KKOB’s now-resigned, award-winning news anchor Laura MacCallum offers a full statement, in her own words, in the wake of the station having pulled her stories on allegations of vote-buying by New Mexico’s U.S. Rep. Heather Wilson’s campaign at a recent GOP Delegate Nominating Convention in the state.
Though she wrote it prior to our speaking with her at length yesterday, the full statement was not posted until today. (Many of her comments from that exclusive interview, in which she replies to new explanations by the station’s News Director for having pulled her stories, were included in our detailed report last night)
The statement is posted in full on the blog of reporter Dennis Domrzalski, who originally broke the remarkable news of the spiked stories and MacCallum’s resignation, last Monday.
A few notable snippets from her full statement — in which she blasts KKOB, charging “This is not journalism. It is extortion,” and “Honesty and guts in journalism, print or broadcast, is becoming a thing of the past.” — are posted below…
Those who do abuse it are not journalists. They play to whatever side is winning, to whoever complains the loudest about coverage; they bury the truth in ad sales, or potentially pissing off advertisers.
Let’s say there was a car dealer who was finding ways to rip off buyers. The newspaper, radio station or TV station learns about the scam and does a story. Problem is for some of these journalist wannabes is this: The car dealer is a huge advertiser. He calls and bitches. Loudly. Threatens to take his money elsewhere. The news department now folds to those complaints. Readers, listeners and viewers are now done a disservice by cowardly news departments and managers who are afraid of losing ad revenue.
As I wrote in my letter of resignation to KKOB-AM last week after my pieces on alleged delegate-buying were canned by News Director Pat Allen:
This is not journalism. It is extortion.
…
Last time I checked, journos were supposed to serve the public interest. Last time I checked, it was a responsibility to inform voters of what some candidates were doing to influence the ability of OTHER qualified candidates from the SAME PARTY to run for office, and to alert them to any possible illegal…if not just plain cheesy…tactics to win. Things that were not ethical. Things that could affect voters in making their choices at the polls. Things that are now being investigated by the A/G’s office.
…
Somewhere along the line, the way news is covered changed. If you have ethics in the news business, you’re rapidly becoming a dinosaur.
…
Honesty and guts in journalism, print or broadcast, is becoming a thing of the past. Here in Albuquerque, the city’s now-only newspaper has refused to cover this story. I must wonder why.
Here’s the thing. While I may be unemployed today, I have no trouble sleeping. My conscience is clear. And, I certainly don’t worry about washing off any of that residual slime.
See MacCallum’s full statement for more details, including those on another recent allegation of political/ethical transgression by the KKOB management.
Wilson better get in friggin’ trouble. Sheesh. How the hell could they not know that was illegal? Republicans sure do like to cheat and stretch the rules a lot.
And I feel sorry for the poor journalist that got caught up in this. I would sure hate to be a journalist these days. Don’t people see how bad everything has gotten in the last 8 years?
Corrupted DOJ – Corrupted Congress – Corrupted Senate – Corrupted EPA – Corrupted CIA – Corrupted telecom companies – Corrupted Defense contractors – alleged selling of nuclear secrets by high-ranking US Officials – and, of course, Corrupted electoral system.
It will take us forever to fix all those things!
Well what do you do with a system that has gone bad, you junk it. Unless that was the plan all along, fuck it up and then sell the new fix to all us suckers.
Read the following story about the state of our elections in New Mexico. Note SoS mary Herrera’s comment:
New Mexico Secretary of State Mary Herrera isn’t worried about the machines or the software, according to her spokesman James Flores, although he also points out that ES&S contracts were signed prior to her administration.
Herrera was repeatedly unavailable for comment, but Flores reiterated her office’s confidence in the system.
“I have answered that same question several times, and that is: We are very confident with the system that is in place right now, with ES&S, and we look forward to the primary and general election,” he says. “We are very confident that it’s going to run smoothly, and we are going to do the best that we can””as we always do.”
I talked to the Bernalillo County clerks office this morning and got confirmation that the audit they are doing on ES&S M100 scanners, used throughout New Mexico (and thank god they are doing an audit), is turning up a 70% match rate between hand counts and machine counts…and they are starting with a 25% pull on the first round of auditing.
70%..70%…70? As in 30% of those votes were incorrectly counted.
Heather Wilson won her race in New Mexico’s 1st Congressional District (my district) by a vote margin of 862 votes, that number being less than one half of one percent of the votes cast in that race.
30% incorrectly counted.
You know it has got to be OLD “news” (oxymoron) when the director of the AP says the first amendment has been “damaged”:
(Raw Story). But what the dumb bastards still fail to realize that THEY are the enemy who damaged the first amendment, not alleged terrorists. No one twisted their arms to get them to become propagandists first, journalists last. They willingly jumped in bed with (“embedded”) the military propaganda orchestra.
They, the MSM, the f**king wimpy bastards that will not fight for America .. they capitulate, instead, to Amurka.
These bastards at K “corn” KOB, the MSM mini-me station, are cut from the same cloth. Wimpy f**kers who would sell the American First Amendment down the drain for a piece of bubble gum, support Amurka … land of the dumb Kommandah dumber Chief. Dorks, pathetic f**king dorks!
And the fascist retarded anal retentive Senate who voted to give the fascist owned and operated telecoms “immunity” from what “allegedly” took place (they stuck a stethascopeasaurus up America’s private parts) just in case so when BIG FUCKING BROTHER wants to get its rocks off again there will be no reprisals.
They all admit to “allegedly”, but really, violating the constitution:
(Raw Story). I am ranting because I have posted this stuff here for years. Ho fucking hum is the general reaction.
Now this criminal republican home of BIG BROTHER has fascism so institutionalized that the only reaction out there in Amurka is “Clem, pass me sum mo pork rinds before I bust yo ass” when they hear about this on Lilly Liver’s 6 PM newshit.
Meanwhile they keep on sticking the prod up America’s private parts while waving that Amurkan flag and pushing for more war crimes:
(Wired) And the weasel infested traitorous congress can’t seem to pull its head out of its ass either.
I hear much whining about passing the Purtek Amuka Akt so’s Clem Hatfield don’t get shot by John “Boy McCain” McCoy.
Fuck all those idiot Hatfield and McCoy republicans and the bushie dog democrats.
American flag waived, Amurkan flag waved.
And were the 30% random or skewed one way? Let me guess.
Don Seigelman case revisited on Dam Abrams tonight.
Time to put the robes on again . . . I rule that…
A.G. mukasey is as useless as tits on a bull !!!
speaking of election fraud,,,i printed the tx election results from their sos page on 3-5 now on 3-6 the early voting is dramatically dif for hill
ex:pres,senatorial district 19 3/5 she had 12,619 early votes today she has 27,413 early votes
obamas went from 23834 to 16919
they have about 45,000 more early votes to “find” so if some of u folks could watch and document it would be apprciated
Wow Dredd, nice rant!
All the best,
Hope for the future
Respect for the past
and
Love for NOW.
Dredd ~ Hang in there Bro we need ya in the Green. I think we have made shit happen and we will continue to make shit happen.
Hang in there Laura MacCallum. The right wind noise machine is falling apart and the power of the people will soon force the break up of media monopolies. There will be jobs for honest anchors like you. … Rrrrrriiiiiinnnngg! Damn alarm clock.
Dredd, great rant.
With Repubs being so enamored of ES&S/Diebold machines, I wonder if Hil’s increase in votes is a Repub thing. Why? Look at the poll with a McCain match up with Obama and Hil. Obama wipes McCain, Hil is much closer. All they need if for Bill to trot out, and we could have another close election to steal. Also, McCain’s win is tainted for some Red Staters, because neither Ron Paul, Huckabee, or the rich guy (how soon I forget or how old I am) got the number of votes that contributions and workers, and polls indicated. Hummmm. Election tampering, who’da thunk it?
Of course Hil thinks she won, wouldn’t you? They are both campaigning flat out.
Laura MacCallum,
Thank You, it’s folks like you & Brad that made America great !
Universal Soldier (a little more univerasal)
She’s five foot-two, and she’s six feet-four,
She fights with missiles, words and spears.
She’s all of sixty-one, and she’s only seventeen,
Been a soldier for a thousand years.
She’a a Catholic, a Hindu, a Christian, an Atheist, a Jain,
A Buddhist, A Muslim and a Baptist and a Jew.
And she knows he shouldn’t kill,
And she knows he always will,
Kill you for me my friend and me for you.
And she’s fighting for Canada,
She’s fighting for France,
She’s fighting for the USA,
And she’s fighting for the Russians,
And she’s fighting for Japan,
And he thinks we’ll put an end to war this way.
And she’s fighting for Democracy,
She’s fighting for the Reds,
He says it’s for the peace of all.
He’s the one who must decide,
Who’s to live and who’s to die,
And he never sees the writing on the wall.
But without him,
How would Hitler have condemned him at Dachau?
Without her Caesar would have stood alone,
She’s the one who gives her body
As a weapon of the war,
And without him all this killing can’t go on.
He’s the Universal Soldier and he really is to blame,
His orders come from far away no more,
They come from here and there and you and me,
And brothers & sisters can’t you see,
This is not the way we put the end to war.
Nice twist JOJ!
Thanks Ancient.
There was way too many “he’s” in that tune I’m waiting to see what Buffy thinks.