Fresno Bee
Television reporter Alysia Sofios broke a cardinal rule of journalism ethics: She became personally involved in a news story.
By befriending members of the Wesson family after the murders, she changed her life and her career. But she accepts the consequences.
“I know what I did five years ago was unethical. Trust me, I struggled with it,” Sofios said.
“But since then, I’ve never doubted my decision. This was bigger than my job.”
Two months after the Wesson murders, Sofios — then covering the story for KMPH — invited Wesson’s wife, Elizabeth, daughter Kiani and niece Rosie to move into her two-bedroom apartment. She also became friends with Gypsy Wesson. Pregnant at the time of the murders, Gypsy later named her daughter after Sofios.
Sofios said she told no one what she had done — not her news director, Roger Gadley, or her general manager, Charlie Pfaff. More…