Comcast VP On Stephanopoulos And Williams Controversies: 'Just Because You Are A News Anchor Does Not Mean That You Are Not A Human Being'
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - David L. Cohen, the Senior Executive Vice President of Comcast, told Talk Radio 1210 WPHT morning host Chris Stigall that with regards to ABC News anchor George Stephanopoulos' contributions to the Clinton Foundation, he is not "not going to declare myself the judicator of news ethics, the way that some others have…like Vanity Fair."
"I think the moral of this story is that just because you are a news anchor does not mean that you are not a human being, and even highly paid and very professional and very successful are going to make mistakes. I think there's no doubt that Brian Williams made a mistake or mistakes and I think that George Stephanopoulos made a mistake or mistakes," Cohen added.
Even though Comcast is the parent company of NBC, Cohen has long stated that they have a "formal hands-off policy" when it comes to decisions that are made at NBC News. With that being said, Cohen can more than sympathize with what the leadership at ABC is going through right now.
"The question has to be what those mistakes do to their credibility as anchor people and journalists, and those are hard and complicated decisions that I'm sure that the people at ABC are struggling with that just as Andy Lack (NBC News Chairman) and Deborah Turness (NBC News President) and Steve Burke (NBC Universal CEO) are struggling with that at NBC."
While refusing to compare the two situations, he did say that they are both "serious mistakes" and that we have to "give the news professionals the room to be able to make the proper judgments about what the impact of what those mistakes should be on those individuals careers."
