Media Frenzy

By Rob Holbert Managing Editor

In the end, Glenn Austin got what he wanted most—WKRG to admit he had never committed plagiarism and that he had been fired unjustly.

WKRG agreed last week to settle a lawsuit Austin filed after being fired Jan. 25, 2007 after 12 at the CBS affiliate as a reporter. At the time, WKRG claimed Austin had plagiarized a story from the Pensacola News-Journal by sending it in an e-mail to WKRG’s Web master, who posted it online under Austin’s name. Austin always maintained the item had been sent to the entire news staff strictly as an informational item and was inadvertently posted.

The result was that Austin was fired and WKRG repeatedly broadcasted a story about his firing and alleged plagiarism. On March 8, the station was forced to retract its past statements about Austin. WKRG settled the suit for an undisclosed amount of cash and the promise to run a retraction both on air and in its Web site.

The retraction was read on air and appeared under News Director Dan Cates’ byline on the Web site. It read: “A lawsuit between WKRG and a former reporter has been resolved. Glenn Austin was dismissed in 2007 over an allegation of plagiarism, which Austin denied. After further investigation, WKRG accepts Austin’s position that there was no intent to commit plagiarism.”

The retraction ran on March 8, a Saturday night and typically one of the least viewed broadcasts of the week. The station also ran the retraction on its site over the weekend, but removed it after 24 hours.

Still, Austin feels vindicated.

“This was never about money. It was about restoring trust in my name. It’s been a year and it’s been difficult on my family, my wife and kids. When you spend 27 years telling the truth, to have someone say I lied and stole when I didn’t is unacceptable,” Austin said. “I never committed plagiarism, bottom line. It never occurred to me to commit plagiarism.”

Following his firing, Austin said he tried to land at another station, but no one would touch him with the cloud of plagiarism hanging over his head. Eventually he landed a position as the public information office at the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office, a position he currently holds.

When he was fired, Austin told Lagniappe his firing was part of a plot by Cates to “ruin” him. Austin said the Web master admitted the mistake to WKRG bosses, but Austin was still canned. Austin says the Web master even quit the station the following week out of disgust over what had happened. He was deposed as part of Austin’s suit.

“He was deposed under oath and I think that was critical in me winning my case,” Austin said.

Austin said Cates was also deposed, as were other members of WKRG’s leadership.

“During his (Cates’) deposition I sat at the table and listened to him and he listened to me during mine,” Austin said.

Austin says he was buoyed over the year by the support of people in the community - many of them strangers - who offered words of support and said they didn’t believe the claims of plagiarism. As for Cates, Austin says he has no knowledge whether WKRG or its corporate ownership at Media General has any intention to take action against him.

“Any disciplinary action he receives is left up to corporate,” Austin said.

Attempts to get comment from Cates and WKRG General Manager Joe Golenowski were unsuccessful prior to deadline.

Austin says he hopes the retraction will clear his name and give him the opportunity to consider a career in journalism again—a career he still loves.

“Someone asked me after this was settled, ‘Are you happy?’ I’m not sure. None of this ever should have happened,” Austin said. “I don’t know what the future’s going to hold, but I love doing TV news. I really love it.”

Curran v. “60 Minutes”

Press-Register investigative reporter Eddie Curran has recently been waging a war of words with one of the nation’s most venerable television news magazines—“60 Minutes.”

Curran’s ire was raised when “60 Minutes” recently ran a segment carrying accusations that former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman is currently sitting in jail as the result of a Republican plot hatched by President Bush’s adviser Karl Rove. Curran, who wrote many of the seminal pieces that led to Siegelman’s indictment and conviction, says he was incensed by the “60 Minutes” piece and what he considers sloppy, if not intentionally biased, reporting by correspondent Scott Pelley.

At the heart of Curran’s problem with the story is the extensive interview with Jill Simpson, a woman who claims Rove charged her with following Siegelman to obtain evidence of an affair. During the aired interview, which can be seen on “60 Minutes’” Web site, Simpson makes several claims against Rove, but offers zero corroborating evidence any of it ever happened. Simpson also claimed Rove asked her for additional information on Siegelman, but never mentioned what it might have been.

“There were a lot of questions not answered by ‘60 Minutes.’ She says Karl Rove asked her for other information. I think even a rookie reporter would have asked her what information. It seemed they just went for the simple denial by Carl Rove,” Curran said.

Curran fired off a letter via e-mail to “60 Minutes” and also disseminated it among friends and colleagues. That letter has now made the rounds and found its way into the hands of highly placed people in politics and journalism. Curran has found himself debating the issue online at the Montgomery Independent site with Scott Horton, a writer for Harper’s magazine’s Web site who has taken up ending Siegelman’s incarceration as a cause.

Curran is currently on sabbatical from the Press-Register and is working on a book about Siegelman. He says “60 Minutes” has not responded to his criticism.

McKinney arrested

Charles Scott McKinney, 42, whose shows used to be heard on WNSP radio locally, was arrested March 7 in Santa Rosa Beach and charged with six counts of committing investment fraud by selling investment opportunities in several of his companies, according to the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office.

According to a press release, “between July 2005 and December 2006, McKinney used his professional status as a sports talk radio host associated with ‘Southern Sports Tonight’ to gain access to, and the trust of, local investors. They say he issued them Membership Stock Certificates, provided Partnership Agreements, and Business Prospectuses. By providing false and misleading information and as a result of his actions, McKinney obtained nearly $140,000.”

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Rob Holbert is Lagniappe managing editor. Contact him at rholbert@lagniappemobile.com.

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