Bob Woodruff is a reporter for ABC News who focuses on environmental issues. Woodruff’s career is the sort which convinces Americans to invest their trust in his reporting.
Unfortunately, Big Journalism has learned that Mr. Woodruff has been doing much more than objectively reporting on environmental issues.
Woodruff has been working with an environmental advocacy group, an action in direct violation of ABC News journalistic guidelines. According to ABC News, Mr. Woodruff’s actions were in violation of the company’s standards policies and ABC will take “appropriate disciplinary action” for his not reporting his advocacy activities to them. ABC News further said that if Mr. Woodruff had sought approval for his environmental advocacy efforts, their standards department would have declined permission.
Mr. Woodruff’s harrowing account of his severe head injury that he sustained while serving as an embedded reporter in Iraq will always be remembered as a courageous and valiant story. Upon returning to work, he was assigned a position as the host and chief correspondent for the Discovery Channel’s “Focus Earth,” an ABC News-produced eco-program focusing on issues such as “environmental injustice,” climate change, and “population overload.” In that capacity Mr. Woodruff reported on environmental issues.
Big Journalism has learned that Mr. Woodruff has for years lent his name and his network news affiliation to an annual charity event that raises money for the hard-left advocacy group Waterkeeper Alliance headed by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. To make matters worse, Mr. Woodruff profiled the group’s efforts in fighting Exxon in a story about the Hudson River and objectively featured Mr. Kennedy and his personal efforts on behalf of the organization. Are Mr. Woodruff’s personal causes preventing the practice of objectivity required by his profession?
The group’s charity event, the Deer Valley Celebrity Skifest, has served as a major fund-raising event for Waterkeeper Alliance and the press release for last year’s event boasts of $500K being raised for Mr. Kennedy’s group. Included in the press release is a list of celebrities who attended the auction and their show business affiliation. Mixed among the list of actors and their show affiliations (a “Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” woman here, a “90210” actor there) is Bob Woodruff’s name with the official “ABC News” designation after it.
Mr. Woodruff, to the far-left.
Mr. Woodruff is no longer covering this environmental group, he has long been an active part of it.
The conflict with Waterkeeper Alliance doesn’t just end at his participation in the event. Big Journalism has also learned that Mr. Woodruff’s appearance at the weekend-long ski event was comped. It blurs the line of objectivity when a receives perks from the principal of a story he’s obligated to objectively cover.
Independent Producer and investigative journalist Eric Longabardi, a long-time award winning-producer who has worked extensively with ABC News for years contacted ABC’s Vice President of Communications, Cathie Levine to ask whether Mr. Woodruff’s participation in the charity auction was indeed a violation of ABC News’ journalistic standards. Longabardi happened to catch a January 23rd CBS re-broadcast of the group’s fundraising auction (original air date was December 5th) in which he saw Woodruff.
Ms. Levine explained that Mr. Woodruff has a family connection to the ski event that pre-dates the Waterkeepers involvement as the beneficiary, but she acknowledged that lending his name and his association to ABC News constituted a violation of the network’s policy and the company will take “appropriate disciplinary action” for the violation. Ms. Levine would not extrapolate on exactly what action will be taken
During the course of his investigation, Mr. Longabardi also learned that Mr. Woodruff purchased an item at the auction, but the item itself has not yet been disclosed. But, make no mistake, this auction did not feature $50 mini-muffin baskets or AMC movie passes. Some items went for $100,000 and included a trip to a private island in Fiji accompanied by RFK Jr., himself. In years past items have included a new Lexus and other very pricey items to raise funds for the advocacy group.
The “Focus Earth” show went off air just over a year ago but the timeline of Mr. Woodruff’s reports coincide with Waterkeeper Alliances affiliation with the Celebrity Skifest with which Mr. Woodruff has been involved for many years. According to Mr. Kennedy, last year’s event raised 20% of the group’s operating budget. The presence of a legitimate and respected news personality affiliated with the advocacy group’s fundraiser certainly added to the credibility and legitimacy of the event. If it didn’t, why would Waterkeeper Alliance send out a press release touting Mr. Woodruff’s participation?
Mr. Woodruff has made no secret of his environmental philosophies. In an interview with The Daily Green, the “eco-warrier” (as he was described by the Daily Green reporter) goes on at length about his opinions of the US environmental policies; he praises the Obama Administration’s green jobs programs in the stimulus package, and he bashes the Bush Administration’s climate change position. But remember, this interview was given while he was an anchor and reporter reporter for a show produced by ABC News. His objectivity with regard to environmental concerns appears to be non-existent. Given that, it’s amusing to see ABC News acting shocked that Mr. Woodruff would so deeply involve himself with an environmental advocacy group.
What will ABC News do now? We will have to wait and see.
Comment count on this article reflects comments made on Breitbart.com and Facebook. Visit Breitbart's Facebook Page.