Rebecca Aguilar, a now-suspended reporter at KDFW-TV in Dallas, accepts the "Broadcast Journalist of the Year" award at a National Association of Hispanic Journalists gala on October 4. DALLAS (maynardije.org), October 18, 2007:
A Dallas reporter who two weeks ago was awarded Broadcast Journalist of the Year honors from the National Association of Hispanic Journalists has been suspended indefinitely after viewer complaints that she appeared insensitive to the plight of the 70-year old subject of a story.
Robert Wilonsky reported the episode this way Wednesday on his Dallas Observer blog:
"Monday night, KDFW-Channel 4 ran a piece about 70-year-old James Walton, owner of Able Walton Machine & Welding in West Dallas, who, early Sunday morning, shot and killed [a] man trying to break into his business. What made Walton's story so extraordinary was that it was the second time he'd killed an intruder in three weeks. As it happens, Walton also lives at his place of business.
". . . Rebecca Aguilar's piece elicited a torrent of outrage, both on local blogs (chiefly FrontBurner but also elsewhere) and from viewers who began deluging the station with angry calls Monday night and much of the day yesterday. As Trey Garrison pointed out on D's blog:
"'This is her idea of journalism? Ambushing a 70-year-old man who has been through life-and-death twice in three weeks?
"Are you a trigger happy kind of person? Is that what what you wanted to do? Shoot to kill?" Good Lord, I hate the people in this field.'
"Well, Trey need not worry about Aguilar, at least for a while: Unfair Park has confirmed that Aguilar . . . has been indefinitely suspended, based on concerns about how Aguilar treated Walton."
National Association of Hispanic Journalists (NAHJ) wrote the station manager late Thursday urging that Rebecca Aguilar be reinstated "for the sake of good journalism and maintaining your newscasts' credibility in the local community and national journalism community."
"What she did was obtain an exclusive interview for your station in a professional manner. This is far from the 'ambush' that has been portrayed in the blogosphere," Rafael Olmeda, NAHJ president, wrote to Kathy Saunders, vice president and general manager of the station.
"Her suspension certainly mystifies us. The only explanation we can think of is that the news director, Maria Barrs, let herself be unduly influenced by the emails being received at the station from a certain segment of the viewers who apparently have other agendas and not journalism principles as their main concern.
". . . The unceremonious and humiliating way Ms. Barr walked Ms. Aguilar out of the station before the astonished looks of her colleagues on Tuesday adds insult to injury. Even more shocking to us, Ms. Aguilar has received death threats by phone at your station as a result of this story, yet has not received support from her supervisors or management."
Saunders did not return telephone calls from Journal-isms on Thursday. Aguilar referred calls to her lawyer, who was not immediately available.
ANOTHER REPORT ON THIS DEVEOPMENT:
James Walton has been through a lot recently. The 70 year old senior citizen shot and killed 2 suspected burglars within a three week span at his business and place of residence in Dallas. This prompted a Fox News reporter to track him down and berate him on camera until he broke down and cried. The reporter, Rebecca Aguilar, tracked the man down in a parking lot where he was buying a new shot gun to replace the one that was confiscated by police as evidence in the latest incident. From there she followed the man to his car where she stood over him and berated him with questions such as "Are you a trigger happy person? Is that what you wanted to do; shoot to kill?"By Tery Tippany of NEWS BUSTERS
