'What we're supposed to do': Reporter fired for Trump criticism has 'challenge' for media

18 September

CNN host Erin Burnett and former ABC News reporter Terry Moran on CNN on September 18, 2025 (Image: Screengrab via CNN / YouTube)

Reporter Terry Moran, who was fired by ABC earlier this year over a social media post calling President Donald Trump and his aides “haters,” has urged American journalists to resist the administration’s attempts to silence critical media voices.

During an appearance on CNN Thursday evening, Moran told host Erin Burnett: “I think the biggest challenge before every reporter and before every citizen right now is to see what is happening, for real, in front of us; and say its name.”

Speaking about ABC pulling late-night host Jimmy Kimmel’s show after Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr publicly criticized him over his comments, Moran said the network had bowed to pressure.

He also argued that warnings from Trump officials are unlikely to survive legal scrutiny.

“These are empty threats, Brendan Carr sounding like a cheap hoodlum says, ‘you can do it the hard way. You can do it the easy way.’ As soon as it got into a court, the First Amendment would destroy that claim of power,” Moran said.

Earlier on Thursday, Trump attacked broadcast networks and threatened to have their FCC licenses revoked due to bias, saying, “all they do is hit Trump ... they're not allowed to do that.”

Reacting to Trump's statement, Moran sharply criticized the notion that the president can dictate which stories news organizations publish.

“This does not come with the authority of broadcast licenses. And that law is almost 100 years old. And the Supreme Court has interpreted it as strictly under the First Amendment for 80 years,” he said.

Referring back to June, when he criticized the president and then lost his job, Moran said: “Look, did I know it was hot? Yes. Did I think it was truthful, fair and accurate? You bet. I've got no regrets about it. But I've been in trouble before for various social media posts and for things I've said, and I have no problem with that. That's what we're supposed to do, is challenge people.”

He reiterated: “And I think a lot of people and a lot of positions of authority at these news divisions and corporations cannot do that. And that's one of the reasons we're in in this trouble.”

“What we have learned is that the corporations will knuckle under every time the dollar is more important than free speech,” Moran added.

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