Anchorage Alaska CBS affiliate KTVA did a story on its now famous former reporter Charlo Greene and her Alaska Cannabis Club.
In case you’ve forgotten, Greene quit the station after she reported on her own pot club by telling viewers “Fuck it! I quit” while live on-air.
The KTVA report focused on Greene’s club planning to distribute marijuana despite lacking the legal right to do so. But, reporter Lauren Maxwell never identified Greene as a former employee of KTVA who ‘betrayed the basic bedrock of responsible journalism,’ possibly swayed an election by doing so, and then dropped the F-bomb on-air in walking away from it all. Click here for the story.
Jim Romenesko, who first reported the omission, asked Maxwell why she left Greene’s backstory out of the piece. Maxwell sent him an email that said:
Honestly, I think that is pretty common knowledge. We did stories closer to when she quit that acknowledged that fact and even interviewed people who questioned our integrity as journalists.
Our News Director went on air and was very open about asking our viewers to accept his apologies for her behavior and to assure people that we are a serious news organization that strives to hold reporters to the highest standards.
That being said, Charlo Greene continues to make news and her past employment wasn’t the focus of this story.
Bruce Schulte, who heads up the Coalition for Responsible Cannabis Legislation, gave a multi-layered quote in Maxwell’s story when he said “When we have people going out there and, kind of, going rogue and playing cowboy it doesn’t help the discussion.”