment for him when his employer posted this
“Not satisfied with the sourcing” (regular readers will be aware of my views on the rampant use of anonymous sources) is a statement that provides more questions than answers.
Speaking of things that make you go hmmm, the Eurasia Group, employer of Prime Minister Mark Carney’s wife, Diana Fox, and his muse, Gerald Butts, announced last week that it will no longer publish its weekly GZERO North newsletter. GZERO is Eurasia’s publishing arm that was run by former CBC and CTV host Evan Solomon before he was handpicked as a Toronto Liberal candidate and, despite no political or government experience, appointed to cabinet as Minister of artificial intelligence and digital innovation. Columnist Tasha Kheiridden and former Tory cabinet minister John Baird also work for Eurasia Group, whose chairman, Ian Bremmer, accurately predicted in March that shortly after the election, Canada would “quietly fold” in the face of Trump’s economic threats.
Given that the PM sleeps with one of its employees, I remain fascinated that no news organization is interested in what Eurasia does and how it knows what it knows. But as a company that sells its services to our government, it very clearly is well positioned to make good predictions about Canada. Pillow talk can be a thing, so I’m really interested in how the ethics commission will advise Carney on how to manage this. Near as I can tell, though, no one else cares.
(Peter Menzies is a commentator and consultant on media, Macdonald-Laurier Institute Senior Fellow, a past publisher of the Calgary Herald, a former vice chair of the CRTC and a National Newspaper Award winner.)
After Mike Myers politicised his "Elbows Up" into a Liberal campaign meme with his rinkside chat with Mark Carney*, Sandi Rinaldo signed off every news broadcast with it.
* - If you ever wondered why the rinkside campaign ad had the awkward closing scene where the camera zooms out with Mark Carney distant from Mike Myers and only partially included in the picture, it's because the lettering on the back of their jerseys was CARNEY NEVER.
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Can this can be considered institutional bias? --
On the first post-election Commons question period, Andrew Scheer asked how Mark Carney could pay for his campaign promises now that he had reduced the tariffs on U.S. goods.
The two national news networks that I viewed that evening showed part of the exchange, editing out of Mr. Scheer's question the reference to the reduced tariffs. I wonder how many Canadians are aware of what Mr. Carney did during the election campaign.
Thanks Mr.Menzies. Keep it up!