WFTS Staffers Fired for Spoof Just Latest in Trend

By Andrew Gauthier 

The Tampa Tribune

A gag news video that made its way to YouTube has cost a Tampa TV reporter her job. Other staffers involved at ABC affiliate WFTS, Channel 28, also have been terminated or disciplined.

Reporter Kerry Kavanaugh and photographer Jason Solowski are no longer employed at WFTS because of a fake news report that was intended as a birthday joke for a fellow employee.

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This is the latest example of how the electronic universe is tripping up journalists who have posted things online or sent e-mails and Twitter messages that have backfired on them. More…

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