ABC interview
ABC-TV talks with USA Today about Who’s the Boss? as it drops from its top twenty position, despite that it is still popular and is renewed for an eighth season.
We see a major star in Tony Danza. Someone who is still immensely popular with the public. As you get into the sixth and seventh year, an aging process does occur, and we admit that the show doesn’t force you to watch like it used to.
Alyssa Milano interview
Milano talks with ABC-TV about her series Mistresses.
I thought that it was unique for network television to sort of push the envelope like that.
Forever cancelled
ABC cancels the show.
Clinton donations apology
Politico reports that Stephanopoulos has not disclosed donations of $75,000 to The Clinton Foundation, while reporting on the Clintons or the organization. Stephanopoulos issues an apology:
I made charitable donations to the Foundation in support of the work they’re doing on global AIDS prevention and deforestation, causes I care about deeply,” he said. “I thought that my contributions were a matter of public record. However, in hindsight, I should have taken the extra step of personally disclosing my donations to my employer and to the viewers on air during the recent news stories about the Foundation. I apologize.
ABC also issues a statement:
He should have taken the extra step to notify us and our viewers during the recent news reports about the Foundation. He’s admitted to an honest mistake and apologized for that omission. We stand behind him.
Sources say Stephanopoulos gives to dozens of charities every year and that the total sum of these annual contributions is in the millions of dollars.
On air apology
Stephanopoulos apologizes live on Good Morning America:
Over the last several years, I have made substantial donations to dozens of charities, including the Clinton Global Foundation. Those donations were a matter of public record. But I should have made additional disclosures on-air when we covered the foundation and I now believe directing personal donations to that foundation was a mistake. Even though I made them strictly to support work done to stop the spread of AIDS, help children and protect the environment in poor countries, I should have gone the extra mile to avoid even the appearance of a conflict. I apologize to all of you for failing to do that.
Pulls out of debate
In a phone interview Stephanopoulos calls the donations a mistake and reiterates his earlier apology.
I gave the donations for the right reasons, for the best of intentions, to support causes I believe in. In retrospect, I realize that even though that falls within our guidelines, I should have gone above and beyond that, just to avoid anything that would even raise any possible appearance of a conflict. That’s why it was a mistake, and that’s why I’m sorry — to our viewers and to my colleagues.
He also says he will not host the February 2016 Republican primary debate
I don’t want to be a distraction, so I’m not going to moderate that debate…I am going to continue to cover the 2016 campaign. I think I’ll be able to prove every single day that I do it with intelligence and fairness, just as I’ve done for the last 17-plus years.
Musk: ABC prefers ‘censorship-friendly’ social media
Musk says ABC prefers “censorship-friendly” social media after the company announces it is shutting down all but four of its X (formerly Twitter) accounts. ABC will now operate just four accounts on X: ABC News, ABC Sport, ABC Chinese and ABC Australia. While still posting to its main @abcnews X account, ABC’s media team will be trying to grow its TikTok audience. ABC’s managing director David Anderson says “toxic interactions” on X led to the move.
[C]losing individual program accounts helps limit the exposure of team members to the toxic interactions that unfortunately are becoming more prevalent on X. Concerningly, X has reduced its trust and safety teams. Additionally, it is introducing charges which make the platform increasingly costly to use.
Musk writes:
Well of course they prefer censorship-friendly social media. The Australian public does not.
