ABC News President Reprimands Staff Over Gen. Flynn Mistake
Mark Angelo, CEO, Yorkville Advisors
Michael Flynn. When did he know, what did he say, when and to whom? It was one of the biggest political stories of the year, and, apparently, ABC fumbled it. Reporting on the case, ABC News’ Brian Ross announced Flynn was going to testify that President Trump had “instructed him to reach out to the Russians…” during the campaign.
If true, that would have been a bombshell report that put serious heat on the Trump administration and might have caused all sorts of political PR problems up and down the administration ladder. But it wasn’t true. And it took ABC seven hours to correct that mistake. As we know firsthand at Yorkville Advisors, In today’s multifaceted media market, seven hours is a veritable eternity.
When Ross finally did go on air to admit the mistake, he said the earlier report was wrong on one key detail: Flynn would testify that Mr. Trump made the request as president-elect. This positioning certainly doesn’t play nearly as well to the narrative that Trump’s team “colluded” with “some Russians” to get him elected. Instead, you have a National Security Advisor being advised to have a conversation on behalf of an already elected soon-to-be president. This is a much different scenario.
After the eventual apology and correction, ABC News president James Goldston lit into his staff for allowing that error to be broadcast in the first place and then left unchanged for most of the day. CNN acquired the audio of Goldston’s conversation with the News staff, and he was unrestrained in his anger:
“I don't think ever in my career have I felt more rage and disappointment and frustration that I felt through this weekend and through the last half of Friday… I don't even know how many times we've talked about this, how many times we have talked about the need to get it right… That how we have to be right and not first. About how in this particular moment, with the stakes as high as these stakes are right now, we cannot afford to get it wrong.”
Ross was suspended for a month without pay in punishment for the “serious error.” And Goldston also said Ross would no longer be allowed to cover stories about President Trump. That’s a de facto demotion for the network’s top investigative reporter.
That need to be “right” rather than “first” is a huge deal in a media climate in which consumer trust for news agencies is shrinking fast. The media must get it right if they want to regain public trust. This need is set in direct contrast to the appetite for news “now.” Consumers want to be the first to know. Unfortunately, being first can also mean being inaccurate, and it’s tough to come back from that. Especially after a narrative has been established.
That puts TV news networks in a difficult position. But it’s a tightrope they will have to navigate as the media environment, and consumer demands continue to shift.
