Is the ACORN scandal worthy of national broadcast news coverage? ABC News anchor Charlie Gibson said he didn't even know what the scandal was about.
The story has escalated in the past week as hidden-camera videos have been released showing workers at separate offices of ACORN — a nation community outreach group that receives millions in federal funding — appearing to advise a couple dressed as a pimp and prostitute how to skirt the law and set up a brothel.
But Gibson told a radio show Tuesday morning that he wasn't familiar with the story — and it might be "just one you leave to the cables."
ABC reporter Jake Tapper has filed some reports on the scandal, and Gibson was asked on WLS Radio's "Don & Roma Show" what he thought of the story.
"I don't even know about it," Gibson said, laughing. "So you've got me at a loss. ... But my goodness, if it's got everything, including sleaziness in it, we should talk about it in the morning."
When one of the radio show's hosts described it as a "huge issue," Gibson said ABC had "done some stories about ACORN before, but this one I don't know about."
Later Tuesday, ABC sought to clarifiy Gibson's comments: "He was aware of the general story and Jake's reporting on it but wasn't familiar with it as it was described to him on the radio this morning."
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