ABC’s Karl says did not mean to shame Fox News reporter without mask

ABC’s Jonathan Karl said on Tuesday that a tweet he sent a day earlier showing Fox News chief White House correspondent John Roberts not wearing a mask had “left the wrong impression” and that he had not intended “shaming anybody.”

“Yesterday I tweeted photos of the extraordinary scene in the Rose Garden,” wrote Karl, who also serves as president of the White House Correspondents Association. “The photo of @johnrobertsfox left the wrong impression. He is a good reporter who cares about protecting his colleagues and his family. He was practicing social distancing. I did not mean to imply otherwise.”

Yesterday I tweeted photos of the extraordinary scene in the Rose Garden. The photo of @johnrobertsfox left the wrong impression. He is a good reporter who cares about protecting his colleagues and his family. He was practicing social distancing. I did not mean to imply otherwise

— jonkarl (@jonkarl) May 12, 2020

In an email to The Hill, Karl clarified he wasn’t intending to shame Roberts.

“It was an extraordinary scene. I wasn’t shaming anybody. I simply tweeted four photos showing just about everybody wearing a mask in the Rose Garden — something we have never seen before,” Karl said in his email.

Karl’s comments came after he sent a tweet on Monday that showed a picture of reporters at the Rose Garden attending a briefing by President Trump, including Roberts.

“Almost everybody in the Rose Garden is wearing a mask — almost everybody,” Karl wrote in his tweet. 

Almost everybody in the Rose Garden is wearing a mask — almost everybody. pic.twitter.com/JBnEV05HOd

— jonkarl (@jonkarl) May 11, 2020

Roberts had fired back on Twitter, calling Karl’s tweet a “petty effort at shaming.”

“Facts – I was quietly seated more than 6′ away from the closest person (adhering to CDC social distancing guidelines), ” Roberts, a former CNN senior correspondent before coming to Fox News in 2011, tweeted in response. “When the press conference began, I put mask on. So – what, exactly is the basis for this petty effort at shaming????”

Facts – I was quietly seated more than 6′ away from the closest person (adhering to CDC social distancing guidelines)
-When the press conference began, I put mask on.
So – what, exactly is the basis for this petty effort at shaming???? https://t.co/ctW4knjkyD

— John Roberts (@johnrobertsFox) May 11, 2020