Entertainment Company Removes Hard News Reporter
In a casual bar setting, representatives
of a group falsely represent themselves as documentary makers and fail to “secure
consent” of conversationalists in a personal exchange; then release their secretly
recorded video of the exchange. Blindsided by the secret recording was veteran
reporter David Wright. On release of the video, Disney’s ABC deciders censor,
suspend, and remove from his beat a reporter who, by all accounts, appears to
have honestly earned his stripes.
Vault describes the Walt Disney Company as “the world’s largest media
conglomerate with assets encompassing movies, television, publishing, and theme
parks.” Its TV holdings include the “ABC TV network and almost ten TV stations,
as well as a portfolio of cable networks including ABC Family, Disney Channel,
and ESPN (80 percent-owned).” Disney “produces films through the Disney, Pixar,
Marvel Entertainment, and Lucasfilm brands. The corporation’s Disney Parks and
Resorts run popular theme parks such as ‘Disney World’ and ‘Disneyland.’
In 2019, Disney
purchased assets of Twenty-First Century Fox for $71.3 billion making it an
even greater media and entertainment behemoth.
Personal ideology, fear and
jealousy mixed with ignorance on the one hand; and concentrated and inordinate
power and its overreach and abuse on the other — usually conspire to undermine all
that is “good”: good people, good work, good professionals.
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Brief Outline of veteran journalist
David Wright’s work
- 2002- : beginning with UN weapons inspections prior to 2002 U.S. invasion of Iraq
- 2003: shared News & Documentary Emmy Award for his reporting from Baghdad and Fallujah
- 2003 (circa)-2005: covered the Holy See and the Roman Catholic Church since the final years of Pope John Paul II.
- 2004: awarded Emmy David Kaplan Award from the Overseas Press Club for his reporting from Darfur region of Sudan
- 2006: shared with ABC News team Alfred I. du Pont (Columbia University) Award.
- 2008: covered then Democratic Senator Barack Obama’s historic bid for the Democratic nomination and during the general election covered Republican Senator John McCain
- 2013: covered resignation of Pope Benedict XVI and the conclave that ended with the election of Pope Francis
- 2015: Nominated for Emmy Award for his “Nightline” reports on sexual assault allegations against yoga guru Bikram Choudhury
- 2016: Lead political reporter (for Nightline) during Presidential campaign from New Hampshire through transition of leadership
Wright’s extensive travels (reporting) include: “multiple trips with
Popes Benedict and Francis in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Americas”
including Pope Francis’s historic trip
to Ireland where the pope tried “to atone for the clerical sexual abuse crisis”;
and Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò’s testimony that led to calls for the resignation
of Pope Francis.
Wright’s documented travels also include wildlife reporting on Giant
Pandas in China, Spirit bears in British Columbia, polar bears in Hudson’s Bay
(or Hudson Bay, large saltwater body in Northeastern Canada) and mountain
gorillas in Congo. His work brought “in depth reporting on wildlife and
conservation efforts around the world.”
His early career and later years in public broadcasting: WBFO-FM
Buffalo, WBUR-FM Boston reporter; KQED-FM San Francisco host of statewide
broadcast “The California Report”; and frequent contributor to NPR nationally; substitute
hosting on Southern California Public Radio’s “Madeleine Brand Show”, NPR’s “On
Point” and “All Things Considered-Weekend edition” His television work over the years has included appearances on “Nightline,”
“World News Tonight,” “Good Morning America” and “20/20.”
Wright signed on with ABC News in 2000; over the years he has reported
from bureaus in major cities — from London, England, to the
District of Columbia.
On February 26, 2020, the ABC News management censored and suspended
Wright and pushed him out of their political news reporting and programming.
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ntertainment Owner of ABC “News”
Walt Disney Company
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Total
assets: $193.984 billion (2019)
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Revenue:
$69.570 billion (2019)
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Walt Disney Television
Broadcast and cable television, mass media industry
Names before Disney’s March 20, 2019, acquisition of 21st Century Fox:
“Disney–ABC Television Group,” “ABC Group”; “Capital Cities/ABC”
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Parent: Disney Media Networks,
overseer of “television assets owned and operated by The Walt Disney Company”
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Disney Media Networks’ Primary subsidiaries: ESPN and Walt Disney
Television
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Division management of: “Disney’s 50 percent equity stake in A&E Networks”
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Divisions: ABC News; ABC Owned Television Stations
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Subsidiaries: Disney Television Studios, American Broadcasting
Company, Disney Channels, Worldwide (US channels), ABC ‘Family’ Worldwide; FX
Networks, National Geographic Networks (73%)
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Group assets: ABC network; cable networks: Freeform, Disney Channels,
FX and National Geographic channels; Disney Television Studios: ABC Studios,
20th Century Fox Television and Fox 21 Television Studios; ABC News; and ABC
Owned Television Stations.
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ABCN: ABC News
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Parent: Walt Disney Television (Disney Media Networks)
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Division of: American Broadcasting Company
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Headquarters: Upper West Side Manhattan, 77 West 66th Street, Times Square,
NYC
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Entertainment Fare: “ABC World News Tonight”; other programming “Good
Morning America,” “Nightline,” “Primetime,” “20/20,” “This Week”
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ABC: American Broadcasting
Company
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American Broadcasting Company: commercial radio and television
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Owner: The Walt Disney Company (Disney Media Networks division)
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Headquarters: Directly across the street from Walt Disney Studios / adjacent
to the Roy E. Disney Animation Building on Riverside Drive in Burbank,
California
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atthew Taylor
ends his article with this observation.
ABC’s decision to suspend (David) Wright for discussing his personal political views in a private conversation illegally recorded by a known right-wing provocateur” — reflects a “…growing fear among the ruling class” that ideas socialist in nature or appearing to be “are starting to take hold among the masses.”
Sources
Established in 1996, Vault’s main occupation is producing “rankings,
ratings, and reviews on thousands of top employers and hundreds of internship
programs,” which are “regularly featured and cited by” major U.S. general news and
finance media outlets.
Vault “American Broadcasting Companies Inc” 2020 https://www.vault.com/company-profiles/media-entertainment/american-broadcasting-companies-inc
WSWS “ABC News suspends veteran reporter who called himself a
socialist, criticized network in secret recording” by Matthew Taylor February
28, 2020 https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/02/28/news-f28.html
Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Wright_(journalist)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Walt_Disney_Company
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walt_Disney_Television
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Broadcasting_Company
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ABC_News
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