At PBS, there’s a disagreement over whether “PBS NewsHour” co-anchor Judy Woodruff deserves criticism for donating $250 to the Clinton Foundation in 2010.
Woodruff announced her donation on-air last week hours after it was revealed that ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos had given $75,000 to the Clinton Foundation. The PBS anchor made the donation shortly after an earthquake rocked Haiti, killing thousands.
PBS ombudsman Michael Getler wrote Thursday that he does not doubt Woodruff’s journalistic integrity, but that he finds her choice of charities an odd one.
“There are lots of ways to contribute to Haitian earthquake relief. So the choice of the Clinton Foundation, even in a small amount and with the best of intentions, was a mistake in my book,” he wrote.
“It is always a bad idea for a journalist to give money to a political campaign or anything even remotely connected to the activities of a politician or party, or an organization that they might cover. You just shouldn’t do it. It may be well intended, but you damage your credibility and that of your news organization with the public,” he added.
Getler also dinged “NewsHour” for failing to provide on-air coverage of the Stephanopoulos story the day that it broke, questioning whether the apparent decision to ignore the story had anything to do with Woodruff’s own donation.
Woodruff and “NewsHour” executive producer Sara Just were unimpressed with the ombudsman’s assessment, and they said as much in separate rebuttals.
“To lump what I did in 2010 under the simple heading of ‘Clinton’ ignores the facts and the context. I gave $250 two days after the Haiti earthquake struck in 2010, to an emergency relief fund, and in response to one of the first appeals to cross my desk when we were witnessing wall-to-wall scenes of death and devastation,” Woodruff replied to Getler’s column.
“I will not be put in a position of defending the Clinton Foundation. But in early January 2010, less than one year into President Obama’s first term, while Hillary Clinton was Secretary of State, the tragedy hit and we were told by relief experts that the quickest way to get a contribution to the victims, was through the William J. Clinton Foundation,” she added.
She reiterated that her donation was meant for the people of Haiti and not for the Clintons.
Just was equally displeased with the PBS ombudsman.
“All this incident proved is that in addition to being a journalist of impeccable credentials, Judy Woodruff is a person of integrity who sees suffering and is moved to act,” the “NewsHour” producer wrote.
She continued, adding, “To suggest that we ignored the Stephanopoulos story because of some conspiracy about Judy’s generous and spontaneous response to a humanitarian crisis is simply insulting to the journalistic integrity we display nightly.”
The producer then explained that they didn’t cover the Stephanopoulos because they decided in their news judgment that it wasn’t worth the coverage when his donations were first revealed.
“And despite that decision, Judy chose, in the interest of the utmost transparency with our audience, to make a comment on the air since her name had been dragged into the story by a couple of reporters, but ignored by most who saw that detail as irrelevant. I would think the ombudsman would applaud such action,” she wrote.
