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Rebecca Aguilar Sues KDFW-Channel 4
- Thread starter SirFreebie1975
- Start date
Im going to post some notes I placed on another local media board concerning the issue:
As a regular observer of the local media, I cant see anyway to defend either aguillar or barras in this situation. Both these folks ran roughshod on an assignment about someone who was legally defending his property(a right in this country the last time I checked), then harrassed him about it when he went to replace his shotgun. Then, when managment needed to step in and draw the line at both good journalism and taste, they allowed the story to air. To me, that shows a total lack of control and respect for true journalism thats sorely lacking in many news rooms across this city and country. The "If it bleeds, it leads" mentality has damaged the credibility of broadcast journalism as a whole. Why Barras didnt get tossed from her position as well is a question alot of us are still asking.
As a regular observer of the local media, I cant see anyway to defend either aguillar or barras in this situation. Both these folks ran roughshod on an assignment about someone who was legally defending his property(a right in this country the last time I checked), then harrassed him about it when he went to replace his shotgun. Then, when managment needed to step in and draw the line at both good journalism and taste, they allowed the story to air. To me, that shows a total lack of control and respect for true journalism thats sorely lacking in many news rooms across this city and country. The "If it bleeds, it leads" mentality has damaged the credibility of broadcast journalism as a whole. Why Barras didnt get tossed from her position as well is a question alot of us are still asking.
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Spoken like a regular observer who's not too observent. Who is barras?
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Slambang said:I meant BARRS, seeing I actually work during the day, I was paying attention to my job while writing...
Sorry to question you. I'm gonna have to get me one of them "jobs" one of these days.
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Slambang said:
Pretty touchy. People who slam other people on the net should not be so thin skinned. It ain't pretty.
Ive been sick this past weekend (still am) so I apologize for snapping at ya folks. That being said, lets get the train back on track to dicuss the real issue at hand.
In this case, We have a ex-reporter that you can fall on one side or the other on, albeit you liked her work or you didnt. I liked her work until this incident, which really went over the line of good taste and respectible journalism. My point is that everyone up and down the line in the newsroom, including the ND, need to take their responsibility for this mess, seeing the reporter was fired and the photog/editor got placed on some sort of leave. When you dont know what your staff (Reporters, Producers, Photogs, Editors, ect..) are doing on a daily process, especially when they built a package around such a contentious issue, you need to be held accountable , especially if your managment, to a much higher standard. It doesnt have anything to do with Rebecca Aguilar being mexican (she is mexican btw, not hispanic, as she isnt from spain) or a woman for the reason she was let go, it was the simple fact she crossed the professional line in covering this story. The whole lawsuit really has no base, except for her to make some extra money, seeing shes pretty much received the blackball from the industry at the present.
In this case, We have a ex-reporter that you can fall on one side or the other on, albeit you liked her work or you didnt. I liked her work until this incident, which really went over the line of good taste and respectible journalism. My point is that everyone up and down the line in the newsroom, including the ND, need to take their responsibility for this mess, seeing the reporter was fired and the photog/editor got placed on some sort of leave. When you dont know what your staff (Reporters, Producers, Photogs, Editors, ect..) are doing on a daily process, especially when they built a package around such a contentious issue, you need to be held accountable , especially if your managment, to a much higher standard. It doesnt have anything to do with Rebecca Aguilar being mexican (she is mexican btw, not hispanic, as she isnt from spain) or a woman for the reason she was let go, it was the simple fact she crossed the professional line in covering this story. The whole lawsuit really has no base, except for her to make some extra money, seeing shes pretty much received the blackball from the industry at the present.
Slambang said:
Technically, most modern day Mexicans and their descendents here in the United States are Hispanic since their ancestry is Spanish. Look it up. Also note the capitalization of Mexican, Hispanic and Spain since they are all proper nouns. It sounds like you want to use Mexican as a derogatory term. But a nationality in itself is not derogatory. There are good people and bad people everywhere.
The point I was attempting to make fred is that she and her lawyer are playing "The Card" in this lawsuit and not the fact she royally screwed up in her handling of a story for the reason she was placed on leave,then fired. Im just tired of people trying to excuse themselves for being on the wrong side of a problem due to being an ethnicity, religion or gender preference. I know for a fact Fox4 has a diversified news staff of all races, creeds, religions and gender preferences, so the lawsuit is pretty much bubkis.
As a side note, im married to a very lovely latina lady who calls herself mexican, not hispanic. I tell ya people are too touchy when it comes to who they are and where they came from. Maybe we should all just start calling ourselves "Americans", it would save alot of headaches.
As a side note, im married to a very lovely latina lady who calls herself mexican, not hispanic. I tell ya people are too touchy when it comes to who they are and where they came from. Maybe we should all just start calling ourselves "Americans", it would save alot of headaches.
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I think what this really proves is if you are an irritant around the newsroom, you'd better not open yourself up to an incident where they can fire you. I don't know Rebecca well, but from what I've heard, she was not a fun person to work with. As I said, I don't know her well and this info is second hand. I wish her luck finding a new job.
Hal said:
I think sometimes, being an irritant is a good thing, look at Edward R Murrow and how he was an irritant when standing up to Joe Mccarthy back during the red witchhunts in the 1950s. It wasnt popular with CBS managment at the time, but he stepped up not just for his inner circle, but the rest of americans as well.
Then, there is Rebecca Aguilar, who from what has been reported from various sources was a pain to alot of people in the news room "just because". Ive dealt with "talent" in the past in the form of anchors, reporters and various other on-air personalities, most ironically are usually very down to earth people who do their job and respect their co-workers. Theres always a few "rebeccas" in every news room/radio station who dont really care about anyone else except themselves. Most of that can be tied to how they were raised or what happens in their personal life that forms those mental attitudes that then move into the physical realm.
Allow me to chime in...
As I understand the story, and I've gotten all this info second-hand, Aguilar was fired for her handling of the story in which someone used a firearm to defend his property. As has been said, this was not a live story, so someone should have been able to vet the story before it aired. So there was the first "mistake" (I'm going to leave Aguilar's politics and stance on gun control out of the discussion for now). The second "mistake" was in placing Aguilar and the photog on leave, then firing Aguilar, instead of doing some sort of "other side" of the story (perhaps looking at the "Castle Doctrine" and the legalities of using a firearm for protection, going all the way to the Second Amendment). That's what a responsible news department does. So the third "mistake" was in news management acting like they agreed with airing the story (it did, after all, air) and then backtracking and playing CYA and firing Aguilar.
But using race as an excuse to file a lawsuit alleging wrongful termination is certain to get the case thrown out of court. If FOX 4's attorneys are at all on the ball, and they can prove Aguilar's firing was as a result of the story and not her ethnicity, then she won't see a penny. If, however, they cave and settle the case, the entire reasoning behind her firing goes out the window. And reporters will still not be held accountable for the stories they air (or the politics they espouse unabashedly while on the air) until after the fact.
This goes to prove that news management needs to do a better job of managing their reporters and the stories that air. The viewing public is not stupid. Already people get their news from sources other than TV, radio or print. Whether it's accurate or not (and you can visit any half-dozen news websites and get a pretty good idea of what's going on just by averaging the stories), TV news is a dying beast. Perhaps no amount of responsibility, accountability, or accuracy will help stave off its demise, but the least they can do is treat their viewers as though they have a brain, and just report the facts. Let the viewers make up their minds. We don't need to see a slanted piece done by a reporter with an apparent anti-gun bias that seeks to attack a law-abiding citizen for defending his property.
And yes, Hal, reporters need to be "irritants" to those who seek to cover up the truth, mislead their citizens (hear me, o elected representatives?) or otherwise do somebody wrong. But they have to be able to work with the others in their newsroom, too.
As I understand the story, and I've gotten all this info second-hand, Aguilar was fired for her handling of the story in which someone used a firearm to defend his property. As has been said, this was not a live story, so someone should have been able to vet the story before it aired. So there was the first "mistake" (I'm going to leave Aguilar's politics and stance on gun control out of the discussion for now). The second "mistake" was in placing Aguilar and the photog on leave, then firing Aguilar, instead of doing some sort of "other side" of the story (perhaps looking at the "Castle Doctrine" and the legalities of using a firearm for protection, going all the way to the Second Amendment). That's what a responsible news department does. So the third "mistake" was in news management acting like they agreed with airing the story (it did, after all, air) and then backtracking and playing CYA and firing Aguilar.
But using race as an excuse to file a lawsuit alleging wrongful termination is certain to get the case thrown out of court. If FOX 4's attorneys are at all on the ball, and they can prove Aguilar's firing was as a result of the story and not her ethnicity, then she won't see a penny. If, however, they cave and settle the case, the entire reasoning behind her firing goes out the window. And reporters will still not be held accountable for the stories they air (or the politics they espouse unabashedly while on the air) until after the fact.
This goes to prove that news management needs to do a better job of managing their reporters and the stories that air. The viewing public is not stupid. Already people get their news from sources other than TV, radio or print. Whether it's accurate or not (and you can visit any half-dozen news websites and get a pretty good idea of what's going on just by averaging the stories), TV news is a dying beast. Perhaps no amount of responsibility, accountability, or accuracy will help stave off its demise, but the least they can do is treat their viewers as though they have a brain, and just report the facts. Let the viewers make up their minds. We don't need to see a slanted piece done by a reporter with an apparent anti-gun bias that seeks to attack a law-abiding citizen for defending his property.
And yes, Hal, reporters need to be "irritants" to those who seek to cover up the truth, mislead their citizens (hear me, o elected representatives?) or otherwise do somebody wrong. But they have to be able to work with the others in their newsroom, too.
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