{"id":45219,"date":"2026-08-14T21:42:54","date_gmt":"2026-08-14T16:42:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=45219"},"modified":"2026-08-14T21:42:54","modified_gmt":"2026-08-14T16:42:54","slug":"ex-abc-anchor-trashes-network-over-handling-of-nolan-wells-story-complicit-in-upholding-white-supremacy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=45219","title":{"rendered":"Ex-ABC Anchor Trashes Network Over Handling of Nolan Wells Story: \u2018Complicit in Upholding White Supremacy\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_5751138\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-5751138\" class=\"wp-image-5751138 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/am11.mediaite.com\/med\/cnt\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Screenshot-2026-08-14-at-11-58-49-AM.jpg\" alt=\"Janai Norman\" width=\"896\" height=\"590\" \/><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-5751138\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Screenshot<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Former ABC anchor <strong>Janai Norman<\/strong> had harsh criticism for her old network and the way it&#8217;s covered the mysterious death of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mediaite.com\/tag\/nolan-wells\/\"><strong>Nolan Wells<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>In late July, Norman posted a series of videos of YouTube titled, &#8220;Nolan Wells Coverage Through a Media Literacy Lens.&#8221; The <a href=\"https:\/\/youtube.com\/shorts\/QcyIPucygkE?si=69otQ_L3ufnyDHsJ\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">second video<\/a>, posted July 28, took a closer look at <strong>Michael Strahan&#8217;s<\/strong> <em>Good Morning America&#8217;s<\/em> interview with Wells&#8217; parents.<\/p>\n<p>Wells, 18, was\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2026\/08\/08\/us\/nolan-wells-speculation-distrust-threats\">found dead<\/a> after disappearing during a Fourth of July boating trip with friends to Horn Island off the Mississippi coast &#8212; the only member of his group who didn&#8217;t return from the boat excursion, even though his cellphone did.<\/p>\n<p>Norman first took issue with Strahan asking Wells&#8217;s parents why they think he would &#8220;stay behind&#8221; Horn Island after his friends left. The friends denied having any involvement in Wells&#8217;s disappearance and death, and claimed he stayed on the island.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The question should have been, &#8216;Do you believe that?&#8217;&#8221; Norman said, &#8220;not asking these grieving parents to defend a decision that we don&#8217;t even know for certain their deceased son made. That was not an objective question. Subjectively, I would say that it was insensitive. It also absolves authorities because, as I showed you before, that&#8217;s not just the friend&#8217;s version of what happened. That&#8217;s now authorities&#8217; official version.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Many news organizations haven&#8217;t yet learned that they cannot always trust law enforcement as primary sources of credible information, and that is what plays into racial divisions.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Norman then accused ABC of &#8220;ignoring the historical context of Mississippi,&#8221; noting the state has &#8220;the most recorded lynchings in history.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;According to his parents, they say he had messages that appeared to be deleted,&#8221; Norman continued. &#8220;The body didn&#8217;t wash up with the tide on Sunday. They didn&#8217;t find it until Monday. It&#8217;s being immediately ruled an accidental drowning. By ignoring that context, news organizations become complicit in upholding white supremacy, and &#8212; whether intentionally or unintentionally &#8212; end up playing into racial divisions.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Norman&#8217;s 15-year run at ABC <a href=\"https:\/\/pagesix.com\/2026\/04\/07\/celebrity-news\/gma-co-anchor-janai-norman-announces-sudden-exit-after-15-years-on-abc\/?_gl=1*gdep8b*_ga*MTY3OTQ2MTY2Ni4xNzg2NjQwMDc5*_ga_0DZ7LHF5PZ*czE3ODY3MTk0OTUkbzIkZzEkdDE3ODY3MjI5MTMkajU0JGwwJGgw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">came to an abrupt end<\/a> in April. It was reported at the time that ABC declined to renew her contract.<\/p>\n<p>The post <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mediaite.com\/media\/news\/ex-abc-anchor-trashes-network-over-handling-of-nolan-wells-story-complicit-in-upholding-white-supremacy\/\">Ex-ABC Anchor Trashes Network Over Handling of Nolan Wells Story: \u2018Complicit in Upholding White Supremacy\u2019<\/a> first appeared on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mediaite.com\">Mediaite<\/a>.<\/p>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Screenshot Former ABC anchor Janai Norman had harsh criticism for her old network and the way it&#8217;s covered the mysterious death of Nolan Wells. In late July, Norman posted a series of videos of YouTube titled, &#8220;Nolan Wells Coverage Through a Media Literacy Lens.&#8221; The second video, posted July 28, took a closer look at&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":45220,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/am11.mediaite.com\/med\/cnt\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Screenshot-2026-08-14-at-11-58-49-AM.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-45219","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsweek-trending"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45219","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=45219"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45219\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/45220"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=45219"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=45219"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=45219"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}