A Louisiana Sheriff held a press conference last week to let people know he thought a report by Shreveport, La., CBS affiliate KSLA was “deceitful and totally biased.”
In April, KSLA did a story about a 17-year-old black male who was arrested for sexting. His mother claimed the charges were racially motivated. The Sheriff says the story left out the fact a 16-year-old white female was also arrested for the same crime. Click here to read the updated story.
“It was a deceitful and totally biased report where facts were omitted to fit the reporter’s narrative of racism and make a good story,” Whittington said. “If it sounds like this is personal to me, that’s because it is. Our job in law enforcement is difficult enough and dangerous as it is without these lies being told to the public. The real focus of this story should be about young people violating the law, and not racism.”
“The sheriff is entitled to say what he wants,” KSLA news director Jayne Rubin told ABC affiliate KTBS. Rubin said the station added new information to the story after she learned of the situation.
“We regularly hold public officials accountable. But we must also hold ourselves accountable,” KSLA Joe Sciortino told viewers in an on-air editorial. “After looking into the story, our correction and follow up should have come sooner and been more transparent.”
Here’s the text of what Sciortino said:
Hello, I am Joe Sciortino, Vice President and General Manager here at KSLA. You will soon see me on our station conducting editorials on issues important to the Ark-La-Tex. And while today, this is not the manner I would have chosen to introduce myself, I would like to address a story we aired just over two weeks ago. The story concerned a male teen charged with sexting and the claim made by his mother that the arrest and charges were racially motivated. While she had the freedom to make her claim. We left out an important fact in the story – that the female teen was charged as well. A fact that the Bossier Sheriff pointed out in a press conference he held last Thursday.
We work to gain your trust every day here at KSLA. Our relationship with local law enforcement, charged with keeping you safe and upholding the law, is very important. We regularly hold public officials accountable. But we must also hold ourselves accountable. After looking into the story, our correction and follow up should have come sooner and been more transparent.
We have taken steps to prevent this from happening in the future. Please know that we are committed to earning your trust every single day.