A talk radio host has labeled a reporter for Milwaukee NBC affiliate WTMJ a “bimbo” and an “airhead” over a news report the radio host says was incorrect. According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, WISN radio’s Mark Belling wanted to know why WTMJ reporter Julia Fello described pending “right to work” legislation as designed to “ban employees from joining a union or (paying) union dues.”
“She completely mis-described the bill,” Belling bellowed during his Thursday show (starting at 14 minutes). “This is a woman who’s reporting on the story.”
“Do you wonder why people are so mixed up when the bimbos the TV stations send out don’t even know what the bill does?” Belling continued. “It doesn’t ban somebody from joining a union. Is that what she thought?”
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Belling, a conservative who has previously referred to a Milwaukee County board member as a “bitch” and described Mexican immigrants as “wetbacks.” Asked about calling the WTMJ reporter a “bimbo,” Belling told the Journal Sentinel:
“The reporter did not respond to repeated inquiries about why such a story was posted,” Belling said. “It is indeed no wonder the public is confused about right to work when TV station airheads don’t understand the bill and mis-report it. I am open to input on what term should be applied to such clueless ‘journalists.'”
WTMJ news director Janet Hundley blasted Belling in a memo to staff:
A radio personality spewed misinformation and called Julia Fello vile derogatory names on-air and this morning a Journal columnist decided to write about it. They are both flat out wrong. Julia Fello did nothing wrong. We do not respond to radio personalities or columnists, but I did want the staff at TODAY’S TMJ4 to understand what really happened.
Julia was in Madison covering the Right-to-Work protests. She wrote a draft script on her iPad in the field for her 3pm live shot and emailed it to the station. That email was posted to our website before it was vetted by a producer or a manager. That should never have happened. Julia has a thorough understanding of the Right-to-Work bill. In her haste to write the script Julia inadvertently left out three word, “ban ‘EMPLOYERS FROM REQUIRING’ workers to join a union.”
We never made an on-air mistake. As soon as we realized there was a mistake online we corrected the story. Julia’s on-air reporting was CORRECT every single time she appeared on-air. Every subsequent story was correct on-air and online.
It is disappointing that some people choose to make a career out of making fun of others. I always find it interesting that they can spew anything as fact, right or wrong, while hiding behind a mic or computer screen and people are so willing to believe them. We all work hard every day to earn our viewers trust and we will continue to do that every waking moment.