ABC Affiliates | Reporting

WJLA Being Called ‘Really Sleazy’ for Running Pooping Story Without Attribution

By Kevin Eck 

A local website is angry at WJLA reporter Ryan Hughes for doing a story about a serial pooper without telling people his website did it first.

ARLnow.com editor Scott Brodbeck tweeted out that Hughes and Washington, D.C. ABC affiliate WJLA were “really sleazy” in running the story without attribution. Brodbeck is a former writer/producer at two of Washington, D.C’s local stations: Fox-owned WTTG and NBC-owned WRC.

The story in questions is about someone “repeatedly pooping” in a local park playground.

“All I want is the words ‘first reported by ARLnow.com’ with a link,” Brodbeck told TVSpy. “That’s it. Then I wouldn’t even be mad that they lifted the ‘serial pooper’ wording directly from my headline, nor that they seem to have borrowed some facts without attribution, nor that they then syndicated across the country it to ABC and CNN Newsource stations.”

“I notice stations providing credit to the Washington Post for scoops fairly often, maybe we don’t have the cache of the Post and they’re embarrassed to admit that their assignment desks source us for local news all the time?” said Brodbeck who launched ARLnow in 2010.

We asked WJLA about it and will update as soon as we hear back.

Brodbeck’s company Local New Now publishes three local D.C. websites ARLnow.com, RestonNow.com and Borderstan.com.

Here’s the WJLA story:

Advertisement