A County Commissioner in Wichita, Kan., refused to talk to a reporter for a Spanish language station because he said she was an advocate for illegal immigration.
“I’m not going to do your interview for Univision,” Sedgwick County Commission chairman Richard Ranzau told Univision reporter Beatriz Parres when she asked about the possibility he’ll be removed from office in a recall election. Parres told Ranzau she also works for CBS affiliate KWCH. But he still refused. He later spoke to another KWCH reporter.
Ranzau told The Eagle he thinks Parres is “not interested in being a reporter; she’s interested in being an activist for illegal immigration. She’s working with that advocacy group.”
Ranzau said he was willing to speak with “legitimate news organizations.” But “if you want to be an advocate and pose as a journalist, then I’m not sure I’m interested in being part of your propaganda,” he said.
Asked what evidence he had of that, Ranzau said, “That’s my belief. She evidently knows them very well and some of her comments and this, that and the other.”
KWCH news director Brian Gregory defended Parres.
“Bea Parres is not an activist, she is a journalist and an employee of Sunflower Broadcasting, Inc., primarily reporting for KDCU, but also reporting for KWCH and KSCW,” he said in an e-mail. “As a journalist, she has covered events put on by advocacy groups; however she is not an advocate for them.
image: Bo Rader – Wichita Eagle