ABC News announced on Wednesday that veteran liberal journalist Diane Sawyer will leave her anchor position at World News in September and be replaced by David Muir. According to TV Newser, Sawyer will continue to report for "primetime specials, big interviews" and in other capacities.
It's interesting that former Democratic operative turned journalist George Stephanopoulos will not be replacing Sawyer at World News, as was anticipated by many. According to TV Newser, Stephanopoulos now "takes on the new role of chief anchor of ABC News. He’ll lead special reports, breaking news and election night coverage for the network as well as continuing with GMA and This Week.” He'll be the chief anchor, but not the host of World News?
In her career at Good Morning America and World News, Sawyer has repeatedly fawned over liberals. Some examples from a Profile in Bias:
'As we know this morning, there is another ground-breaking, crossroads moment. That is for Senator Hillary Clinton, who ran her campaign on her own terms. This woman, as we said, forged into determination and purpose her whole life. As someone said, 'No thorns, no throne; no gall, no glory; no cross, no crown.''
— ABC's Diane Sawyer on Good Morning America, June 4, 2008, quoting a 17th century discourse about Jesus Christ.
'After pepperoni pizza and banana milkshakes once, I dreamed about Bill Clinton.'
— Sawyer talking with her Good Morning America co-host Charles Gibson about a study which claimed sleeping Republicans have three times as many nightmares as sleeping Democrats, July 10, 2001.
'Like a freight train, she's already moved six major pieces of legislation through the House — everything from stem cells to minimum wage. And whatever side you're on, when this new Speaker moves, she moves fast. Nancy Pelosi says power is not handed to you, you have to know how to win it. When she walks into a room, she is quiet, polite. But her fellow politicians say she's galvanized steel with a smile.'
— ABC's Diane Sawyer on Good Morning America, January 19, 2007.
'All agree she gets credit for locking up this vote, one of the biggest since Medicare in the 1960s. And she's said to have done it with an epic blend of persuasion, muscle and will, even when half the town said it couldn't be done....Their indefatigable, unwavering almost 70-year-old Speaker, mother of five, grandmother of seven....[to Pelosi] What do you think your dad and your mom would have said about this moment?'
— Sawyer interviewing House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on World News, March 22, 2010.
'An incredible night: A return and a roar from the lion of the Democrats....You can almost still feel and hear the echo of the roar that went up last night when Senator Edward Kennedy returned to the convention....People were overwhelmed, simply overwhelmed. They knew it was a night to remember for all ages.'
— Sawyer on the first night of the Democratic convention, August 26, 2008, Good Morning America.
In 2006, she wondered if America was more racist or sexist:
'We have seen new polls this morning about you and Senator Hillary Clinton. Here's my question: Do you think that residual resistance is greater for race or for gender? Is the nation secretly, I guess, more racist or more sexist?'
— Sawyer to Democratic Senator Barack Obama on Good Morning America, November 13, 2006.
'Ninety percent of Americans say race and gender make absolutely no difference in their vote in the polls. I asked Senator Obama yesterday if he believes it, and he thinks it's case by case. Let me ask you, do you think that there is secret sexism, secret, secret genderism in this country?'
— Sawyer to New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd on the November 14, 2006 Good Morning America.
For more, see the MRC's Profile in Bias or our archive of articles on NewsBusters.
