ABC News

May 30, 2014: TV Newser: ABC News Has Best May Sweep Since Roone Arledge was In Charge
ABC News is taking a victory lap after the network’s newscasts finished in first place in either the key news demo or total viewers, or, in the case of “Good Morning America,” both.

Mar 6, 2014: Neither CBS nor ABC have included a skeptical scientist in their news shows within the past 1,300 days, but both networks included alarmists within the past 160 days -- CBS as recently as 22 days ago. When the networks did include other viewpoints, the experts were dismissed as “out of the scientific mainstream” or backed by “oil and coal companies.” (SOURCE: Sean Long: News Busters: "COLD SHOULDER: ABC, CBS Exclude Scientists Critical of Global Warming for More Than 1,300 Days")
Mar 5, 2014: News Busters: CBS Drops Coverage of Latest ObamaCare Delay; ABC Provides No GOP Rebuttal
After being the lone network to report ObamaCare's newest delay on Wednesday morning, CBS dropped the story on Wednesday evening's news cast. Both NBC and ABC reported the news but only NBC provided criticism from Republicans.

Feb 21, 2014: Shot In The Dark: Dispatches From Planet Media
The problem with most – as in the vast majority – of media people when writing about the Second Amendment is that most of them haven’t the foggiest idea about the subject, and all of their sources on the subject are fellow liberals. That’s the only excuse I can think of for this piece of suppurating journalistic drainpipe-meat from ABC News:

Feb 7, 2014: Fox News: ABC News reports on guns mislead Americans
Gun control advocates not only push new fees and taxes on guns to reduce ownership, but they also employ another tactic: scaring people into not owning guns.

ON THE RECORD: Jan 9, 2014: Sydney Smith (IMediaEthics) reported that "the Associated Press reported that Robert Levinson, an American man who went missing in Iran in March 2007, wasn't on a business trip but was actually working for the Central Intelligence Agency. ......But numerous outlets, including the AP, had known about Levinson's affiliation for years and agreed to not report on the CIA news at the U.S. government's request. The New York Times revealed in a report that it found out about Levinson being on a CIA mission just months after his 2007 disappearance. Gawker tracked three times where the New York Times published the wrong claim that Levinson was on a business trip. Also, Gawker reported that ABC News, which found out the CIA link around the same time as the Times, included the wrong "business trip" information "at least 7 times."
ABC News: Family of Robert Levinson, US 'Spy' in Iran, Demands Meeting With FBI's Comey
CBS News: Man who claims he's last person to see Robert Levinson says he’s probably alive
CNN: Missing American Robert Levinson not 'abandoned' in Iran, John Kerry says
The Guardian: McCain: CIA 'did not tell truth to Congress' in Robert Levinson case

Dec 22, 2013: Examiner: 'GMA: Lara Spencer, Josh Elliott feel 'slighted' by Robin Roberts' new salary
RadarOnline reported Dec. 20 that Robin Roberts has scored a $20 million contract with the top-rated ABC morning news show. According to Radar's sources, "GMA" co-anchors Lara Spencer and Josh Elliott feel unappreciated and "unrecognized" by Roberts' new rumored salary.

Dec 22, 2013: Washington Post: White House’s Jay Carney and ABC News’ Jon Karl butt heads in press room
It doesn’t take long, or take very much, for the Jon and Jay show to get rolling at the daily briefing — the ritual meet-the-media sessions in the White House press room.

Dec 18, 2013: Variety: ABC News Hires HLN’s Ryan Smith As Legal Correspondent
ABC News said Smith, formerly the anchor of HLN’s now-canceled “Evening Express,” is joining ABC News as a New York-based correspondent, and will specialize in offering legal analysis, both for ABC and sister operation ESPN. Dan Abrams, the new unit’s chief legal correspondent and co-anchor of “Nightline,” retains his current duties, ABC News President Ben Sherwood said in a memo Wednesday.

Dec 13, 2013: Gawker: ABC, NYT Repeatedly Lied About CIA Operative Robert Levinson
ABC News and The New York Times have known since 2007 that Robert Levinson, the ex-FBI agent who was kidnapped in Iran, was not, as the U.S. government and his family claimed, an independent businessman: He was working for the CIA.
Dec 6, 2013: New York Daily News: Exits from ABC News by Jake Tapper, Sam Champion and others stir buzz at network
Industry sees no overall reason for departures, including Chris Cuomo and Bill Weir; network is said to be in talks to keep Lara Spencer, Josh Elliott and George Stephanopoulos
Nov 30, 2013: Gather: 'Gospel of Polyamory' touted as an alternative to traditional marriage by ABC news
Polyamory, or "having multiple romantic and sexual partners in an open relationship," was touted as an alternative to traditional marriage on ABC news this week, confirming that the degradation of the traditional family unit is in full effect.
Nov 28, 2013: Council of Conservative Citizens: CNSNews slams media for censoring murder conviction of DUKE rape hoaxer
As reported earlier on this website, Mangum was convicted of murder and the media is hiding it. No reports on CNN, MSNBC, CBS National News, NPR, ABC National News,or NBC National News.

Aug 8, 2013: Media Research Center: ABC, NBC Continue to Play Obama's KGB Gaffe Without Noticing It's a Gaffe
ABC and NBC on Wednesday continued to pretend that one of Barack Obama's gaffes on the Tonight Show wasn't a mistake.

July 30, 2013: New York Times: ABC News Dethrones NBC in Crucial Ratings Race
ABC’s 6:30 p.m. newscast, “World News With Diane Sawyer,” bested “NBC Nightly News With Brian Williams” among 25-to-54-year-old viewers last week, ending a winning streak of almost five years by NBC and rekindling interest in the once-predictable ratings competition.

July 28, 2013: American Thinker:  ABC Still Corrupting Zimmerman case
In a perverse bit of post-trial agitprop, ABC News somehow recruited the one woman of color on George Zimmerman's "all white" jury and twisted her words to reflect the presumed editorial position of ABC News.
July 27, 2013: News Busters: ABC's Favorite Righty Blogger: Rob Port Slashes Pro-Lifers For Handing Out 'Squish Alien Babies' at State Fair
ABC News is not in the habit of publicizing conservative blogs....unless it sends a message liberals adore -- like pro-lifers are freaks. ABCNews.com pted a story on Wednesday headlined “Anti Abortion Activists Give Children Toy Fetuses at State Fair.”
July 17, 2013: USA Today: ABC shouldn't give McCarthy platform: Column
Vaccine misinformation peddler actress Jenny McCarthy has just been named co-host of the popular ABC day time television show, The View.

May 21, 2013: Broadcasting & Cable: ABC Moving 'This Week' From Newseum; Al Jazeera Moving In
According to sources familiar with the situation, ABC will be moving its This Week studio back to the Washington bureau from the Newseum, and Al Jazeera America will be moving into ABC's old digs there. May 20, 2013: Media Matters; Where Are ABC News' Corrections For Their False Benghazi Email Claims?
ABC News Chief White House Correspondent Jonathan Karl's statement in response to criticism for the deceptive sourcing in his so-called "exclusive" on administration talking points on the September attacks in Benghazi is fundamentally misleading.
May 18, 2013: Press Think: Jon Karl got played by a confidential source and now ABC News has a big Benghazi problem
On May 10th ABC’s Jonathan Karl reported a source’s description of a White House advisor’s email about the Benghazi talking points

May 16, 2013: Pattericos Pontifications: ABC News Headline: IRS Official in Charge During Tea Party Targeting Now Runs Health Care Office
Sarah Hall Ingram served as commissioner of the office responsible for tax-exempt organizations between 2009 and 2012. But Ingram has since left that part of the IRS and is now the director of the IRS’ Affordable Care Act office, the IRS confirmed to ABC News today.

May 15, 2013: News Busters: Finally: 56 Days Later, ABC Ends Blackout and Covers Gosnell 'House of Horrors'
Fifty six days after the grisly trial of abortionist Kermit Gosnell began, ABC broke its self-imposed blackout and finally offered coverage.
May 14, 2013: Media Matters: When ABC News Claimed It Had "Obtained" The Benghazi Emails
ABC News is now claiming that its Benghazi "exclusive" was based on summaries of emails between administration aides, not the emails themselves -- an assertion belied by their earlier reports.

May 12, 2013: Media Matters: ABC News Gets It Wrong On Having It "Both Ways" And Benghazi
ABC News is falsely suggesting there is a contradiction between the Obama administration removing references to terrorist groups in Libya from talking points about the September 11 attacks on diplomatic facilities in that country and pointing to President Obama's statements that those attacks were an "act of terror."

May 10, 2013: Breitbart: ABC News: Obama Admin Scrubbed Terror References in Benghazi Talking Points
Here are the 12 talking point revisions. Keep in mind the Obama Administration has repeatedly denied making these revisions and denied straight through to Sept 19 that there was any evidence of a terror attack.

May 1, 2013: Life News: ABC News: 43 Days of No Coverage of the Kermit Gosnell Trial
This came one day after a Media Research Center study found that the network’s Good Morning America has devoted 109 minuted and 41 stories to other shocking criminal trials. Apparently, ABC’s disinterest extends only to cases that might put the pro-abortion agenda in a negative light. Apr 26, 2013: News Busters: ABC’s Jonathan Karl Hammers Karl Rove Over Bush’s Presidency
ABC’s Jonathan Karl displayed the media’s rampant anti-Bush attitude during an interview with Karl Rove posted on ABC News’s Power Players blog on Friday.

Apr 2, 2013: Huffington Post: Rebecca Jarvis Joins ABC News From CBS News
Rebecca Jarvis will join ABC News as chief business and economics correspondent, the network announced Tuesday.

Mar 27, 2013: Life Site News: ABC, CBS, NBC, MSNBC, NPR, and PBS completely ignore Gosnell trial
Abortionist Kermit Gosnell is on trial in Philadelphia, and not just for killing babies outside the womb, but also for killing a mother through reckless use of anesthesia. Network TV coverage of the trial? Zero on ABC, CBS, NBC, MSNBC, NPR, and PBS.

Mar 24, 2013: Mofo Politics: ABC News’ Terry Moran: Gun registration concerns are just “black helicopter” paranoia
Friendly reminder: Terry Moran is the fair and objective anchor of Nightline that attacked Rand Paul for daring to criticize Hillary Clinton’s handling of Benghazi…

Mar 24, 2013: Right Scoop: ABC News anchor tells Karl Rove ‘You’re scaring people’ into thinking government’s coming for their guns
ABC Nightline News anchor just assumes the most noble of intentions with the Obama administration creating a gun-registry database.
Mar 18, 2013: Washington Post: Gay marriage support hits new high in Post-ABC poll
Public support for gay marriage has hit a new high as Americans increasingly see homosexuality not as a choice but as a way some people are, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.

Mar 18, 2013: Washington Post: Gay marriage support hits new high in Post-ABC poll
The poll shows that 58 percent of Americans now believe it should be legal for gay and lesbian couples to get married; 36 percent say it should be illegal

Mar 8, 2013:  The Blaze: ABC’s ‘The View’ Reportedly Firing Show’s Lone Conservative Over ‘Extreme’, ‘Right-Wing’ Views
Elisabeth Hasselbeck is being fired from ABC’s “The View” because market researchers found that her conservative views were out of touch with the show’s audience, according to a report in Us Weekly.

Mar 7, 2013:  The Blaze: ABC/Disney CEO Grilled by Shareholder Over Media Bias: ‘Start Playing It Straight With the American People’
Disney CEO Bob Iger was asked about a number of issues at the Walt Disney Co. annual shareholders meeting on Wednesday, perhaps most notably about media bias at ABC News and ESPN.

Mar 7, 2013: Media Research Center: ABC Skimps on Filibuster Coverage, Offers Confusing Explanation of Rand Paul's Stand
ABC's World News on Wednesday and Good Morning America on Thursday offered confusing, incomplete and brief explanations for why Rand Paul filibustered John Brennan, Barack Obama's Central Intelligence Agency nominee.

Mar 5, 2013:  WND: ABC News makes whopping on-air blooper
The news agency mislabeled Iraq as Iran in a television report about Secretary of State John Kerry’s recent remarks on Iran and Syria, WND has found.

Feb 26, 2013: Washington Times: MILLER: ABC insists edit of Michelle Obama gun gaffe was 'for time'
ABC News edited out First Lady Michelle Obama saying that a Chicago teenager was killed with an “automatic weapon.”
Feb 22, 2013:  Media Research Center: Panic! ABC Warns of Sequester 'Fiscal Emergency' to 'Cripple' Much of America
The journalists of Good Morning America on Friday adopted White House talking points, foreseeing a "fiscal emergency" that will "cripple" flights in the United States.

Feb 12, 2013:  News Busters: ABC: The 'Anyone But Catholics' Network
According to an analysis by the Media Research Center, the three broadcast networks are using the abdication of Pope Benedict XVI to advance their left-wing social agenda and attack the Catholic Church’s centuries-old doctrine on the priesthood, abortion, and gay marriage.
Feb 11, 2013:  Washington Post: ABC and Univision announce details for new network targeting ‘English-speaking Latinos’
ABC and Univision on Monday announced they would launch their news/lifestyle network targeting U.S. Hispanics in the second half of 2013.

Feb 3, 3013:  Breitbart: A Week Later, ABC News Considers Menendez Scandal Worth Pursuing
ABC News has apparently shifted its editorial policy and now considers the scandal surrounding New Jersey Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez and wealthy Democratic Party donor Dr. Salomon Melgen worth pursuing.

Jan 28, 2013:  Breitbart: ABC's Martha Raddatz: Obama Attending My Wedding 'Had Nothing to Do with' VP Debate Performance
ABC News chief global affairs correspondent Martha Raddatz said Monday evening that the fact President Barack Obama attended her wedding to her now ex-husband Julius Genachowski—Obama’s Federal Communications Commission chairman—“had nothing to do with what I did at the debate.”

Jan 28, 2013:  Conservatives 4 Palin: ABC interviews Dem Senator Menendez and forgets to ask him about the FBI’s ongoing investigation into his alleged dalliances with underage prostitutes
Can anyone conceive of a circumstance under which a sitting Republican Senator who’s currently being investigated by the FBI for allegedly doing the nasty with underage hookers wouldn’t be asked about said investigation on one of the big Sunday morning network talk shows?

Jan 20, 2013: Yahoo News: ABC News' Barbara Walters hospitalized after fall
Veteran ABC newswoman Barbara Walters has fallen at an inauguration party at an ambassador's home in Washington and has been hospitalized.

Dec 5, 2012: Media Research Center: ABC's Avila Launches Another Fishy Food Attack
The ABC senior national correspondent has launched job-killing attacks against the beef industry and the poultry industry, and now he’s having a go at the fish.

Oct 26, 2012: Fox News: Why is ABC News ignoring emails related Obama's Libya scandal?
Wednesday, ABC "World News" gave a dismissive 20 seconds of lip service to a blockbuster report that revealed State Department emails showing that the White House knew on September 11 that the assault on the Benghazi consulate was a terrorist attack.
Oct 10, 2012: Daily Caller: ABC News scrambles to downplay Obama’s attendance at VP debate moderator’s wedding
President Barack Obama was a guest at the 1991 wedding of ABC senior foreign correspondent and vice presidential debate moderator Martha Raddatz, The Daily Caller has learned. Oct 6, 2012: A Patriotic Nurse: ABC News Blatantly Dismissive Regarding Benghazi
I recently received an email from the founder and president of The Media Research Center, L. Brent Bozell III regarding the coverage or lack there of regarding the events that transpired in Benghazi September 11, 2012. I feel compelled to share this with my readers. … ABC World News gave a dismissive 20 seconds of lip service to a blockbuster report that revealed State Department emails showing that the White House knew on September 11 that the Benghazi consulate attack was a terrorist attack. The emails documented that within two hours of the attack, the State Department had told the Obama administration that an Islamic militant group had claimed credit for this terrorist attack. The revelation proves that President Obama and his spokesmen repeatedly lied to the American people. For days, falsely claiming it was a “video.” The story broke Tuesday night on CBS Evening News. Since then, according to a Media ResearchCenter analysis, ABC has almost completely refused to report the email evidence, giving it a scant 25 seconds on Good Morning America and 20 seconds on World News yesterday.  Good Morning America skipped the story entirely this morning, but did commit nearly 2 minutes to the capture of a monkey in Florida.
Nov 15, 2012: The Daily Pen: ABC NEWS’ TAPPER ADMITS DERELICTION IN LIBERAL MEDIA’S FAILURE TO COVER BENGHAZI
NEW YORK, NY – According to ABC News’ Senior White House correspondent, Jake Tapper, the liberal mainstream media are guilty of dereliction in their failure to report on the murder of four innocent Americans in a terrorist attack on the U.S. mission in Benghazi, Libya because they believe the attack was far less important than protecting Barack Obama’s political image.
July 25, 2012: Politico: ABC News responds to tea party affiliate
ABC News Senior Vice President Kerry Smith today reiterated that the network was taking full responsibility for last week's inaccurate report suggesting a possible link between the Colorado theater shooting and the tea party. In a written response to the Gotham Tea Party, a New York City-based tea party affiliate, Smith rebutted accusations that the network's apology for the report was "a transparent effort to avoid responsibility." "With all respect, we do not see it that way at all," Smith wrote in a letter to Erix Dixon, Gotham's chief legal correspondent, who wrote to ABC News earlier this week. "By apologizing clearly and publicly, we certainly intend to take, and believe we have taken full responsibility for the error in judgment that led to this information being broadcast." "Please be assured that this matter has been addressed most seriously at all levels of ABC News in an effort to avoid similar mistakes in the future,' Smith concluded.
July 20. 2012: Politico: ABC draws possible Tea Party connection with alleged Aurora shooter
ABC News has suggested that James Holmes -- the suspect in today's shooting in Aurora, Colorado -- may have a connection to the Tea Party. ABC's Brian Ross reported this morning that there is "a Jim Holmes of Aurora, Colorado, page on the Colorado Tea party site... talking about him joining the Tea Party last year." "Now, we don't know if this is the same Jim Holmes," Ross cautioned "but it's Jim Holmes of Aurora, Colorado." ABC News is the only network or cable news channel to suggest a possible Tea Party connection, according to a survey of the TV Eyes database at 9:30 a.m. ET, though they did not verify that the two individuals were one and the same.

July 18, 2012: Forbes: How This Guy Lied His Way Into MSNBC, ABC News, The New York Times and More
Ryan Holiday could be called an “expert.” As head of marketing for American Apparel, an online strategist for Tucker Max, and self-styled “media manipulator,” he can talk social media and modern advertising with the best of them – he’s done so both online and in print on countless occasions. He is not an expert in barefoot running, investing, vinyl records, or insomnia. But he is a liar. With a little creative use of the internet, he’s been quoted in news sources from small blogs to the most reputable outlets in the country talking about all of those things. Holiday, 25 years old and based in New Orleans, mostly wanted to see if it could be done. He had been getting blogs to write what he wanted for years, and had developed a sense of how stories were put together in the internet age. He thought he could push the envelope a bit further. “I knew that bloggers would print anything, so I thought, what if, as an experiment, I tried to prove that they will literally print anything?” he says. “Instead of trying to get press to benefit myself, I just wanted to get any press for any reason as a joke.”

Jan 4, 2012: News Busters: Bizarre: ABC Hypes Sex Games of 'Polyamorous' Family Who Only Dates Their Own 'Species'
Reporter Abbie Boudreau uncritically explained that these three people are "looking for lots of different people to love." She gushed, "Really, these days a modern family, just like ABC's hit comedy, can be anything you make it."
July 21, 2011: FAIR: A Right-Wing Mole at ABC News
Conservatives don’t just complain loudly, endlessly and inaccurately about liberal media bias. They also train right-leaning journalists to make their way into the supposedly hostile terrain of Beltway media. And one of the most famous alums of a conservative media training program is now a major star at a network news outlet: ABC’s senior political correspondent Jonathan Karl. Dec 15, 2010: TV Newser: ABC’s Abbie Boudreau Released from Hospital
ABC News correspondent Abbie Boudreau has been released from a Richmond, VA hospital after she and her producer, Mary Bruce, were involved in a serious car accident on their way to a story.

Dec 20, 2009: Ken Shepherd (News Busters): ABCNews.com Ignores Prop 8 Vote in Story on Beauty Pageant Gay Marriage Question
While Fisher noted in her April 20 story that an angry Hilton insisted that he would have been happy with Prejean saying that gay marriage is "a question that each state should decide for themselves," Fisher left out of her article that a majority of Californians at the polls last November did just that, agreeing with Prejean by voting 52% in favor of Proposition 8.

Archetype
Dec 2, 2013: Ted Cruz, Newt Gingrich Defend Mandela Against GOP Critics
July 17, 2013: Should U.S. Boycott Russian Olympics Over Snowden?
May 13,  2013: Abortion Doctor Kermit Gosnell Guilty of First Degree Murder
Apr 17, 2013: Authorities Close to Boston Marathon Suspect ID: Official
Mar 6, 2013: Jodi Arias Jurors Show Skepticism in Questions to Arias  

- Dr Mark Abdelmalek -  Mary-Rose Abraham - Dan Abrams -Gitika Abuja - Lee Alexander - Alex Alvarez - Christiane Amanpour - Joanne Amato - Susan Archer - Dr Jennifer Ashton - Nasser Atta - Jim Avila - Katie Couric - Colleen Curry - Ariane de Vogue - Sam Donaldson - Devin Dwyer - Nicole Enberg - Lee Ferran - Luchina Fisher - Enjoli Francis - Russell Goldman - Chris Good - Matt Gutman - Jessica Hopper - Jonathan Karl - Neal Karlinsky - Aaron Katersky - Rick Klein - Luis Martinez - Bill McGuire - Lesley Messer - Katie Moisse -Terry Moran -   Christina Ng - Abby D Phillip - John Quinones - Martha Raddatz - Robin Reese - Amy Robach - Cokie Roberts - Nicki Rossoll - Jason Ryan - Diane Sawyer - Dean Schabner  - Seni Tienabeso - Barbara Walters  - Santiago Wills - 

ABC News is the news gathering and broadcasting division of the American Broadcasting Company, a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company. Its flagship program is World News with Diane Sawyer; other programs include morning show Good Morning America, Nightline, television news magazine shows Primetime & 20/20, and Sunday morning political affairs program This Week with George Stephanopoulos.

ABC began news broadcasts early in its independent existence as a radio network after the Federal Communications Commission ordered the former NBC Blue Network to be spun off as an independent company in 1943. This was done to keep single or a few companies such as NBC and CBS from dominating radio broadcasting in the U.S., and in particular, from dominating news and political broadcasting and projecting narrow points-of-view. Television broadcasting was suspended however, during World War II. Regular ABC television news broadcasts began soon after ABC started transmitting from its initial New York City television station and production center in late summer 1948. ABC-TV news broadcasts have continued as the ABC television network spread across the country, a process that took many years, from that beginning in 1948 through today, but they have not always had the same level of success that they enjoy now. Throughout the 1950s, the 1960s, and the early 1970s, ABC News consistently ranked third in viewership behind CBS News and NBC News. Until the 1970s, the ABC-TV network had fewer affiliate stations, and also weaker prime-time programming lineups to support the network's news departments than the two larger networks had, each of which had established their radio news operations during the 1930s.

Sept 14, 1993: Reporters Committee: Judge orders ABC to give state unaired tape
A state judge in Riverside ordered ABC News in late August to give prosecutors unaired tape of a jailhouse interview with Benny Powell, who has been accused of rape. Powell attracted national attention last year when he and another man were released from prison 17 years after their wrongful conviction for murder. In the current rape case, the prosecutors subpoenaed about 85 minutes of an interview ABC conducted with Powell at an Arizona jail. A deputy district attorney told the Associated Press that according to jailers, during the interview Powell blames his jailing on the rape charge on floods, earthquakes and other natural disasters. Powell's attorney, Virginia Blumenthal, told the Associated Press that she had not seen the tape, but understood it contained no specific facts relevant to the case. California's shield law protects the media from contempt citations for refusing to disclose either sources or unpublished information. Judge Edward Webster's order required ABC to turn over the tape by Sept. 17, but ABC planned to appeal, Jody Zucker, an ABC attorney, told the Associated Press. (California v. Powell; Media Counsel: Jody Zucker, Los Angeles) [SOURCE: Reporters Committee: Judge orders ABC to give state unaired tape]

Aug 1, 2008: Glenn Greenwald: Much more important than the general attempt to link the anthrax to Islamic terrorists, there was a specific intent — indispensably aided by ABC News — to link the anthrax attacks to Iraq and Saddam Hussein. In my view, and I’ve written about this several times and in great detail to no avail, the role played by ABC News in this episode is the single greatest, unresolved media scandal of this decade. News of Ivins’ suicide, which means (presumably) that the anthrax attacks originated from Ft. Detrick, adds critical new facts and heightens how scandalous ABC News’ conduct continues to be in this matter.  During the last week of October, 2001, ABC News, led by Brian Ross, continuously trumpeted the claim as their top news story that government tests conducted on the anthrax — tests conducted at Ft. Detrick — revealed that the anthrax sent to Daschele contained the chemical additive known as bentonite. ABC News, including Peter Jennings, repeatedly claimed that the presence of bentonite in the anthrax was compelling evidence that Iraq was responsible for the attacks, since — as ABC variously claimed — bentonite “is a trademark of Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein’s biological weapons program” and “only one country, Iraq, has used bentonite to produce biological weapons.”  ABC News’ claim — which they said came at first from “three well-placed but separate sources,” followed by “four well-placed and separate sources” — was completely false from the beginning. There never was any bentonite detected in the anthrax (a fact ABC News acknowledged for the first time in 2007 only as a result of my badgering them about this issue). It’s critical to note that it isn’t the case that preliminary tests really did detect bentonite and then subsequent tests found there was none. No tests ever found or even suggested the presence of bentonite. The claim was just concocted from the start. It just never happened.  That means that ABC News’ “four well-placed and separate sources” fed them information that was completely false — false information that created a very significant link in the public mind between the anthrax attacks and Saddam Hussein. [SOURCE: Salon: Vital unresolved anthrax questions and ABC News]