May 25, 2015

CNN's Jake Tapper on Stephanopoulos: 'Journalism is in a bad place right now'

"Journalism is in a bad place right now," said Jake Tapper, Chief White House correspondent for CNN, reacting to the controversy engulfing ABC News anchor George Stephanopoulos on WMAL, a Washington, D.C., radio station.

Stephanopoulos failed to disclose $75,000 worth of donations to the Clinton foundation, and Tapper noted that this isn't the only recent media scandal — NBC News anchor Brian Williams and Fox News's Bill O'Reilly were both found to have embellished their careers as reporters.

"And I think that we in journalism need to come to a place and realize that when you make mistakes you need to own up to them immediately and apologize," he said. "People expect our stories, whether they're on [David] Letterman or behind an anchor desk, they expect them to be correct and accurate. And when we mess up we need to accept it, apologize and own it. And it distresses me that it's a lot easier to not apologize and a lot easier to not disclose 100 percent. But if you are involved in something, that could affect the way you are covering an issue, you need to disclose it."

Previous to his stint at ABC, Stephanopoulos served as a top adviser under Bill Clinton when he was president.

The Clinton Foundation recently came under separate scrutiny after the controversial book Clinton Cash disclosed that the nonprofit acts as a type of slush fund for the Clintons to increase their wealth and that Democrat presidential candidate Hillary, while serving as secretary of state, may have traded favors to foreign entities in return for donations.

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