Former ABC News correspondent admits network is liberal, claims nobody voted for Trump

Former ABC News correspondent Terry Moran made a candid admission about the political leanings of his longtime employer during an appearance on "The Fifth Column" podcast. When directly asked by co-host Michael C. Moynihan if ABC News was a liberal institution, Moran responded with a simple "Yes." This acknowledgment from a veteran insider provided a rare, unfiltered look into the internal culture of a major American news network. Moran elaborated on the consequences of this ideological uniformity, explaining that the newsroom lacked political viewpoint diversity, which created a significant blind spot in its coverage. He stated that the scarcity of Trump supporters inside the network prevented its news division from truly hearing and understanding large parts of the country. This lack of perspective, he argued, made it difficult for the organization to cover President Donald Trump and his supporters fairly.

Moran's admission was not a sudden revelation but rather the culmination of a long-simmering internal conflict. He revealed that he had actively tried to challenge the prevailing newsroom perspective by circulating internal messages advocating for fairness in the network's Trump coverage. He recounted sending emails with the subject line, "Hey, we should be fair to Trump," and noted that he received private messages of gratitude from some colleagues, including engineers and the occasional producer, who felt similarly but were less vocal. This internal dissent, however, was not enough to shift the dominant culture. Moran's tenure at ABC News ultimately ended after he published a social media post describing Trump and White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller as "world-class haters." The network deemed this a clear violation of its policies and declined to renew his expiring contract. An ABC News staffer told Fox News Digital that while Moran was a respected, long-time colleague, the network had no alternative but to part ways, especially given the polarized climate.

The circumstances of Moran's departure highlight the intense pressures and contradictions within modern newsrooms. While Moran was internally arguing for more balanced coverage, his public social media post revealed his own personal animus, which the network found to be a terminable offense. This paradox underscores the difficulty of separating personal political conviction from professional journalistic duty. Moran himself acknowledged this complexity, stating after his departure that "there is no such thing as objectivity in journalism," even as he defended his own work at ABC News as "excruciatingly fair." The incident also drew a direct rebuke from President Trump, who, during a press interaction, pointed at Moran and said, "I don’t trust you. Look at you. You’re so happy to do the interview, and then you start hitting me with these fake questions." This exchange became a microcosm of the deeply adversarial relationship between the Trump administration and the mainstream press.

The broader ramifications of Moran's confession touch on the crisis of trust in American media. His statement that "nobody" at the network voted for Trump, while likely hyperbolic, speaks to a perceived epistemic closure that alienates a significant portion of the audience. The admission validates long-held conservative critiques of media bias, not as a matter of conspiracy, but as a natural outcome of a homogenous workforce. The internal dynamics at ABC News, where a veteran correspondent felt compelled to send "be fair to Trump" emails and was privately thanked by a minority of staff, paint a picture of an institution where a particular progressive worldview is so dominant that basic journalistic fairness toward a Republican president becomes a controversial, even career-risking, stance. This environment, as Moran suggested, prevents news divisions from hearing and accurately reporting on the concerns of large swaths of the country, contributing to the very polarization the media often decries.