Terry Moran on Getting Fired by ABC News, Interviewing Donald Trump, and Taylor Swift vs Kanye West

Quick Overview

Terry Moran recounts being fired from ABC News in 2018 after he tweeted a remark about Kanye West being a "jackass" while interviewing then-President Barack Obama in the mid-1980s, an event he now recognizes as a significant turning point that led to the subsequent decline in journalistic integrity.

Key Points: Terry Moran first met his interviewee, Terry, in the mid-1980s while both were at The St. Petersburg Times in Washington, D.C., working for both the New Republic and Legal Times. Moran was fired from ABC News in 2018 after tweeting that Kanye West (who had recently grabbed the microphone from Taylor Swift) was a "jackass" the day after interviewing President Obama about the threat to democracy posed by Trump. Moran's tweet caused internal turmoil, leading his boss, Jeff Zucker (then at CNN), to call and tell him to take the tweet down, which he refused to do, resulting in his firing within 24 hours. Moran notes that the journalists covering the 2016 election, like Peter Jennings, Ted Koppel, and Diane Sawyer, had immense power and authority that is now diminished in the current media landscape. He contrasts the past media environment where journalists were powerful and respected with the present, where corporate media's business model is failing and many reporters are afraid to challenge figures like Trump. Moran mentions his father, Bob Aiger, was the first on-budget man at the Washington Post in the 1960s/70s and was deeply admired, contrasting this with the current environment where factual reporting is often seen as partisan. The discussion concludes with Moran suggesting that the challenge now is finding ways to maintain journalistic integrity and common sense when the primary goal seems to be engaging audiences through highly polarized or sensational content.

Context: Terry Moran, a journalist, recounts his career experiences, specifically focusing on a pivotal moment involving a tweet about Kanye West that led to his termination from ABC News. The conversation draws parallels between the perceived journalistic integrity of past eras, such as the 1960s and 70s, and the current media environment, which he suggests is increasingly polarized and commercially driven.