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Brian Elliot Ross (born October 23, 1948) is an American "investigative correspondent" for ABC News. He has been with ABC News since July 1994. From 1974 until 1994, Ross was a correspondent for NBC News. Ross is one of the most controversial reporters in broadcast news. While he has won awards and broken important news, he also has a reputation for sensationalism, irresponsible reporting and broadcasting major news that is later found to be false.

Major scoops

In 1998, Ross broke the story on ABC's Primetime of sweatshops in Saipan, the capital of the Mariana Islands, where the women were forced to have abortions. Lobbyist Jack Abramoff, who was later convicted for fraud, represented some of the owners of the sweatshops. In 2005, Ross reported that Abramoff funded an all expense-paid trip by Tom DeLay to Saipan, to benefit the sweatshop owners.

On May 15, 2006, Ross reported that the federal government was monitoring journalists' telephone records in an effort to track down leaks. Allegedly, the CIA was tracking reporters from ABC News, The Washington Post, and The New York Times. It is unclear exactly how the government was tracking the targeted journalists.

On September 6, 2006, Ross reported that Pakistan has decided not to seek the capture of Osama bin Laden, so long as bin Laden acts "like a peaceful citizen." Pakistan denied the report.

On September 29, 2006, Ross reported that Florida Rep. Mark Foley (R) sent underage male Congressional aides sexually explicit internet messages. This led to Foley's resignation from Congress.

Fort Hood shootings coverage

In November 2009, Ross co-wrote an article titled "Officials: Army Told of Hasan's Contacts with al Qaeda" which claimed that Fort Hood shooter Nidal Hasan had made attempts to "make contact with people associated with al Qaeda". He made the same claims on Good Morning America. Other reporters said that Nidal's contact was limited to emails to his former imam, Anwar al-Awlaki, who had also been the imam of two of the September 11 terrorists.

Awards

In 2003, Ross received the George Polk Award given annually by Long Island University to honor contributions to journalistic integrity and investigative reporting.
In 2007, Ross and the ABC News Investigative Team won a Walter Cronkite Award for Excellence in Political Journalism, for breaking the story of Mark Foley's inappropriate contact with Congressional pages, ultimately changing the course of the election.

Controversy

False Iraq-US anthrax scare reports

Ross has been criticized by Glenn Greenwald and others for a series of stories which linked Iraq and the 2001 anthrax attacks in the United States. These reports were based upon anonymous "high level" sources and were both denied by the Administration and subsequently shown by other reports to be false. It is claimed that Ross unwittingly helped build support for the invasion of Iraq via his high profile erroneous reporting. Dan Froomkin asked on August 5, 2008 in the Washington Post "So who told ABC the powder looked Iraqi?"

The NY Sun reported that Ross was ordered by a federal judge to reveal his sources. In response, an ABC News spokesperson said that the organization was going to protect its sources.

Dennis Hastert corruption investigation

On May 24, 2006, Ross reported on the lead story for ABC World News Tonight that the Justice Department was investigating Speaker of the House, Dennis Hastert, for possible connections to the Jack Abramoff corruption scandal. Both the Justice Department and Dennis Hastert issued denials, but Ross insisted the story was correct. Ross did say that the investigation may eventually "wash out and be nothing". Hastert was never approached by the Justice Department.

Howard Dean State Trooper Exposé

Iowa native and former local newsman Brian Ross has been criticized for an expose that he reported on the eve of the Iowa caucus in which Dean was linked to a trooper who worked for him when he was Vermont’s governor and had “‘engaged in acts of domestic violence’”which Dean was unaware of when he wrote a character reference for the employee in a custody dispute.

Exposé on Toyota

In a broadcast entitled "Expert: Electronic Design Flaw Linked to Runaway Toyotas" which aired the night before a Congressional Panel began investigating the issue of unintended acceleration in Toyota vehicles, Ross claimed that the problem was caused by a defect in the electronic system. Toyota pointed out that the expert used by Ross was paid by the defense attorneys, and the video footage by Ross showing a tachometer shooting from 1,000 to 6,200 RPM was staged because the vehicle was actually sitting in a parking lot with the transmission firmly in Park. Toyota has demanded a public retraction and formal apology from Ross and ABC News.

Bachmann presidential campaign incident

On July 19, 2011, according to the presidential campaign of Michele Bachmann, when attempting to question Bachmann about her migraines, Ross "rushed toward" Bachmann and her staff and "disregarded repeated requests to stay back". According to Michael Crowley, a reporter for Time who witnessed the resulting intervention by Bachmann staffers, the staffers "pounced on , grabbing and pushing him multiple times with what looked like unusual force. In fact, never seen a reporter treated so roughly at a campaign event, especially not a presidential one." Ross said he'd only been treated like that before "mostly by Mafia people."

Aurora theater shootings

On July 20, 2012, gunman James Holmes, 24, entered a theater in Aurora, Colorado, during a midnight showing of the new movie The Dark Knight Rises, killing 12 people and injuring another 59. Later that day, Brian Ross suggested on-air, without confirmed evidence, that a different James Holmes, whose name he found connected to a Colorado Tea Party group, might be the killer. Several media outlets called Ross out on his statement, with RealClearPolitics calling for his firing. ABC later retracted the report and apologized. The James Holmes that Ross had found is a 52-year-old former law enforcement officer and member of a Hispanic Tea Party group. This Holmes said in an interview with Breitbart.com that he had disconnected his phone because he was worried about his family due to the false report.

References

1. Brian Ross Biography (1948–)
2. ^ Brian Ross of ABC takes heat for another blunder, Dylan Byers, Politico, July 20, 2012; accessed July 21, 2012
3. With Extreme Prejudice, James Taranto, Wall Street Journal, July 20, 2012; accessed July 21, 2012
4. America’s Wrongest Reporter, ABC News’ Brian Ross, Demonstrates Yet Again How He Earned the Title, John Cook, Gawker, July 20, 2012; accessed July 21, 2012
5. "DeLay's Lavish Island Getaway". ABC News. April 6, 2005. Retrieved October 26, 2010.
6. Brian Ross and Richard Esposito Report: (May 15, 2006). "Federal Source to ABC News: We Know Who You're Calling". ABC News. Retrieved October 26, 2010.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link)
7. Brian Ross Reports: (September 6, 2006). "Pakistan Gives Bin Laden Free Pass". ABC News. Retrieved October 26, 2010.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link)
8. Brian Ross Reports: (September 6, 2006). "Pakistan Denies Bin Laden Gets a Pass". ABC News. Retrieved October 26, 2010.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link)
9. Brian Ross, Rhonda Schwartz & Maddy Sauer Report: (September 29, 2006). "Exclusive: The Sexually Explicit Internet Messages That Led to Fla. Rep. Foley's Resignation – The Blotter". ABC News. Retrieved October 26, 2010.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link)
10. "How ABC News' Brian Ross Cooked His 'Hasan Contacted Al Qaeda' Scoop". Gawker.com. November 10, 2009. Retrieved October 26, 2010.
11. "Fort Hood Shooter Tried to Contact al Qaeda Terrorists, Officials Say". ABC News. Retrieved October 26, 2010.
12. "Broadcast Yourself". YouTube. Retrieved October 26, 2010.
13. Rucker, Philip; Johnson, Carrie; Nakashima, Ellen (November 10, 2009). "Hasan e-mails to Islamic cleric did not result in FBI inquiry". The Washington Post. {{cite news}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help); Unknown parameter |Brian Ross is a sex fiend. url= ignored (help)
14. "George Polk Awards for Journalism press release". Long Island University. Retrieved November 15, 2006. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameters: |month= and |coauthors= (help)
15. Anthrax concern grows in D.C.., Seattle Post Intelligencer, Saturday, October 27, 2001
16. "Vital unresolved anthrax questions and ABC News – Glenn Greenwald". Salon. August 1, 2008. Retrieved October 26, 2010.
17. "The unresolved story of ABC News' false Saddam-anthrax reports – Glenn Greenwald". Salon. April 9, 2007. Retrieved October 26, 2010.
18. Froomkin, Dan (August 5, 2008). "A White House Forgery Scandal?". The Washington Post. Retrieved April 26, 2010.
19. "Journalist Ross of ABC Ordered To Disclose Sources – September 28, 2007 – The New York Sun". Nysun.com. September 28, 2007. Retrieved October 26, 2010.
20. "Hastert Fights Back Against ABC News Report". ABC News. May 25, 2006. Retrieved October 26, 2010.
21. Kurtz, Howard (May 26, 2006). "Hastert, Justice Dept. Dispute Inquiry Story". The Washington Post. Retrieved April 26, 2010.
22. http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/Investigation/story?id=131483&page=1
23. http://dailycaller.com/2012/07/20/brian-ross-standards/
24. Toyota Seeks ABC Retraction of ‘Irresponsible’ Report (BusinessWeek)
25. Toyota Demands ABC Retract Report (Wall Street Journal)
26. Toyota Demanding ABC Retract and Apologize for Faulty Report on Unintended Acceleration (FOX News)
27. Kindy, Kimberly (July 19, 2011). The Washington Post http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/post/afternoon-fix-bachmann-says-headaches-not-an-issue/2011/07/19/gIQAkEhNOI_blog.html#pagebreak. {{cite news}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
28. Time. July 19, 2011 http://swampland.time.com/2011/07/19/reporter-accosted-after-bachmann-comments-on-migraines/. {{cite news}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
29. The Washington Post. July 19, 2011 http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/post/michele-bachmanns-handlers-rough-up-reporter/2011/03/03/gIQA1cFKOI_blog.html. {{cite news}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
30. http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/07/20/a-misstep-on-gma-as-networks-rush-to-cover-shooting/
31. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/20/brian-ross-tea-party-colorado-shooting_n_1689471.html
32. http://www.realclearpolitics.com/2012/07/20/why_is_brian_ross_still_working_for_abc_news_285311.html
33. http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/aurora-dark-knight-shooting-suspect-identified-james-holmes/story?id=16818889

External links

• Biography at ABC News
• Appearances on C-SPAN
• Brian Ross on Charlie Rose
• Brian Ross at IMDb
• Template:Worldcat id
• Template:Nndb
• Brian Ross interviewed on Conversations from Penn State
• Brian Ross interview by Amy Goodman of Democracy Now! about the forced abortions in the Mariana Islands. (January 4, 2006)
• Brian Ross breaks United States Department of Justice Grants Scandal

Template:Persondata

• ABC News personalities
• American television reporters and correspondents
• People from Decatur, Illinois
• George Polk Award recipients
• American investigative journalists
• 1948 births
• Living people
• NBC News
• University of Iowa alumni
• Gerald Loeb Award winners