ABC's Charles Gibson Admits: 'I Worry About the Lack of Objectivity' in News Business
World News anchor Charles Gibson admitted on Tuesday, "I worry about the lack of
objectivity and the future of the news business." According to the Boston
Herald, the ABC host spoke before the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce and
said of Fox News and MSNBC: "I don't like the fact that they're delivering news
based on the conviction of its viewers." He also derided some viewers who
"watch news that plays to their own prejudices."
With no sense of irony, Gibson attacked Republicans for being obstructionist
on health care: "It's not being very productive to have an opposition party that
simply says, 'We are going to fight the president no matter what on health-care
reform. We are not going to give you a single vote and we are going to march in
lock step against you." He added that this is "not good for the country."
Although Gibson did note that "Democrats similarly stood in lock step in
opposition to President George W. Bush, and that was a great mistake, too," he's
long had issues with a "lack of objectivity. On September
15, 2009, five days after a massive story about ACORN and corruption
broke, the anchor was interviewed on a Chicago radio station and asked about
lack of coverage.
He laughingly dismissed, "I didn't even know about it. Um. So, you've got me
at a loss. I don't know. Uh. Uh. But my goodness, if it's got everything
including sleaziness in it, we should talk about it this morning."
When Barack Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize on October
9, Gibson commented on the President's "humble" tone and extolled, "The
Nobel Committee feeling that he has inspired a new sense in the world."
On June
4, 2008, the ABC host famously offered this softball to Obama after he won
the Democratic presidential nomination: "When everybody clears out, the staff is
gone, you're in the hotel room at night, and you're alone, do you say to
yourself, 'Son of a gun, I've done this?"
Instead of worrying just about Fox News and MSNBC, perhaps Gibson, who is
retiring in January, should think about the reporting of his own show and
network.
-Scott Whitlock is a news analyst for the Media Research
Center.
