In Defense of Terry Moran

The news business needs to make up its mind about whether or not it wants journalists to be personalities or reporters

ABC anchor Terry Moran was fired Tuesday over a Sunday tweet describing Donald Trump aide Stephen Miller as a “world-class hater”:

Moran, who’s held a series of enviable posts at ABC (chief White House correspondent, host of Nightline, chief foreign correspondent, lead campaign trail reporter) was dismissed by his longtime employers with a curt announcement:

ABC News stands for objectivity and impartiality in its news coverage and does not condone subjective personal attacks on others. The post does not reflect the views of ABC News and violated our standards − as a result, Terry Moran has been suspended pending further evaluation.

Moran is now on Substack. Good for him, but his skills fit a major television station and he would probably still be working at one, if the business could make up its mind about how it wants to cover politics (and Trump in particular). Reporters in this era have been asked to abandon objectivity and adhere to it. They’ve been urged to be public figures with heavy social media presences, but also told they’ll be fired if they say what they think. It’s a no-win situation.

The problem goes back nearly a decade and has officially reached the level of absurdity. Corporate media needs to shit or get off the pot: