ABC News Obeys Trump — Fires Reporter for Truthful Miller Tweet
An update from yesterday's post
Note: ABC News fired respected correspondent Terry Moran Tuesday after suspending him for a late-night tweet criticizing Trump adviser Stephen Miller. The network acted just hours after my original post below was published—further proof of the chilling grip Donald Trump now has on mainstream media. Here’s the post, lightly edited from yesterday:
Let us return—precisely one year to the day.
Vice President Kamala Harris explodes in rage at an ABC News correspondent who tweeted that Hunter Biden is a “hate-filled druggie.” White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre joins the attack, demanding the reporter be fired immediately. Within hours, President Biden calls for the journalist to be prosecuted under federal law.
Sound insane?
It is.
And it didn’t happen.
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But it’s precisely what happened last week to 28-year veteran ABC News correspondent Terry Moran. Just switch in the names of the offended parties: J.D. Vance. Karoline Leavitt. Donald Trump.
Moran unwisely used his Twitter account to call out Stephen Miller as a hate-filled hater. "Miller is a man who is richly endowed with the capacity for hatred," Moran wrote shortly after midnight on Sunday. "He's a world-class hater.”
Well crafted, though arguably an understatement. Yet, this was definitely not a pro move on social media for a mainstream news reporter. In that capacity, Moran needed to refrain from provocative comments about a subject of his reporting.
It called for an apology—or perhaps a reprimand. But a hanging offense? Please. “This was, after all, the first public blemish in Terry Moran’s nearly three-decade stellar career at ABC News — a career widely respected for its depth, neutrality, and global scope.”
Here’s the bone-chilling part: Trump’s MAGA outrage worked. ABC News folded like a rental tent in a windstorm. Moran was suspended on the spot. And most journalists remained silent, with some of Moran’s ABC colleagues shamefully hiding behind anonymity to cheap-shot him at places like Fox News (which even paused its contempt for anonymous sources for the occasion). Then, Moran was fired.
There is zero chance—zero—that this would have been the result a year ago had Biden been the offended party. ABC News would never have considered acting against Moran. Aside from the demand being unserious, the fact that Biden had issued it would have been enough to prevent further action.
Boy, what a big news story this would have been a year ago, but not aimed at Moran. Instead, the airwaves would have been consumed with inconsolable outrage from the Right featuring old favorites such as “CANCEL CULTURE!!!” and “THE SNOWFLAKES ARE WHINING AGAIN.”
And what a fine talking point for then-candidate Trump.
The Moran story has come and gone. But it signals a crisis—one that goes far beyond Moran, or whataboutism.
Suddenly, and with no warning, the owners of America’s major TV networks have allowed themselves to become complicit in Trump’s savage and ongoing attack on the protection of a free press under the First Amendment.
Recall Trump’s term for the press: “Enemy of the People.”
I don’t know about you, but I wasn’t expecting “well, maybe you’ve got a point” as the response from the media bosses. But that’s where we sit today.
Why? To protect billions in profits and placate power.
This is the same ABC News/Disney that scandalously caved in December 2024, quietly handing Trump $15 million in hush money over a bogus defamation suit. I’m not a lawyer, but I’ve been familiarized a bit with libel laws over the past half-century or so.
Suffice it to say that anyone with even the tiniest, passing awareness of those laws would know that Trump’s frivolous case had roughly the same chance of success as a fundraising drive for immigrants at a MAGA rally. But if you have any questions, this solid piece at the Columbia Journalism Review more than answers them.
Then there is the ongoing—and arguably even more noxious—case of Trump’s lawsuit against Paramount’s CBS and 60 Minutes for $20 billion, claiming deceptive editing of a Kamala Harris interview. Here again, the notion that 60 Minutes cannot edit its interviews however it chooses is numbingly bizarre and un-American.
So why did Paramount reportedly offer $15–30 million—plus a public apology—to settle this legal tripe? Don’t suppose it has anything to do with the price Paramount stands to lose, so many, many times over, if the Trump administration kills its proposed merger with entertainment giant Skydance.
Far be it from me to weigh in on a subject so far above my pay grade. But these folks at Truthout.com did—and didn’t shy from suggesting the situation represented bribery.
Fox News reported that two CBS executives—Bill Owens (“lost editorial independence”) and Wendy McMahon (cited disagreement over direction)—resigned. And they were hardly alone among network employees aghast at what happened.
In defense of the networks—and ominously, others you’d never think about—their motivation might not be confined to billions in profits. There is the matter of survival, given that Trump seems to be getting away with reducing the FCC to rubble.
At last count, the FCC was down to a quorum-busting grand total of two commissioners (out of five), one of whom is none other than Republican Chairman Brenda Carr, a co-author of noxious Project 2025’s section on tech issues.
Perhaps Trump can add Miller to the FCC to demand that more programming be devoted to the drowning of chihuahua puppies.
At least it wouldn’t cost the networks a penny.
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