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Bernie Ward
- Thread starter 1069_KIFR
- Start date
1069_KIFR said:
My Google email notification has not kicked in yet so I didn't see anything about it. I assume that many people subscribe to such notifications, so others probably didn't see the news, either.
And, apparently you have the story backwards. According to the Chronicle, his original plea was not guilty. It doesn't state what he's going to change his plea to, but I'd assume he'll change it to no contest (that is, guilty without admitting guilt).
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/05/07/BAE610I5P4.DTL
1069_KIFR said:
No, he's changing it FROM not guilty, not TO not guilty.
The question is ... what's he changing it to? Guilty? No contest?
It's already the second-most read article on SFGate.com today:
Bernie Ward to change not-guilty plea
Radio personality faces trial in month on child porn counts
Henry K. Lee, Chronicle Staff Writer
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
(05-06) 21:21 PDT San Francisco -- Former radio talk show host Bernie Ward, who pleaded not guilty in December to distributing and receiving child pornography via the Internet, plans to change his plea Thursday, federal court records show.
Ward, 57, is scheduled to appear before U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker in San Francisco to change his plea. He is a month away from going on trial.
Ward's attorney, Doron Weinberg, was unavailable for comment Tuesday night.
Complete story at:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/05/06/BAE610I5P4.DTL
(Ooops! Sorry -- I neglected to hit the "Post" button overnight ... so I repeated everything David Kaye said. Never mind!)
Of course, it's hard to say why he would change his plea not knowing all the details, but one guess might be that the evidence against him is so strong that he is now focused on making a long jail sentence shorter rather than trying to get his KGO job back. That seems to be a likely scenario, but only the insiders really know.
An announcement is expected today according to RadioEqualizer blog and he could get 10-15 yrs in a plea deal
http://radioequalizer.blogspot.com/
(at bottom of current post)
http://radioequalizer.blogspot.com/
(at bottom of current post)
Newsperson responds:
KGO is reporting that Bernie Ward would expect to receive a lot less than the 10 to 15 years raccomradio just commented about.
There must be some compelling reason that he has decided to change his plea now. I don't beleive that he is going into this plea blindly.
He may have a window of opportunity based upon a pending decesion on his last motion.
It does seem like there is a timely reason to do it now, he is not changing his plea to guilty now without a substancial benefit.
Your thoughts?
Newsperson
KGO is reporting that Bernie Ward would expect to receive a lot less than the 10 to 15 years raccomradio just commented about.
There must be some compelling reason that he has decided to change his plea now. I don't beleive that he is going into this plea blindly.
He may have a window of opportunity based upon a pending decesion on his last motion.
It does seem like there is a timely reason to do it now, he is not changing his plea to guilty now without a substancial benefit.
Your thoughts?
Newsperson
So how does Pete Townshend of The Who get out of trouble
after being accused of doing the same thing that got Gary
"Rock And Roll Part 2" Glitter and KGO's Bernie Ward in trouble?
And in England, they abhor that type of downloading...
As I recall, Ward said the same thing as Townshend: it was
done in the name of research...
Did I miss something in the literal interpretations of the law
somewhere?
Someone explain, please... :-\
--jay
after being accused of doing the same thing that got Gary
"Rock And Roll Part 2" Glitter and KGO's Bernie Ward in trouble?
And in England, they abhor that type of downloading...
As I recall, Ward said the same thing as Townshend: it was
done in the name of research...
Did I miss something in the literal interpretations of the law
somewhere?
Someone explain, please... :-\
--jay
Seems that Bernie sure stepped into it. Neck deep! Sad really sad. Leave the kids alone and out of fantasies. He deserves what he gets, I thought he was smarter than to get into a mess like this. He's quite brain dead and stuck on stupid. Sad.....
X
XM RADIO
Guest
As i recollect,,The 3rd most powerful talk show host always referred to Bernie as "Mr Softee" Savage trompled Bernie Ward in ratings! Great Job Mike Savage,,,Arrived at KSFO in 1994, and look at how hes Exploded on Talk Radio!!!!!!!! Get Help Bernie!!!!!!!!!
Newsperson responds:
The Embargo on Bernie Ward as a topic is over at KGO. Today was the first day ever that managment has allowed Bernie Ward's situation to be discussed over the air.
Because he had been an employee of KGO there were legal complications so they had to protect their interest. Also I believe that it shows more class not discussing it while all this turmoil has been going on.
Now that Bernie has decided to change his plea the situation has changed. Management has done the right thing by prohibiting the topic until now and I wouldn't have done it any sooner.
What are your thoughts on this?
Newsperson
The Embargo on Bernie Ward as a topic is over at KGO. Today was the first day ever that managment has allowed Bernie Ward's situation to be discussed over the air.
Because he had been an employee of KGO there were legal complications so they had to protect their interest. Also I believe that it shows more class not discussing it while all this turmoil has been going on.
Now that Bernie has decided to change his plea the situation has changed. Management has done the right thing by prohibiting the topic until now and I wouldn't have done it any sooner.
What are your thoughts on this?
Newsperson
I heard Gene Burns' show this evening, and thought it went very well for the most part. It was inevitable that KGO was going to HAVE to discuss this openly at some point, and with the plea change it gave them opportunity to do that.
As a professional listener (I drive a lot), I fully expected that KGO could not discuss this in the talk show forums for all the reasons Gene eluded to; it would be unfair for Bernie's defense and could get KGO in legal hot water as well. In fact, I would have been disappointed if the talk show hosts HAD discussed it. I really don't think KGO could have handled it any better; they were tyring hard to be fair about the entire situation.
Otherwise, I'm speechless about this whole situation. I guess you just never know.
As a professional listener (I drive a lot), I fully expected that KGO could not discuss this in the talk show forums for all the reasons Gene eluded to; it would be unfair for Bernie's defense and could get KGO in legal hot water as well. In fact, I would have been disappointed if the talk show hosts HAD discussed it. I really don't think KGO could have handled it any better; they were tyring hard to be fair about the entire situation.
Otherwise, I'm speechless about this whole situation. I guess you just never know.
raccoonradio said:
Quoting a blog is dumb. A blogger is no more informed than the rest of us. What's worse is that bloggers think they're doing journalism, but an important part of journalism is having an editor and someone to oversee the reporting. This is why a blog can never be the NY Times, or even the Chronicle for that matter.
"Quoting a blog is dumb. A blogger is no more informed than the rest of us."
People see things in print (including "virtual" print), assume it is true, then embellish it, and run with it. About a year ago, I said in a post that a particular local DJ was very talented, and speculated that he probably wouldn't be in the Bay Area very long, but would end up in Los Angeles or New York. Within two days, it was reported in multiple places (not just Radio Info) that he was leaving the Bay Area to work in LA. I'm reasonably sure I was the source. Somebody actually considered me an expert source...pretty laughable. The guy still works in SF.
As for the Ward situation - I tried hard to withold judgment, but it got very difficult to do as more information got out. I agree -very sad. And yes - KGO has handled it correctly.
People see things in print (including "virtual" print), assume it is true, then embellish it, and run with it. About a year ago, I said in a post that a particular local DJ was very talented, and speculated that he probably wouldn't be in the Bay Area very long, but would end up in Los Angeles or New York. Within two days, it was reported in multiple places (not just Radio Info) that he was leaving the Bay Area to work in LA. I'm reasonably sure I was the source. Somebody actually considered me an expert source...pretty laughable. The guy still works in SF.
As for the Ward situation - I tried hard to withold judgment, but it got very difficult to do as more information got out. I agree -very sad. And yes - KGO has handled it correctly.
I'm no libertarian, but I don't see how it's any of the government's business when it comes to what Bernie Ward or anybody else reads. I'm all for protecting kids from predators, but Ward isn't accused of doing anything more than downloading and passing on some offensive pictures to another adult. All of which makes me cringe, but not to the point where I want Big Brother to send him to an already overcrowded prison. The way it works in California they'll have to release a real criminal to make room for Bernie.
S
Stage5Clinger
Guest
Yeah, he's probably making the right decision, if he is pleaing. 66 years is a long time. Must have been some fairly damning evidence against him.
Btw, am I the only one that finds it ironic that he hosted a show called "God Talk?"
Btw, am I the only one that finds it ironic that he hosted a show called "God Talk?"
mls said:
In terms of free speech, I AM a libertarian, and I would agree with you about anything else except child porn. As far as I'm concerned, sexual activity that involves consenting adults should be allowed, and people should be free to film it, view it, and exchange it. But child-porn films and pictures exist because kids were exploited to produce it. We assume that children cannot give informed consent, even if they have not been physically forced.
So it's wrong, even if the kids were exploited in faraway Europe, Asia, or Africa. The way the system can best fight it is by punishing the consumers of child porn.
Having said that, I'm not necessarily saying that Bernie should go to prison for viewing it. But if he is indeed found guilty, there should be serious consequences of some kind for him.
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