Former ABC reporter Brian Ross appears to have been vindicated.

[Tommy_Carcetti]

Last edited Fri Dec 14, 2018, 11:51 AM - Edit history (1)

When the Flynn story broke last year, Ross had reported that Flynn had contacts with the Russian ambassador both before and after the election.

However, there was a huge outcry because it was insisted that we only knew that Flynn had met with the ambassador only after the election, not before.

Trump threw a fit, Ross was suspended and then ultimately fired.

But it appears he was indeed right.

And I think he deserves an apology.

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/muckraker/mother-jones-flynn-contact-kislyak-during-2016-campaign

Report: Flynn Said He Was In Touch With Russian Ambassador During Campaign


John Angelillo/picture-alliance/dpa/AP Images


By Allegra Kirkland

December 13, 2018 11:42 am

Former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn has told associates that he spoke to Russia’s ambassador to the U.S. during the 2016 campaign about how the two countries could work together on key foreign policy matters if Donald Trump was elected, Mother Jones reported Thursday.

Two associates of the short-lived national security advisor told Mother Jones that Flynn’s contact with Sergey Kislyak predated the previously reported communications that the pair had during the post-election transition period.

One associate told the publication that Flynn and Kislyak proposed a situation in which Moscow would work with the Trump administration to end the Syrian civil war in exchange for an end to U.S. sanctions against Russia.

Another said Flynn spoke of talking to Kislyak about “Syria, Iran and other foreign policy matters” that the two countries could work together on if Trump took office.

Flashback to January 6, 2018. Trump blames Ross for tanking the stock market.

Link to tweet

Donald J. Trump?Verified account @realDonaldTrump · Jan 6

Brian Ross, the reporter who made a fraudulent live newscast about me that drove the Stock Market down 350 points (billions of dollars), was suspended for a month but is now back at ABC NEWS in a lower capacity. He is no longer allowed to report on Trump. Should have been fired!

3:57 AM - 6 Jan 2018

[klook]

1. Ross deserves much more than an apology.

Like reinstatement, back wages, damages, and then an apology. That was a raw deal to appease the Tot-In-Chief.

[Wellstone ruled]

8. Proves once again,

How Corporate(Disney)Media will do what ever to protect their Special Friends and certain Political Assets.

Often wondered where Brian Ross ended up. Notice after this,how ton's of so called Reporters went into their shells.

[catrose]

18. Exactly! All that.

[malaise]

20. +1,000

Rec

[Honeycombe8]

21. I agree. He should get his job back, or back wages if he has another good job.

A company should believe the employee, if there's no proof he did anything wrong.

[RandiFan1290]

26. A lot of DUers piled on Ross too

They owe him an apology as well.

[Honeycombe8]

34. I don't recall this Brian Ross thing at all. So I looked it up.

He was suspended because at the time, apparently, there was no information source to back up Ross's story. The story was that Trump directed Flynn during the campaign to work out a deal w/the Russian ambassador for something. He was suspended, then months later he and his supervisor left.

So the fact that all or some of the story turned out to be true...not sure if that makes up for not having backup for the story at the time. What I read did not discuss Ross's sources for the information, or whether he admitted a mistake in stating that.

I don't know enough about this, I guess. It sounds sort of like a Dan Rather thing, where he runs with a story before fact checking it properly. But I'd have to know whether he did have a source for that information and that ABC didn't accept the source, or whether he didn't fact check and the source was bad or wrong.

I did see in Wikipedia that he has a distinguished background, BUT he had misreported like this several times before in his career, ending up admitting his mistake. So that probably had something to do with not giving him the benefit of the doubt.

Dan Rather came back after things settled down, although never to the status he had before.

Being in the news business is tricky. That's why it infuriates me that Trump and Trumpers attack those who seek to report real news, with fact checking and accuracy, while Trumper sites are free to write fake stories about fake conspiracies.

[BSdetect]

28. At the very least all that.

[uponit7771]

30. +1

[FakeNoose]

35. He should get back pay for sure

... but why would he want to go back and work for ABC again? Getting reinstated in his old job would not be a favor, more like a penance. I hope something bad happens to the executive who fired Brian Ross though. Like maybe he should be demoted or fired.

[maxsolomon]

2. Think he'll get that apology?

Or rehired? Doubt it.

Dirty tricks work.

[UpInArms]

3. Brian Ross, Dan Rather

Gary Webb, Robert Parry ... and so many others ... have been blacklisted and silenced for being truth tellers

😔

[certainot]

15. talk radio plays a huge part in all those - limbaugh gets fed the story and talking points and

pretty soon all 1500 radio stations are doing it until the reporter's producers and company are getting a barrage of hate

works great

[Haggis for Breakfast]

24. And Dan Rather was ABSOLUTELY ON THE RIGHT TRAIL.

[Buckeyeblue]

4. It seems like so much of the "speculation " is coming true

[Achilleaze]

5. republicans piss all over the corporate media

and the corporate media honchos just roll over, even after the Kashoggi murder was shoved in their faces. Sad.

[angrychair]

6. He may have been right in this case

But in 2001 he erroneously reported that Iraq was responsible for anthrax powder attacks in the US which was not true but the report had a major impact on public opinion in regards to the illegal invasion of Iraq. In that case it was likely he was feed information from a bad source within the Bush administration but he did not verify his sources before reporting.

[djacq]

7. Apology?... How about Wrongful Termination Lawsuit?

Brian is going to get paid.

[ZeroSomeBrains]

10. I would definently sue if I were him

Reporters have been called enemy of the people by this freakish administration and have tried to have as many fired as they can. A network like ABC going along with it is wrong and they should just settle with the guy and give him his job back as well. Either that or someone else should get him a job as well.

[MadDAsHell]

14. On what grounds are you saying a wrongful termination suit would apply?

Unless he proves that the firing was illegally discriminatory in some manner (extremely unlikely for an old, rich white male), there's no case here, even if it turns out his reporting was right.

Suing is not always the answer.

[Haggis for Breakfast]

23. Maybe not, but suing gets more traction these days than ever before.

trmpie has certainly filed more lawsuits than almost anyone else. And frivolous lawsuits at that. FFS, he sued Bill Maher for saying that his mother f-ed an Orangutan. Remember ? He lost.

And yet, he STILL doesn't understand that First Amendment thing.

[dlk]

9. Unless Ross Files a Lawsuit, any Apology is Doubtful and More Importantly, What About His Job?

This man lost his livelihood for reporting the truth because his corporate bosses were too busy kissing up to the White House. Part of the reason we have had to endure the Trump debacle and the tremendous, long-term damage it has wrought on our country, is the corporate media is more focused on profits for shareholders than reporting the actual story, and the truth. Too often we are fed infotainment, to our detriment.

[Cha]

11. KR!

[Marcuse]

12. I think he deserves another Peabody, perhaps a Pulitzer for persistence.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/02/business/media/brian-ross-abc-news.html|

It was a bombshell claim amid the investigation into the Trump campaign’s ties with Russia. But in fact, Mr. Flynn was told to make contact with the officials after the election was decided, as part of his prospective duties as national security adviser. ABC executives admitted that they “fell far short” of internal standards in airing the report, and Mr. Trump denounced the network as “horrendously inaccurate and dishonest.”

[MadDAsHell]

13. Those proposing a "wrongful termination" suit don't seem to know what that actually means.

Employment is mostly at-will, meaning you can be fired for any reason that isn't illegal, even if your reasoning was later proved to be wrong as appears to be the case here.

The constant knee-jerk reaction here to "sue" following any undesireable outcome in life just makes us look naieve.

[exboyfil]

27. Might depend on his contract

In that sense he is not an at will employee. Also if he violated their editorial policies then he could still be fired even though his reporting was ultimately correct.

It isn't what you suspect as a reporter, it is what you can prove.

[Tommy_Carcetti]

31. True about at-will employment, although many media personalities do have contracts.

And contracts often have clauses as to what constitutes cause for termination.

These contracts usually cut both ways, frequently with non-compete clauses that prohibit a person from immediately jumping ship to another competitor inside a specified time period.

So if there is cause to sue, it would probably be contractual. Or if there was some sort of discriminatory motive based on race, sex, gender, religion, or if the person was a whistleblower as to illegal activity.

Maybe one could make an argument for defamation, but there would probably have to be actual defamatory statements made by the employer.

[MadDAsHell]

36. All you've said is true. It's just amusing when people assume "I'm not happy" is grounds to sue.

That ain't the way our legal system works, and we should be thankful for that.

[SunSeeker]

16. K & R

[elmac]

17. We should flood ABC twitter, demand an apology. nt

[OnDoutside]

19. Ex-ABC Journalist Brian Ross Is Back and Ready to Cover Trump Again

Much to the displeasure of Donald Trump-friendly media outlets, Brian Ross is still employable.

Ross is “the former investigative reporter for ABC who resigned after spreading fake news,” the Daily Caller snarked about the recent announcement that Ross and his longtime producing partner, Rhonda Schwartz—who both left ABC News in July after 24 years there—had landed together at media entrepreneur Dan Abrams’ streaming video startup, Law & Crime, which boasts financial backing from the A&E Network.

“Given their track record, it might only be a matter of time until Ross and Schwartz try to peddle some more ‘fake news’ as the real thing,” the right-wing NewsBusters site piled on—under a headline that referred to its target as “Scandal-Ridden Brian Ross.”

For Ross—who has been at it for nearly five decades, earning every conceivable broadcast journalism prize while making his share of mistakes and occasionally drawing the ire of presidents of the United States, corporate bigwigs, and even his own bosses—such brickbats constitute just another day at the office.

Predictions that his career was over turned out to be wrong. At 69, he has just started as Law & Crime’s chief investigative correspondent, with a weekly show, Brian Ross Investigates, along with regular appearances throughout the week with, among others, Abrams, who is also ABC News’ chief legal analyst and the founder of the popular Mediaite news site.

Last week, Ross shared his exclusive video of the wedding in March of convicted former Trump campaign foreign policy adviser George Papadopoulos and his mysterious Italian sweetheart, Simona Mangiante.

More at

https://www.thedailybeast.com/ex-abc-journalist-brian-ross-free-to-cover-trump-again

[klook]

29. Cool! Thanks. (nt)

[Rebl2]

22. Hope he

sues ABC for back pay, and on air apology. Don’t think he would ever want to work for them again.

[usaf-vet]

25. If an Apology is what it should be....

..... it will a seven figure number + all back pay.

That should ease the pain.

[D_Master81]

32. Had totally forgotten this story

I remember now, but its been decades ago it seems in Trump's scandal ridden America. The initial report was supposedly worded wrong and trump through a big enough hissy fit to get the guy canned. Ross needs to come back swinging and aask for his job and lost wages back.

[ck4829]

33. K&R