Picking up an RTNDF award last night, outspoken TV broadcaster Stanley S. Hubbard said that TV news organizations shouldn't worry about Trump's incessant media bashing. “I don’t think Trump or anyone else will take away [the First Amendment]. The president has the right to be a jerk just like anybody else.”
Hubbard: Trump No Threat To Free Press
Freedom of the press and speech was on everyone’s minds Tuesday night as the Radio Television Digital News Foundation handed out its annual First Amendment Awards in Washington.
Emcee Chris Matthews of MSNBC kicked off the evening asking: “What causes big shots, big-time politicians to get upset? The truth contained in hard news [and] that’s what matters.”
The First Amendment Leadership Award went to Stanley S. Hubbard, CEO, president and chairman of Hubbard Broadcasting, and his late father Stanley E. Hubbard. After thanking his father for establishing the company’s philosophy of valuing quality, especially in its newsgathering, Hubbard tried to calm concerns over President Donald Trump’s media bashing. “Don’t worry,” he said. “I don’t think Trump or anyone else will take away [the First Amendment]. The president has the right to be a jerk just like anybody else.”
A staunch Republican, Hubbard was a contributor to Trump’s election campaign.
60 Minutes correspondent Bill Whitiker received the Leonard Zeidenberg First Amendment Award. “With the First Amendment, democracy will remain vital and relevant.” But, he cautioned, “We cannot be deterred. Our North Star is the truth and we must never lose sight of that. There’s a reason that [this amendment] is first.”
The night’s other honorees were:
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Mark Halperin and John Heilemann (the First Amendment Award), co-managing editors of Bloomberg Politics and hosts of the news analysis show With All Due Respect on Bloomberg TV and MSNBC. Among their admonishments to their fellow journalists: Be passionate, be zealous about the public trust but “don’t make [your reporting] personal.” “Do [your work] joyfully — be happy warriors.” “We can’t get away from fundamental principles” of truth and accuracy.
Steve Jones, VP-GM of ABC Radio News (the First Amendment Service Award). “Commit yourself to fairness.”
Nina Totenberg, NPR legal affairs correspondent (Lifetime Achievement Award). “It’s possible to have opinions but to be fair in what you report.”
The evening also included tributes to three people who died in 2016: NPR photographer David Gilkey who was killed in Afghanistan when his convoy came under fire; PBS anchor and managing editor Gwen Ifill; and George Glazer, who chaired the committee that launched RTDNF’s First Amendment Awards in 1990.
Proceeds from the event go to RTDNF’s journalism scholarship, fellowship and leadership programs.
Comments (15)
alicia farmer says:
March 15, 2017 at 11:04 am
Hubbard is a major Trump contributor and supporter. Therefore he has no credibility on this vitally important issue. The First Amendment is under constant attack from president Orange-Man-Baby and his gang of deplorables.
Ellen Samrock says:
March 15, 2017 at 1:45 pm
Finally someone gets it. There is no proof that either Trump or Pai will or has any desire to take away First Amendment rights from the press (unlike Obama & Wheeler who tried to install spies in TV newsrooms). Trump will continue to have the ‘right to act like a jerk’ and reporters will still have the freedom to act like whining, lying lap dogs for the Democrats, as they always have.
Veronica Serrano Padilla says:
March 15, 2017 at 3:17 pm
It’s fairly apparent Trumpo the Cheeto-faced Clown isn’t the only person who has the “right to act like a jerk.” Reading your daily unhinged posts is proof of it.
Wagner Pereira says:
March 15, 2017 at 3:30 pm
Pot calling kettle black
Angie McClimon says:
March 15, 2017 at 3:56 pm
There is nothing in this story that implies “reporters are whining, lying lap dogs for Democrats”. They just tell the truth and the extreme-right doesn’t like that. I love Hubbard’s quote: “The president has the right to be a jerk just like anybody else.”
Ellen Samrock says:
March 15, 2017 at 5:07 pm
Believe what you like. The years I spent as a news photographer, I saw first hand how reporters would throw away key facts in order to craft a narrative fit for public consumption and in keeping with the politics of management.
Ellen Samrock says:
March 15, 2017 at 5:11 pm
I suppose, Waistline TV, the “right to act like a jerk” also applies to you.
Veronica Serrano Padilla says:
March 15, 2017 at 9:18 pm
LMAO… the kettle calling the pot black. Say, that’s not racist, is it?
Veronica Serrano Padilla says:
March 15, 2017 at 9:46 pm
@ Roger Thornhill (not the character in North By Northwest, but the failed LPTV guy): Sure, the only difference is I don’t post anonymously pretending to be someone I’m not…
Ellen Samrock says:
March 15, 2017 at 11:02 pm
Failed LPTV guy. That’s a laugh. I build a station, get it licensed, sell it for a very nice profit and now I’m on their payroll. You should fail that well. Instead you have your little pathetic part-time Spit & Whittle cable channel to occupy your miserable existence while amusing the moonshiners in your area, those who have electricity anyway.
Wagner Pereira says:
March 16, 2017 at 1:07 am
You mean his advertisers, who trade Moonshine for airtime.
Ellen Samrock says:
March 16, 2017 at 2:32 am
Yeah, kinda puts a different spin on income “stream.” This guy posts on the LPTV forum all the time. What he says there is at odds with what he says here. A real hypocrite.
Veronica Serrano Padilla says:
March 16, 2017 at 7:10 am
@Roger Thornhill (AKA Dan Brown former owner of KCCF-LD in Atascadero, California) Yes, I’m aware you made a pretty good profit on the sale of your LPTV station. Congratulations, and I mean that. Good money for a station that ran 1950 cartoons and public domain shows, but never was able to sell any ads. Not sure what a “Spit and Whittle” channel is, but do throw in a few more stereotypical jabs. I find it particularly funny when you and @Insider say stupid things like that, particularly since I wasn’t even born in Appalachia, but in the largest city in the Southeast. Next time go for the “Deliverance” bit… “squeal like a pig” or something like that… You haven’t used a Jed Clampett line either… oh, wait, he moved out “yor” way to see “them thar” movies stars and swimming pools..
Veronica Serrano Padilla says:
March 16, 2017 at 7:20 am
@Roger Thornhill: Most of my posts over at the LPTV forum are usually ideas or suggestions to help other small stations. What do you usually post? Yep, more “California” whine… Unlike you, I post under my real station name at both locations. There’s nothing I say here that I wouldn’t say there in fact, I imagine many members of that group read this website. I often do comment here about “broadcasters” (note the quotes) as being no more than glorified cable casters. I think that’s a fair assessment for most larger stations, who have no true interest in OTA and are only pushing for retrans money. At the same time, I usually back up LPTV stations because they seem more like “real” broadcasters these days. So, no, not much hypocritical about my posting in the LPTV forum.
Veronica Serrano Padilla says:
March 16, 2017 at 7:25 am
@Insider: Hey, that’s a great idea!! We have a LEGAL moonshine distillery here now (Grandaddy Mimms Moonshine Distillery – great stuff, I recommend the “Apple Brown Betty”) I’ll have to talk to Tommy about a trade-out deal. Dude, for a web stalker you come up with some awesome ideas… (and some really, really stupid comments)