ABC - GIBSON TRAVELS INTO CONTROVERSY

Only days after signing on as the new permanent anchor of ABC's World News Tonight, Charles Gibson was under fire for remarks made in New York magazine that seemed to suggest that there was little point in covering issues affecting Africa. Referring to the fact that NBC's Brian Williams had recently reported from several African countries for Nightly News, Gibson commented, "I don't know why you do that. Why the hell do you go to Africa? It's certainly an interesting choice. We'll do travel, when it warrants." In an interview with The Associated Press on Thursday, Gibson called his remarks "a jesting reference" to an email he had written to Nightly News producer John Reiss, a friend, and indicated he probably should never have made it. He then added, "It is certainly worth traveling there. There are certainly problems to explore and issues to do. But I was curious as to why they would send Brian with Bono for a number of days for that program." (The network also recently sent Dateline co-host Ann Curry to Africa to interview Angelina Jolie.) Later, Gibson called in to Chicago radio station WVON, which targets a predominantly black audience, and, referring to Joe Hagan, the writer of the article, remarked: "This guy, who I will never talk to again from New York magazine who is something of a snake, he took my quote and I think perverted the meaning of it to indicate in some way that I was insensitive to news from one of the five major continents in the world."

02/06/2006