ABC went too far in firing Terry Moran

ABC News fired veteran reporter Terry Moran last month for violating its news policies after he criticized President Trump and top White House aide Stephen Miller as “haters” in a social media post. Moran later defended his comments, stating in interviews with The Bulwark and The New York Times that he didn’t regret his statements about Trump and Miller because he thought they were true.

While ABC acted appropriately in initially suspending Moran for breaking its rules about objectivity, fairness and professionalism, it went too far in firing him.

As a mainstream network news outlet, ABC generally tries to be objective, impartial and balanced, giving both sides of an issue. There is no such thing as perfect objectivity, but mainstream news outlets should strive to be as objective and unbiased as possible. Doing so distinguishes them from advocacy journalism outlets like Fox News and MSNBC. The media watchdog site Allsides rates ABC News as leaning very slightly to the left and very close to the center.

Generally, reporters should try to avoid giving their opinions. If they do give an opinion, it should focus on issues and shouldn’t contain personal insults, which is a sign of unprofessionalism. Given that, ABC was justified when it initially suspended Moran.

But Moran — who started at ABC in 1997 and has been a senior correspondent since 2018 —should not have been fired.

Unlike other journalism scandals — such as those of Stephen Glass and Jayson Blair, which involved multiple transgressions — Moran’s social media post seems to be a one-time incident. He deserves a second chance, and a suspension would have been an appropriate warning to avoid personal attacks on government officials in the future. His long and distinguished career shouldn’t end because of this one regrettable incident.

Firing Moran gives Trump another scalp in his persistent attacks on the media, which he continues to dub as “fake news.” Trump’s recent war on the press has included a lawsuit against CBS and “60 Minutes” as well as clawing back funding for NPR and PBS. Paramount settled Trump’s lawsuit earlier this month, agreeing to pay $16 million to his presidential library. That lawsuit alleged that CBS deceptively edited an interview with Kamala Harris.

After the 2024 election, ABC settled a defamation lawsuit brought by Trump arising from George Stephanopoulos’s false statement that Trump had been found civilly liable for raping writer E. Jean Carroll, when he had in fact been found liable for sexually abusing and defaming her.

If ABC had stuck to its suspension of Moran and not fired him, it would have sent a message that it takes its ethics rules seriously, but that it won’t cave to demands and pressure from Trump’s supporters, including statements from White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt that Moran should be disciplined. It is possible that ABC or its corporate owners feared the wrath of another Trump lawsuit or other types of action against it. While Moran subsequently announced that he would be posting content on Substack, his visibility will likely diminish.

Most news outlets have conflict-of-interest rules that strive to give the appearance that their reporters will be independent and unbiased. Many news outlets’ codes of conduct prohibit reporters from volunteering for or donating money to political campaigns, having a candidate’s bumper sticker on their car or endorsing candidates on social media.

The reputation of journalists and journalism has diminished over recent decades. Annual surveys often show that journalists are towards the bottom of public trust, along with politicians, lawyers and used-car salespeople. In Gallup’s 2023 Honesty and Ethics poll, only 19 percent of respondents said that journalists had high ethical standards.

Journalists might feel that they should be able to express their opinions, even if they’re controversial. Journalism is one of those professions where you’re expected to check some of your free speech rights at the door. Obviously, journalists are human beings and they have strong opinions on a variety of issues. However, those strong opinions shouldn’t affect their ability to be fair and accurate in their reporting. Moran’s post gave the impression that he wouldn’t be impartial when reporting on Trump and his administration.

There’s nothing wrong with advocacy or opinion journalism, which gives information and arguments that reinforce or challenge people’s viewpoints. However, it’s important for mainstream media outlets to strive to be as independent and neutral as possible so that they can be a trusted news source for a wide variety of people. ABC should distinguish itself as an independent news source as opposed to an advocacy or opinion journalism outlet.

ABC was justified in suspending Moran — but firing him went too far.

Larry Atkins teaches journalism at Temple University and Arcadia University and social and ethical issues in sports at Arcadia. He is the author of “Skewed: A Critical Thinker’s Guide to Media Bias” and “Foul or Fair? Ethical and Social Issues in Sports.”