Michelle Malkin Criticizes Cokie Roberts on Day of Her Death: ‘One of the First Guilty Culprits of Fake News’

Veteran ABC News journalist Cokie Roberts died today at 75 of complications from breast cancer. Many of her longtime colleagues, in addition to journalists and many others in the media, paid tribute to her life and career today.

Tonight the Paley Center for Media held a panel on media bias featuring Sharyl Attkisson, Angelo Carusone, Tim Graham, Michelle Malkin, Brian Stelter, and Christine Quinn.

At one point, Malkin went out of her way to bring up Roberts to criticize her for “fake news”:

“President Trump did not invent the concept of fake news,” Malkin said. “Cokie Roberts, of course, passed away today, and God bless her for an incredible career that she had, but I distinctly remember that she was one of the first guilty culprits of fake news.”

She pointed to a 1994 ABC News incident regarding then-President Bill Clinton’s State of the Union. As Variety reported at the time:

[World News tonight EP Rick] Kaplan had wanted Roberts to do a live report, including crosstalk with ABC anchorman Peter Jennings, from the Hill.

But Roberts had a speaking engagement that evening and didn’t have time to make the trip across town. Kaplan then instructed her to put on her coat and do the report from the ABC News Washington bureau in front of a projection of the Capitol building, leaving viewers with the impression that she was reporting from in front of the edifice.

Per Variety, Roberts and Kaplan received a reprimand and said in a statement it was “a stupid thing to have done.”

As Malkin started criticizing Roberts, Stelter jumped in and bewilderedly said, “Are we doing this today? We’re doing this today. You’re attacking her today. I just want to be clear. The body’s not cold yet.”

You can watch the full panel above (the relevant part starts around the 39:30 mark), via the Paley Center.