Journalists blast One America News series

‘Stunning piece of propaganda’: Journalists blast One America News series

Upstart network seeks to outfox Fox, but media experts say it presents an ethical challenge.

By MICHAEL CALDERONE

Upstart conservative network One America News’ decision to turn over three hours this week to Rudy Giuliani’s conspiracy theories gleaned from his trip to Ukraine found a receptive audience in the White House — less so in major newsrooms and TV studios.

CNN anchor Jake Tapper said Wednesday that Giuliani brought back “dirt of questionable credibility” from his trip with a reporter from a “far-right fringe cable channel.” On MSNBC, national security correspondent Ken Dilanian said Giuliani floated a “bogus conspiracy theory” about Joe Biden on OAN, a network “which makes Fox News look like PBS.” The Washington Post’s Aaron Blake labeled the OAN series “a stunning piece of propaganda.”

Charles Herring, president of One America News, shot back in an email to POLITICO. “We recognize that some ‘media’ outlets won’t acknowledge proven facts and won’t do their own time consuming and costly investigate work if the facts don’t fit their narrative,” he wrote. “This is simply a part of our media landscape today.”

But for much of the media world, OAN’s decision to give Giuliani a direct role in preparing its Ukraine report presents a troubling ethical development in the media landscape. Where once opinion shows began supplanting traditional news, now openly partisan content — presented largely unfiltered by the president’s personal attorney — is seeking to supplant content that’s opinionated but still independent.

Trump has celebrated OAN’s willingness to take his largely unfiltered line, retweeting several clips from the three-part OAN series this week in making his public case against impeachment. That’s come as he continues to carp at Fox News over its polling and bookings and suggested that only its “pro Trump Fox shows do well.”

Trump has displayed no similar frustrations with OAN, which promised in the three-hour series to dismantle House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff’s impeachment case, and, like the president, framed the proceedings as a hoax. But while the series features many of the storytelling attributes of a news documentary, media experts say it departs from traditional journalism in giving such a prominent role to the president’s personal attorney.

“I think this completely crosses a line,” said professor Kathleen Culver, director for journalism ethics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s School of Journalism and Mass Communication.

“I would define one of the central characteristics of journalism as independence and here there is no independence. It is taking a source and bringing that source into the actual information gathering,” she said. “By making Giuliani a central figure in the gathering of information,” she added, “I think they’ve moved out of the realm of journalism and into the realm of advocacy.”

Mark Lukasiewicz, dean of the Lawrence Herbert School of Communication at Hofstra University, said “the advocate is in the driver’s seat” in the OAN series, with Giuliani bringing forth documents on screen and helping conduct interviews. “The role typically played by an investigative journalist is played by Rudy Giuliani,” he said.

Herring did not respond directly to a question about about OAN’s independence with regard to Giuliani’s involvement in the project. But OAN correspondent Chanel Rion told viewers why her team took Trump’s attorney along to Ukraine and Budapest.

“His hundreds of hours and months of research into what he calls the great political scandal of our time made him the only person to go with us on this trip,” she said of Giuliani. Rion told viewers that their findings would “both astound and enrage” and offer a side kept from viewers by a “complacent media.”

The Herring family, which made a fortune printing circuit boards, is a fairly new entrant to the media business. The company launched lifestyle channel Wealth TV, later renamed AWE, in 2004, and created One America News in 2013. The San Diego-based network, which is reportedly available in about 35 million homes — compared with at least 90 million for Fox News — generally covers the major headlines of the day without excessive punditry and turns to conservative hosts at night.

But OAN's pro-Trump leanings became apparent during the 2016 election, as it turned to his rallies live, and have continued into the presidency. The Washington Post’s Marc Fisher reported in a 2017 profile of OAN that CEO and founder Robert Herring “directed his channel to push Trump’s candidacy” and “steer away from the new president’s troubles.”

Charles Herring disputed the notion that his father takes such a heavy hand in news coverage. “News anchors are not allowed to express opinions,” he told the Post. “They simply deliver the news and we leave it up to the viewers to decide. It’s not our family’s mission to determine the news.”

On Twitter, Robert Herring’s views are clear. “Our ratings are going up because we treat you like you are the President of the United States,” Herring responded to Trump when touting OAN’s ratings. “Your ratings are going up because you are doing a great job. Let’s keep it up!”

As Trump visited San Diego in September, Herring pointed out to the president that OAN “ran a 30-minute special report detailing the accomplishments you have made.”

The network’s official Twitter account, however, once called “bullshit” when Trump didn’t mention OAN among his media boosters. “President Trump recently gave a speech, thanking his supporters in the media. Not a single mention of One America News — one of his GREATEST supporters,” read the tweet, which, according to a Guardian report, was sent by Robert Herring. Earlier this month, he tweeted: “If you are upset about the Democrats trying to impeach President Trump, let everyone know by putting an @OANN sticker on your car!”

Trump has returned the affection. He tweeted in October that OAN “is appreciated by many people trying so hard to find a new, consistent and powerful VOICE!” and last month lauded the network for “seeking the facts and the truth.” Trump retweeted at least five clips from the OAN series this past week.

Charles Herring told POLITICO that OAN is “very appreciative of all our viewers and the support and encouragement they extend to us via comments on our feedback page and tweets/retweets — including from a special viewer in the White House.”

The testimony of current and former officials, along with Trump’s own words, has shown that he urged Ukraine’s president to launch investigations into the Bidens and a 2016 election conspiracy theory as the U.S. withheld aid to Ukraine. The allegations from an unnamed whistleblower, which ignited the scandal, have been largely confirmed, as PolitiFact concluded Monday in giving Trump its “Lie of the Year” award.

Rion told viewers OAN was holding "our own hearing" where they'd be the jury. The OAN team and Giuliani, she said, will present a side “that not only destroys Adam Schiff’s case for impeachment, but uncovers what may be one of the greatest cover-ups of our time.”

In the series, Giuliani makes the unsubstantiated allegation that Biden committed “bribery” in calling for the removal of Ukrainian prosecutor Viktor Shokin because his son Hunter Biden served on the board of a Ukrainian energy company. Biden’s request at the time was the view of the Obama administration, which, like several Western nations and international organizations, saw Shokin as not aggressively prosecuting corruption cases.

Rion and Giuliani traveled abroad to interview Shokin, as well as Yuriy Lutsenko, whom The New Yorker dubbed in an extensive profile this week as a key Giuliani contact. They also met in a studio with Ukrainian “witnesses” alleging corruption involving Democrats. (The Daily Beast’s Anna Nemtsova wrote the OAN investigation features “some of Kyiv’s most dubious characters”).

Herring said over email that “One America News is seeking the truth regarding Ukrainian involvement in the 2016 Presidential election” and that “the best way to determine what happened in Ukraine is via interviews with first hand witnesses and a thorough review of the support documentation.” He suggested that “there is an effort to keep the ‘lid on the jar’ regarding corruption that traces back to the United States.”

“We appreciate the efforts by others to shed light on the facts, including first hand witnesses, other investigative reporters and media outlets, and politicians,” he added.

One prominent senator indicated Sunday that he’s interested in hearing about Giuliani’s Ukraine trip. On CBS’ “Face the Nation,” Lindsey Graham said, "Rudy, if you want to come and tell us what you found I'd be glad to talk to you.”