If you're late to this mess, go watch the shocking
tape of ABC News anchor Amy Robach venting on a hot mic about the
network refusing to air the scoop she landed on Jeffrey Epstein in 2016 --
which she said was powerful and corroborated.
The video of Robach's
off-air comments was captured this past August, shortly after Epstein's alleged
suicide in federal custody. After it was made public, ABC News and Robach
put out somewhat dubious statements about its contents, and
the network didn't address the issue on air. It did, however, take
aggressive action to seek out and destroy the person responsible for leaking
the tape.
ABC leadership tracked down the perceived culprit, who had
recently taken a producing job at rival CBS, and evidently urged their
competitor to fire her. CBS complied. Neither network is commenting on the matter.
In an exclusive
interview with Megyn Kelly, Ashley Bianco insisted that although
she was the person who marked the clip in ABC's internal
system at the time (many people saw Robach's comments as they happened, Bianco
says, including at affiliates that were taking the feed), she did not access it
after that day, and did not leak it.
Some of her answers ("office gossip") sounded a bit strange to me (I also
wondered about the timing of her leaving ABC just days before the Robach tape
finally dropped, which ABC likely perceived as another piece of incriminating
circumstantial evidence), but overall, she came across as a young woman
frightened by the sudden and stunning loss of her career. And her
innocence in this caper appears to have been confirmed by the actual leaker,
who released an anonymous statement through Project Veritas:
To those wrongfully accused: It is terrible that
you have been lashed out at by the company. I know some may put the burden
of guilt on me, but my conscience is clear. The actions of the company towards
you are the result of their own and not anyone else. The public outcry, from
coast to coast, of all people, creeds, and political affiliations, is clear. I
have not one doubt that there will always be support for you, and you will have
prosperous careers. For neither you, nor I, have done anything wrong...To
ABC News: I sit right here with you all in complete shock. I, like
many, are at a loss for words on how this has been handled. Instead of
addressing this head-on like the company has in the past, it has spun into a
mission of seek-and-destroy. Innocent people that have absolutely
nothing to do with this are being hunted down as if we are all a sport. I
challenge all of you to actually look inwards and remember why this company
engages in journalism.
Bianco told Megyn Kelly that she'd never even heard of
Project Veritas until this episode blew up her life.
The true
whistleblower specifically said that he or she selected Project
Veritas as the recipient of the leak "for the sole reason that any other
media outlet else would have probably shelved this as well. I thank all of
them, and James [O'Keefe], for seeking truth."
O'Keefe has also
affirmed that the person through which he came to possess the Robach
tape is not Ashley Bianco, and in fact is still employed by ABC.
This looks absolutely awful for ABC, with CBS playing a
bad, supporting role. Members of the news media operate on a creed of
'truth to power' journalism and transparency.
ABC appears to have spiked
important reporting, then raced to punish their own whistleblower (who
reportedly has no legal recourse to challenge her termination),
enlisting the cooperation of a top competitor in order to collect the wrong
scalp in the process.
They've arguably obstructed the truth
about a powerful and dangerous man and his friends, they've retaliated against
someone suspected of exposing that reality, and they've operated with opacity
and against accountability. How would they treat such actions if they
were undertaken by a subject of their hostile reporting, be it a politician or
another influential figure?
And as for the young woman whose job was
nuked -- apparently unjustly, based on panicked, rushed assumptions -- where
does she go to get her reputation and career back?
If ABC has a better explanation for all of the choices
they've made, they should make that case publicly, in a detailed and
transparent manner. They're doing the opposite, and one of the industry's
top watch dogs is effectively
snoozing through the whole thing.
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CNN’s @brianstelter failed to cover the
ABC News-Jeffrey Epstein story on @ReliableSources
today. The network has yet to discuss it on-air to date.
“Fox” was mentioned 18 times on his show compared to “ABC” once (unrelated). @dcexaminer https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/cnns-stelter-continues-network-on-air-blackout-on-abc-news-not-running-epstein-story …
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And the media wonders why huge swaths of the country doesn't trust them.
