Several ABC News staffers jumped the gun in tweeting Obama's 'jackass' remark [Updated]

Call it another case of being too fast on the Twitter.

The perils of dashing off observations on the microblogging site were brought into sharp relief Monday when several overeager ABC News employees -- including “Nightline” anchor Terry Moran -- rushed to tweet that President Obama had called Kanye West a “jackass" for interrupting Taylor Swift’s acceptance speech at the MTV Video Music Awards on Monday.

The problem: Obama made the comment during off-the-record chatter as he was being miked for an interview with CNBC anchor John Harwood.

How exactly did ABC News get wind of it? The broadcast network’s Washington bureau shares a network fiber line with CNBC, and so ABC staffers in D.C. watching CNBC’s feed heard the exchange. What they didn’t hear, apparently, was the explicit agreement CNBC made with the White House that Obama’s chitchat was off the record.

The president weighing in on the biggest pop culture story of the day was too delicious to ignore. Soon, e-mails about Obama’s comment began circulating internally at ABC. Before news executives had determined whether the material was publishable, Moran and a handful of other ABC News staffers posted the remark on Twitter.

“Pres. Obama just called Kanye West a 'jackass' for his outburst at the VMAs when Taylor swift won,” Moran tweeted. “Now THAT’S presidential.”

The network declined to identify the other staffers who disseminated Obama's remark, but noted that they were not public figures. Nevertheless, the news was quickly picked up in the Twitterverse, where Moran has more than 1 million followers. Within an hour, Moran and the other ABC News employees who had posted Obama's comment realized their error and deleted their tweets. But by that time, the story could not be contained.

ABC News quickly called CNBC and the White House to apologize. In the news division’s 9:30 a.m. editorial meeting today, ABC News President David Westin addressed the need to follow editorial standards before sharing information on social networking sites.

“There should be a very dark, easily understood line between material that is approved, vetted and published, and material that has yet to reach that standard,” said ABC News spokesman Jeffrey Schneider. “The message to our employees is very clear: If it’s approved and published, then people can tweet it or share it on Facebook. ... Prior to that happening, the information is not to be shared.”

“One of the lessons learned here is that when somebody who is well known to the news audience tweets something, even on a private Twitter account, it has the same impact almost as ABCNews.com publishing it,” Schneider added.

Others noted that the incident served as a reminder of another lesson: that in this age of nearly ubiquitous media, it's difficult for the president to ever truly be off the record.

For his part, a somber West apologized for his outburst, telling Jay Leno that "it was rude, period."

[Update at 11:25 a.m.: When asked today how Obama felt about his comment being reported, White House Deputy Press Secretary Bill Burton declined to comment. "Look, I'm not going to get into what the president had to say in an off-the-record conversation," he told reporters aboard Air Force One as Obama flew to Ohio. "But you should see what Rahm [Emanuel, Obama's chief of staff] said about it."]

-- Matea Gold 

 

Comments

[Ken Pasco]

So the Pres called him a jackass; so what? sometimes the truth hurts. Calling him a jackass was putting it mildly.

[Punchinello]

Obama's true colors. How's that "change" workin' out for ya?

[James Bourne]

at least the president calls it like it is

[Craig]

It only took seconds to tweet it all over the place but an hour to remove it?
All Terry Moron has proved, Kanye aside, there is certainly no shortage of Jackasses in the world. Ted Koppel he's not.

[Grandpa]

A candid remark from a politician? By all means, let's apologize for sharing it.

[Patrick]

This goes a long way in describing the corrupt gentleman's club that is journalism today. I can't believe the editors would so slothfully sit around preaching about "vetting" when all these reporters were doing was actually their job: getting a scoop, sharing factual information. Too bad it was just celebrity gossip. Can you imagine if Bush had actually said something like "I don't care about black people" and it was suppressed by the MSM? It could happen, and does happen all the time, if we are to believe this story describing the insider culture of beltway journalism.

[Good for the Goose]

So ABC was wrong for sending out the information Obama said while speaking into a hot mike? I am sure Mike Duvall would love to have been afforded the same sympathy from the Times.

[Dolores Sampson]

So ... our president speaks the truth! Kanye West IS a jackass. What makes him think he has the right to inject himself into a formal situation like an awards show? He may think he's God and doesn't have to live by the rules of courtesy and fairness. I call it IMMATURITY!

[David C]

“Pres. Obama just called Kanye West a 'jackass' for his outburst at the VMAs when Taylor swift won,” Moran Tweeted. “Now THAT’S presidential.”

Yeah... and Moran Twittering? Now THAT'S journalism.

[Jody Serey]

The president merely reflected the opinion of many of us who are weary of flagrant bad behavior. In fact, the president was much more moderate in his choice of nouns than many might have been.

[GEAH]

Have you seen that guy's tweets?

He's a walking, talking example of liberal bias in the media.

[Irate Nate]

The president is absolutely correct - West is a jackass. But is this really news? Most have known for years. Ask Mike Meyers.

As far as Obama being "off the record", the truth is never "off the record." Why should the truth ever need to be approved by the White House?

If Obama was overheard saying "..the public is so ignorant, they actually think I care about them," I would sure like to know, whether its "off the record" or not.

[Lorna]

I think the President was being nice. Kanye's a moron.

[Imran Anwar]

Moran is a moron, in my humble opinion, for trying to score political points on what Obama said. And, no, I did not say that Off The Record.

I'm happy that Obama said what he did about Kanye West, who IS a jackass. So, I would rather that the comments were not off the record. Let's call out these under-talented overhyped accidents of celebrity-land for their jackass behavior and getting away with slaps on the wrist even for crimes others would go to jail for.

Imran
IMRAN.TV

[Martin]

Americans seem to have way too much time on their hands to discuss that incident. Obama just made a quick remark intended to be off-the-record on a guy who just happened to have made a fool of himself in front of million of people. People in America should start working at rebuilding their economy instead of twitting such nonsense.

[Sam]

I guess from the ABC News perspective and Terry Moran's incredible lack of professionalism, he got his name up in lights and nothing bad happened to him. He knew what he was doing.

What the US could use right about now is a free press. We used to have one. A news media where getting the story right and reporting the facts matter. But that is too hard and actually takes work. Better to just tweet your way into fame and fortune and only offer your opinion like that is all that matters.

[Jacque Dough]

So, whether or not Obama actually said it is irrelevant? The media can only print what's nice?

Just curious ... does anyone remember Reagan's "off the record" comment about the Russians. I recall that was pretty big news, even though it was "off the record".

Obama is the POTUS - he should be smart enough to know that he no longer has any private moments. There's always someone listening. If he isn't smart enough to know when to keep his mouth shut, the American people need to know that.

Re: Kanye West - Obama was dead-square right on target. What's the problem? Good job BO for getting it right, bad job media for thinking it's not OK for us to know.

[calicoedcat]

More and more Obama reminds me of dear old Harry Truman. Remember when he sent the columnist a note calling him an "SOB" because of his dissing of Margaret Truman.

Anyway, Kanye did act like a jackass.

[HollywoodOrBlog!]

If the president is in public his comments should be suitable to be published even with the understanding that they are not to be. If he's in a private auto or in his house or in a private plane, then he should be able to speak at will and say however or whatever he feels.

[vegasgirl]

Um ... are we supposed to care about this? The president called West a "jackass"? Good for him -- of course, he's correct on this. Ms. Swift will be fine; West will be fine. Life will go on. Enough about this, already!