Ashleigh Banfield Joining ABC News: TVNewser

Ashleigh Banfield will be joining ABC News next year, TVNewser reported Friday.

Banfield rose to prominence on MSNBC during the early 2000s, but was cast aside after speaking out against the coverage of the Iraq War. She has been an anchor on Court TV/truTV since 2005, but Friday is her last day with the network.

ABC News did not confirm the report, telling TVNewser simply, "We like Ashleigh Banfield and admire her work."

Banfield's breakup with NBC News, where she was a rising star war correspondent and primetime anchor on MSNBC, was bitter. After a speech in which she was seen as criticizing NBC's coverage of the war, she was publicly rebuked by NBC News executives and ostracized at the office, as she explained to a Connecticut magazine earlier this year:

"I was office-less for ten months....No phone, no computer. For ten months I had to report to work every day and ask where I could sit. If somebody was away I could use their desk. Eventually, after ten months of this, I was given an office that was a tape closet. They cleared the tapes out and put a desk and a TV in there, and a computer and phone. It was pretty blatant. The message was crystal clear. Yet they wouldn't let me leave. I begged for seventeen months to be let out of my contract. If they had no use for me, let's just part ways amicably -- no need for payouts, just a clean break. And [NBC News President Neal Shapiro] wouldn't allow it. I don't know what his rationale was -- perhaps he thought I would take what I felt was a very strong brand, and others felt was a very strong brand, to another network and make a success of it. Maybe that's why he chose to keep me in a warehouse. I will never forgive him for his cruelty and the manner in which he decided to dispose of me."

In her controversial speech, delivered at Kansas State in April 2003, Banfield argued that the coverage of the Iraq War left out much of the harsh realities of war and was more "coverage" than "journalism":

What didn't you see? You didn't see where those bullets landed. You didn't see what happened when the mortar landed. A puff of smoke is not what a mortar looks like when it explodes, believe me. There are horrors that were completely left out of this war. So was this journalism or was this coverage-? There is a grand difference between journalism and coverage, and getting access does not mean you're getting the story, it just means you're getting one more arm or leg of the story. And that's what we got, and it was a glorious, wonderful picture that had a lot of people watching and a lot of advertisers excited about cable news. But it wasn't journalism, because I'm not so sure that we in America are hesitant to do this again, to fight another war, because it looked like a glorious and courageous and so successful terrific endeavor, and we got rid oaf horrible leader: We got rid of a dictator, we got rid of a monster, but we didn't see what it took to do that.

She also spoke about the "Fox News effect":

There is another whole phenomenon that's come about from this war. Many talk about it as the Fox effect, the Fox news effect. I know everyone of you has watched it. It's not a dirty little secret. A lot of people describe Fox as having streamers and banners coming out of the television as you're watching it cover a war. But the Fox effect is very concerning to me.

I'm a journalist and I like to be able to tell the story as I see it, and I hate it when someone tells me I'm one-sided. It's the worst I can hear. Fox has taken so many viewers away from CNN and MSNBC because of their agenda and because of their targeting the market of cable news viewership, that I'm afraid there's not a really big place in cable for news. Cable is for entertainment, as it's turning out, but not news.

I'm hoping that I will have a future in news in cable, but not the way some cable news operators wrap themselves in the American flag and patriotism and go after a certain target demographic, which is very lucrative. You can already see the effects, you can already see the big hires on other networks, right wing hires to chase after this effect, and you can already see that flag waving in the corners of those cable news stations where they have exciting American music to go along with their war coverage.

Read her whole lecture here.

Comments

[JePense]

She was great on court TV. Never let folks get bogged down with he-said she-said and moved them along. Good personality for calming the excitable guests too.

[Leah Tedesco]

Ashleigh Banfield should have a fan site on facebook.

[TurnToTheLeft]

Good for her! Unfortunately ABC News is filtered through a pro-family, center right, Christian lens. After al it is the DIZNEY channel.

[MaxPowerXP]

wow, that's the first time I've ever heard "pro-family" used as a bad term.

[JakeMontero]

so pro-family is bad?

[Arthur reed]

You are a bad piece of work.

[Bulbul]

What do you read ??

[scotia626]

i knew she was beautiful but didnt realize she also smart AND brave! what a combination; i hope abc finds a way to allow her to focus on being smart and brave and didnt just hire her for the beauty!

[lisaman]

About time! She had the integrity to speak out about Fox News and about the Iraq war, well before anyone else did, and lost her job for it. Her talents are wasted on Courtv!

[Bulbul]

Wasn`t the real reason for her departure, she was aiming at Katie`s job way too soon in her career?
I say, watch out Diane Sawyer and Robin Roberts ...

[NEWSWOMAN]

I thought her coverage from Iraq was so good. Hope she does well at ABC. She is a good reporter.

[Khirad]

Only time I've ever watched Tru TV is when she's on and I'm clicking through the channels. She's not as abrasive as most court show anchors are, sharp, thoughtful, and yes - I am that shallow - easy on the eyes to boot.

[1shamus1]

I did not have much of an opportunity to have seen her on MSNBC, due to work, but now being able to watch that network much more often I'm sorry to hear how she was treated. I would have enjoyed her input with the crew MSNBC has now. It would seem that MSNBC has followed more the model Banfield had set, than her bosses at the time.

I'll have to check her out.

[niite]

Good for her. I always like her. She was my favorite news broadcaster on MSNBC before her departure. I don't really watch tru tv, so her presence was missed. Glad to see her back where she belongs, reporting the news in the honest, straightforward way she does. I'll be watching.

[lynettema]

So is ABC going to let her be the kind of "journalist" she wants to be? Are we going to see real news on ABC? It hasn't happened yet. The previous administration put a cabosh on reality news coming out of Iraq. If you didn't agree with the previous administration, you were a traitor or the at the very least unpatriotic. Most "news" outlets knew they would have no access at all to the WH if they reported the realism of war (the dead coming home were not allowed to be filmed).

There is one journalist that has been reporting the horrors of war - Richard ? on NBC (can't think of his name). But I have noticed that he can TELL us about it, but we do NOT see pictures.

[MyTurn2020]

For me the story here is the manner in which she was treated while at NBC. I mean we think of the corporate glass ceiling being shattered by Clinton, Couric, and soon Sawyer but to hear Banfield speak of how upper management (likely male) treated her during her tenure, it speaks to a type of politics that's so nasty and underhanded. I'd like to see her do well, I think she's a smart woman. Good luck.

[gemini2]

Terrific choice by ABC. Banfield is a consumate professional.

[niite]

I think this is a bit ridiculous. I doubt she was treated this way because she was a woman. Some people try to find things under every rock.. sometimes it's just not there.. in this case I don't think it was.

[realspeak]

Yes, the story for me is the treatment she received - not necessarily due to being a woman - but more so because it was allowed to happen at a major news outlet like NBC.
There's no question about her professionalism. But at a time when most news executives were compromising the integrity of journalism in favor of war promoters who lived behind gated walls or taught from ivory towers, she stuck to the holy grail of reporting, and called it as it was.
Cowards passing as patroits have little use for a truly brave person - and at that time, she was very brave.
Welcome back Ashleigh - ABC is fortunate to have you.

[samaire]

I watched her report from the Twin Tower site on 9-11. I always liked her, congratulations Ashleigh!

[lemondade]

how come us women have to look at old men for news anchors while the guys get to look at young attractive women!? it isn't fair. if it is all about that; then give us women some young sexy men for news commentators!!! fair is fair.

[Okieborn]

Thank God Ms. Banfield isn't going to MSNBC, my favorite News channel !!!!!

[Exhaust]

Really? Couldn't have been your favorite for long? You do know that she was on MSNBC, don't you?