June 11, 2025 • 11 mins
The recent firing of ABC News correspondent Terry Moran over a politically charged social media post has sparked fierce debate across newsrooms nationwide. To help us unpack the ethics, implications, and future of journalist conduct in the digital age, KFI's Heather Brooker spoke with Christina Bellantoni—Director of the Media Center and Professor of Professional Practice at USC Annenberg. A veteran journalist and newsroom leader, Christina brings deep insight into how news organizations are navigating objectivity, transparency, and the ever-blurring boundaries of social media. We're going beyond the headline to ask: Is the age of the outspoken journalist over? Or is this just the start of a long-overdue reckoning?
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
We're talking about the controversial firing of veteran correspondent Terry
Moran at ABC News after that social media post where
he labeled labeled President Trump and Stephen Miller world class haters.
So this touches on journalistic impartiality, social media ethics, and
boundaries between personal expression and professional standards. Joining me now
(00:20):
talking more about this is Christina Bellantoni, the director of
the Media Center, professor of Professional Practice at USC Andnaberg
School for Communication and Journalism. So what are the core
journalistic standards that ABC News says Moran violated and how
common are these types of violations in major news organizations
To the best of your knowledge.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
Yeah, and this is something over the course of my
career in journalism I have really seen as an evolution
in how journalists are able to express themselves outside of
their work channels. And I can give you a really
concrete example. When I co the two thousand and eight
presidential campaign, Twitter was really not as much of a
(01:05):
reporting tool as it would soon become. As I became
a White House correspondent in two thousand and nine, suddenly
everyone was there, people were learning how to use it.
But fast forward and you've seen Twitter become sort of
a personal platform where people are able to express more
of their let's say, personality, and often that sort of
(01:26):
tiptoe is into opinion. And as a journalism teacher, now
this is difficult to help students understand. Okay, if you
are a journalist that covers a presidential administration, for example,
are you allowed to have an opinion? First and foremost?
If you do have that opinion, can you share it privately? Well?
(01:47):
I always tell them it doesn't matter if your accounts
are all private, because anything can be screenshot and anyone,
you know, can ratch you out right. So the question
is do you keep your opinion to yourself? Do you
share it privately? Or are you out there using, you know,
an influential platform with a lot of people looking at
you and already being under scrutiny. In today's media environment
(02:11):
and particularly the way the press has interacted with this
particular Trump administration, you have to understand that anything can
be under scrutiny. And then get to get back to
your question about ABC's standards, Well, they probably have their
own social media policies that are quite specific. Most news
outlets do. I've helped write these policies. We took a
(02:32):
look at our policies at the LA Times when I
was there running the politics team, when I was the
editor in chief of World Call. We had to develop
them because they weren't in place. And news outlets have
different versions of this. Some want people to be out
there stirring things up. Some outlets are outright partisans so
it doesn't matter. So it can really get a journalist
(02:53):
in trouble. And you've seen it at the highest levels.
You know this has happened across major news networks. You've
seen it in places like the New York Times. Multiple
reporters have been placed on suspension or not allowed to
cover something. At the Washington Post, Wesley Lowry like very
famously sort of brought into arguments with top leadership there
because of what he was putting out on social media.
(03:14):
So it's a whole new world. And in the end,
what I advise my students is, if your work is airtight,
your personal opinions, nobody can put those aside. But in
the end you should think before you share, right, how
would this be reflected by my boss? How would this
be interpreted by my boss? How would this be interpreted
(03:36):
by my audience, And how would this be interpreted by
my competitors, my worst enemies, people who are don't like
me and would be happy to see me lose my job.
Those are all just considerations that anyone should have before
they share anything in the world.
Speaker 1 (03:53):
I think this also speaks to the idea that journalists
are supposed to be objective. We're not supposed to to
have an opinion one way or another. Our job is
essentially just to tell the story, just the facts as
we know them, and when things like this happen, it
raises the question of a journalist ability to be objective.
(04:15):
So my question is when people are when journalists are
posting things like this online, does it degrade or does
it take away from their ability to garner public trust.
Speaker 2 (04:30):
It's fair for an everyday person who sees social media
posting where you're calling somebody a hater to call your
journalism in question. And as a journalist, I've always said, oh,
the proof is in my work, or look at what
I've done, or you know, again, that's extremely subjective and
you have to give. You know, a lot of people
(04:51):
believe the media is left leaning. There are a lot
of statistics to prove that to back that up, and
also anecdo little evidence where you sort of know what
people are. Generally, it's you can't be an objective person.
Everybody comes to the table with their own personal backgrounds
and histories and individual circumstances. What you can do is
(05:15):
interrogate every fact, no matter who is stating that fact
or writing that report or whatever that is. What you
can do is make sure that you are taking into
account the perspective that is different from your own. That's
at the core of what I teach. It's actually something
I use in my grading rubrics, saying very specifically, you
(05:38):
must make sure you are including perspectives that you disagree with.
You have to actively seek those out. And it doesn't
mean that if you're doing a story on climate change
you have to say, oh, and these people believe climate
change is a hoax, and let's give them equal time.
What it means is that you recognize their other perspectives
and you have to reflect those fairly right, whatever they are.
(06:02):
You know, people who believe the twenty twenty election was
still like I can go on and on about things
that have been objectively proven, and yet there are still
people who believe one way, like you have to reflect
that opinion in some way, and that's it's tricky, it's
really challenging, and I think that's one reason why a
lot of our students don't want to get into politics
(06:23):
and political reporting. They'd much rather pursue sports because for
them it sort of feels less fraud. And particularly to
have somebody like Moran, who has such a long respected
career in Washington. I know him, I've worked alongside him.
He's always been professional. He has not been the person
to like throw bombs at the White House, and yet
(06:45):
here he is losing his job over something that you know,
of course that definitely would have violated their policies with
you get throw everything else out there that has happened
with ABC and with the settlement with Stephanopolis, like all
of those element means play it here. You know. Apparently
this was also you know, perhaps something that is in
the works as contract was of but it was a
(07:07):
way for them to say, okay, we're not going to
renew this and you're going to part ways with the
network entirely. But it is really surprising to see a
career end, at least at a network in this way,
given that he knows better.
Speaker 1 (07:21):
Yeah, So should ABC's decision here be seen as them
in just enforcing professional ethics or does this speak to
a larger issue that journalists should not be speaking out
on social issues? Does this sort of reinforce.
Speaker 2 (07:35):
That it's risky? But also you have an American public who,
let's just play it out for a second, somebody that
might agree with Moran's sentiment about the president and the
president's advisors feeling like, you know what, You're in a
position of power, and you know, if you see something
that you believe to be true, you should call it out,
(07:56):
even if that's your opinion, right, Like, there's this is
a really all moment, and you also have people who
look at the decisions as you know, this is mainstream
media bowing to the Trump administration and punishing someone just
to get credit with President Trump. All of this is
just such a weird environment where there's no sense of
(08:19):
shared reality anymore. You know, look, just the basics, when
you're covering something, it's better not to put out a
bunch of your own personal opinion, uplifting it or trashing
it right in any direction. That is best practice that
I teach my young journalists as they are of learning
the ropes and so to go against that, like it
(08:41):
seems like agency is within my rights to do this.
And yet you can also understand the sort of Parson
viewpoint of like, wow, this is really you know, no
one is even allowed to call out what they see
as the truth, and so it gets very complicated, very
fast for someone who's trying to.
Speaker 1 (08:56):
Learn, Well, this is definitely a very you know, highly
polarized political climate that we're in. And I know, just
me personally as a journalist and reporter, I've had people
reach out to me saying, why aren't you saying more
on social media? Why aren't you standing up to you know,
what they think I should be saying, you know, in
a more public forum. And I always have to remind
(09:17):
people I'm a journalist, I'm a reporter. I can't do that.
It would not be prudent for me to do that
on a social platform. And then to see somebody, you know,
with such gravitas like Terry Moran doing it so publicly,
it I really feel like he it changes things quite
a bit. And then to see such swift action from ABC,
(09:39):
I think it will certainly give a lot of journalists
at his level and on down, you know, to even
local news levels pause before they post.
Speaker 2 (09:49):
Yeah, and I guess I get back from the media
analyst hat is like, this is an unprecedented time, and
this may be the beginning of like a real splintering
of you know, people who are willing to go and
put on their objective head and just you know, give
(10:10):
the exact stenographal quotes about what somebody said, and a
different kind of media. And that's what young people are
really craving. That's what many of them consume in their
own news consumption. But also when they do want to
pursue politics, they always ask, can I be what does
(10:30):
social justice reporter mean to you?
Speaker 1 (10:32):
Right?
Speaker 2 (10:33):
That that means a different thing to a twenty two
year old, And is that a new space that is
opening up or not even opening up because this isn't
existed for a long time, But is it something that
is really expanding that we are going to see more
and more of at such an unprecedented time? You know.
I even this morning, I was listening to an NPR
(10:53):
report and they were interviewing a Homeland Security official about
what's happening here in Los Angeles with police and immigration enforcement,
and it just it was like an alternate reality, and
I thought, I'm glad I'm not conducting this interview because
this would have been really difficult for me to just say, oh,
thank you for your perspective when the information that the
(11:15):
person was stating was just really clearly not what I
have seen in my reporting and my own existence here
in LA and so it just speaks to how challenging
it is.
Speaker 1 (11:27):
Absolutely well, it will be interesting to see how situations
like this evolve moving forward, and if anybody else is
willing to tempt attempt their employer by posting on social media,
I guess only time will tell. So Christina, thank you
so much for your time today. I know you're very busy,
so I appreciate you taking the time to talk with me.
Speaker 2 (11:48):
My pleasure. Always happy to help
We're talking about the controversial firing of veteran correspondent Terry
Moran at ABC News after that social media post where
he labeled labeled President Trump and Stephen Miller world class haters.
So this touches on journalistic impartiality, social media ethics, and
boundaries between personal expression and professional standards. Joining me now
(00:20):
talking more about this is Christina Bellantoni, the director of
the Media Center, professor of Professional Practice at USC Andnaberg
School for Communication and Journalism. So what are the core
journalistic standards that ABC News says Moran violated and how
common are these types of violations in major news organizations
To the best of your knowledge.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
Yeah, and this is something over the course of my
career in journalism I have really seen as an evolution
in how journalists are able to express themselves outside of
their work channels. And I can give you a really
concrete example. When I co the two thousand and eight
presidential campaign, Twitter was really not as much of a
(01:05):
reporting tool as it would soon become. As I became
a White House correspondent in two thousand and nine, suddenly
everyone was there, people were learning how to use it.
But fast forward and you've seen Twitter become sort of
a personal platform where people are able to express more
of their let's say, personality, and often that sort of
(01:26):
tiptoe is into opinion. And as a journalism teacher, now
this is difficult to help students understand. Okay, if you
are a journalist that covers a presidential administration, for example,
are you allowed to have an opinion? First and foremost?
If you do have that opinion, can you share it privately? Well?
(01:47):
I always tell them it doesn't matter if your accounts
are all private, because anything can be screenshot and anyone,
you know, can ratch you out right. So the question
is do you keep your opinion to yourself? Do you
share it privately? Or are you out there using, you know,
an influential platform with a lot of people looking at
you and already being under scrutiny. In today's media environment
(02:11):
and particularly the way the press has interacted with this
particular Trump administration, you have to understand that anything can
be under scrutiny. And then get to get back to
your question about ABC's standards, Well, they probably have their
own social media policies that are quite specific. Most news
outlets do. I've helped write these policies. We took a
(02:32):
look at our policies at the LA Times when I
was there running the politics team, when I was the
editor in chief of World Call. We had to develop
them because they weren't in place. And news outlets have
different versions of this. Some want people to be out
there stirring things up. Some outlets are outright partisans so
it doesn't matter. So it can really get a journalist
(02:53):
in trouble. And you've seen it at the highest levels.
You know this has happened across major news networks. You've
seen it in places like the New York Times. Multiple
reporters have been placed on suspension or not allowed to
cover something. At the Washington Post, Wesley Lowry like very
famously sort of brought into arguments with top leadership there
because of what he was putting out on social media.
(03:14):
So it's a whole new world. And in the end,
what I advise my students is, if your work is airtight,
your personal opinions, nobody can put those aside. But in
the end you should think before you share, right, how
would this be reflected by my boss? How would this
be interpreted by my boss? How would this be interpreted
(03:36):
by my audience, And how would this be interpreted by
my competitors, my worst enemies, people who are don't like
me and would be happy to see me lose my job.
Those are all just considerations that anyone should have before
they share anything in the world.
Speaker 1 (03:53):
I think this also speaks to the idea that journalists
are supposed to be objective. We're not supposed to to
have an opinion one way or another. Our job is
essentially just to tell the story, just the facts as
we know them, and when things like this happen, it
raises the question of a journalist ability to be objective.
(04:15):
So my question is when people are when journalists are
posting things like this online, does it degrade or does
it take away from their ability to garner public trust.
Speaker 2 (04:30):
It's fair for an everyday person who sees social media
posting where you're calling somebody a hater to call your
journalism in question. And as a journalist, I've always said, oh,
the proof is in my work, or look at what
I've done, or you know, again, that's extremely subjective and
you have to give. You know, a lot of people
(04:51):
believe the media is left leaning. There are a lot
of statistics to prove that to back that up, and
also anecdo little evidence where you sort of know what
people are. Generally, it's you can't be an objective person.
Everybody comes to the table with their own personal backgrounds
and histories and individual circumstances. What you can do is
(05:15):
interrogate every fact, no matter who is stating that fact
or writing that report or whatever that is. What you
can do is make sure that you are taking into
account the perspective that is different from your own. That's
at the core of what I teach. It's actually something
I use in my grading rubrics, saying very specifically, you
(05:38):
must make sure you are including perspectives that you disagree with.
You have to actively seek those out. And it doesn't
mean that if you're doing a story on climate change
you have to say, oh, and these people believe climate
change is a hoax, and let's give them equal time.
What it means is that you recognize their other perspectives
and you have to reflect those fairly right, whatever they are.
(06:02):
You know, people who believe the twenty twenty election was
still like I can go on and on about things
that have been objectively proven, and yet there are still
people who believe one way, like you have to reflect
that opinion in some way, and that's it's tricky, it's
really challenging, and I think that's one reason why a
lot of our students don't want to get into politics
(06:23):
and political reporting. They'd much rather pursue sports because for
them it sort of feels less fraud. And particularly to
have somebody like Moran, who has such a long respected
career in Washington. I know him, I've worked alongside him.
He's always been professional. He has not been the person
to like throw bombs at the White House, and yet
(06:45):
here he is losing his job over something that you know,
of course that definitely would have violated their policies with
you get throw everything else out there that has happened
with ABC and with the settlement with Stephanopolis, like all
of those element means play it here. You know. Apparently
this was also you know, perhaps something that is in
the works as contract was of but it was a
(07:07):
way for them to say, okay, we're not going to
renew this and you're going to part ways with the
network entirely. But it is really surprising to see a
career end, at least at a network in this way,
given that he knows better.
Speaker 1 (07:21):
Yeah, So should ABC's decision here be seen as them
in just enforcing professional ethics or does this speak to
a larger issue that journalists should not be speaking out
on social issues? Does this sort of reinforce.
Speaker 2 (07:35):
That it's risky? But also you have an American public who,
let's just play it out for a second, somebody that
might agree with Moran's sentiment about the president and the
president's advisors feeling like, you know what, You're in a
position of power, and you know, if you see something
that you believe to be true, you should call it out,
(07:56):
even if that's your opinion, right, Like, there's this is
a really all moment, and you also have people who
look at the decisions as you know, this is mainstream
media bowing to the Trump administration and punishing someone just
to get credit with President Trump. All of this is
just such a weird environment where there's no sense of
(08:19):
shared reality anymore. You know, look, just the basics, when
you're covering something, it's better not to put out a
bunch of your own personal opinion, uplifting it or trashing
it right in any direction. That is best practice that
I teach my young journalists as they are of learning
the ropes and so to go against that, like it
(08:41):
seems like agency is within my rights to do this.
And yet you can also understand the sort of Parson
viewpoint of like, wow, this is really you know, no
one is even allowed to call out what they see
as the truth, and so it gets very complicated, very
fast for someone who's trying to.
Speaker 1 (08:56):
Learn, Well, this is definitely a very you know, highly
polarized political climate that we're in. And I know, just
me personally as a journalist and reporter, I've had people
reach out to me saying, why aren't you saying more
on social media? Why aren't you standing up to you know,
what they think I should be saying, you know, in
a more public forum. And I always have to remind
(09:17):
people I'm a journalist, I'm a reporter. I can't do that.
It would not be prudent for me to do that
on a social platform. And then to see somebody, you know,
with such gravitas like Terry Moran doing it so publicly,
it I really feel like he it changes things quite
a bit. And then to see such swift action from ABC,
(09:39):
I think it will certainly give a lot of journalists
at his level and on down, you know, to even
local news levels pause before they post.
Speaker 2 (09:49):
Yeah, and I guess I get back from the media
analyst hat is like, this is an unprecedented time, and
this may be the beginning of like a real splintering
of you know, people who are willing to go and
put on their objective head and just you know, give
(10:10):
the exact stenographal quotes about what somebody said, and a
different kind of media. And that's what young people are
really craving. That's what many of them consume in their
own news consumption. But also when they do want to
pursue politics, they always ask, can I be what does
(10:30):
social justice reporter mean to you?
Speaker 1 (10:32):
Right?
Speaker 2 (10:33):
That that means a different thing to a twenty two
year old, And is that a new space that is
opening up or not even opening up because this isn't
existed for a long time, But is it something that
is really expanding that we are going to see more
and more of at such an unprecedented time? You know.
I even this morning, I was listening to an NPR
(10:53):
report and they were interviewing a Homeland Security official about
what's happening here in Los Angeles with police and immigration enforcement,
and it just it was like an alternate reality, and
I thought, I'm glad I'm not conducting this interview because
this would have been really difficult for me to just say, oh,
thank you for your perspective when the information that the
(11:15):
person was stating was just really clearly not what I
have seen in my reporting and my own existence here
in LA and so it just speaks to how challenging
it is.
Speaker 1 (11:27):
Absolutely well, it will be interesting to see how situations
like this evolve moving forward, and if anybody else is
willing to tempt attempt their employer by posting on social media,
I guess only time will tell. So Christina, thank you
so much for your time today. I know you're very busy,
so I appreciate you taking the time to talk with me.
Speaker 2 (11:48):
My pleasure. Always happy to help
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