Authoritarian Bootlicking Capitulators (ABC)
Another news organization blinks.
A few days ago, ABC News correspondent Terry Moran was suspended from his job because of a social media post savaging White House minion Steven Miller, and I was…honestly fine with it.
Not that Moran posted anything I found particularly disagreeable, and certainly not because the easily offended MAGA crowd had its feelings hurt. (That’s why the slogan doesn’t go “fuck my feelings.”) And if ABC News had gone the way of MSNBC and abandoned any pretense of being a non-partisan, straight-down-the-middle news organization, it honestly might have earned Moran a prime time slot.
But ABC News does pride itself on its partisan neutrality, so Moran’s online rant arguably damaged the network’s reputation. I don’t think anyone was surprised about his true feelings, but when you’re one of the faces of (and taking a paycheque from) the channel, well, it’s reasonable to expect you to abide by its rules.
So, a short time-out so Moran could think about what he had done? Perfectly understandable, had it ended there.
This is 2025, so of course it didn’t end there:
BC News is parting ways with veteran correspondent Terry Moran, two days after he posted a missive on X calling President Donald Trump and deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller “world-class haters.”
The network said Tuesday afternoon that Moran’s contract was about to expire, and “based on his recent post — which was a clear violation of ABC News policies — we have made the decision to not renew.”
“At ABC News, we hold all of our reporters to the highest standards of objectivity, fairness and professionalism, and we remain committed to delivering straightforward, trusted journalism,” an ABC News spokesperson said.
Prominent television correspondents like Moran, who interviewed Trump in the Oval Office just six weeks ago, typically have multi-year contracts with their employers.
The fact that Moran was at the end of a contract cycle — his deal was set to expire on Friday, according to a person briefed on the matter — made it easier for ABC to take swift action.
That this happened five years plus one week to the day Tom Cotton’s op-ed triggered an organization-wide nervous breakdown at The New York Times is just freaking perfect. Cancel culture, it turns out, is a contagious and adaptable virus, and the free-speech advocates of 2020 have become the “ackshully it’s ‘consequence culture’” apologists of 2025.1
There’s one person for whom I am not really worried now that Terry Moran has been kicked to the curb, and that’s Terry Moran. He’ll land on his feet. Another, more principled media outlet will pick him up, or he’ll start his own Substack newsletter, or both. (I kind of hope he ends up writing for The Free Press just to watch all the exploding heads.)
It’s ABC News, and its competitors, that I’m worried about.
Trump’s second term has been marked by several once-proud, established media outlets sheepishly backing off in response to his threats and bullying. (Looking at you, Washington Post and CBS News.) The message couldn’t be more clear: the threats and bullying work, and any other news organization which annoys the President could find itself isolated, defamed and even shut down.
Which, constitutionally, Trump could not do, any more than Obama or Biden could have outlawed Fox News.2
Of course, constitutionally, Trump can’t declare everything a “national emergency” and unilaterally impose tariffs and call in soldiers and stuff. Yet here we are.
He’s certainly not the first President who’s gone to war against media organizations, but he is the first one who might very well go nuclear.
When the media screws up - and, Dear Lord, does it ever screw up, sometimes from partisan bias but usually because of groupthink and engagement addiction - it deserves every bit of criticism which comes its way.3
But we desperately need journalists and media outlets who will stand up to Trump and report on what he doesn’t want you to know.
Considering what he does in public and even gloats about, the mind boggles at what he’s trying to hide. And as of now, I’m not sure I can trust ABC News to uncover it.
I would have written “and vice versa,” but I’m not going to pretend the people who forced out James Bennet have changed much at all over the past half-decade.
Uttering the phrase “fairness doctrine” in any context other than “the fairness doctrine is only defensible, if at all, when there’s a limited broadcast spectrum” is a good way to remind me never to take you seriously.
Meanwhile, many “media critics” betray their own authoritarian tendencies through incessant demands for “journalism” which tells them only what they want to hear, lest the great unwashed draw the wrong conclusions. But that’s for another post.