ib-td 1 Posted July 12, 2007 Share Posted July 12, 2007 07/11/07 - (from Miami.com) - Miami-Dade Police Director Robert Parker fired a warning shot at WFOR-CBS4. Parker wants the station to preserve any notes and documents that led to ''an erroneous and reckless broadcast'' that his son had been busted for armed robbery. Parker, 53, is considering a lawsuit -- for slander and defamation damages, according to a letter from his attorney, Timothy M. Martin, to CBS brass. The station aired the report on Oct. 2, 2006. Martin's letter demands $500,000 to settle the matter out of court. 'Despite having no confirmation . . . WFOR-CBS4 . . . broke into regularly scheduled programming with an `exclusive' story that Robert Parker Jr. . . . had been arrested over the weekend in Davie,'' the letter states. Parker called a press conference that same morning, saying the TV report was false. He said the story was a ''great travesty'' that injured his reputation. CBS4 quickly issued a retraction. Martin, a former Miami-Dade police homicide detective, also represents the junior Parker, 21, a Florida International University student. The CBS4 story ''socially embarrassed and humiliated'' him, the letter says. ``Needless to say, Robert Parker Jr. has never been arrested or placed in police custody.'' Parker's wife, Veronica, 54, is a Miami-Dade police lieutenant, and daughter Kalika, 28, is a police officer. CBS4 vice president and station manager Tom Doerr declined comment. (The report aired a month before Doerr arrived at CBS4 from KTVT in Dallas.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amra 130 Posted July 13, 2007 Share Posted July 13, 2007 Indeed. CBS 4 should settle. They made a mistake. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ElliotJones 52 Posted July 14, 2007 Share Posted July 14, 2007 That is so incredibly wrong. How could they not only broadcast incorrect information, but break into regular programming? Was it really THAT important, had it been true? So I hear there's an open News Director position at WFOR now... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ntropolis 593 Posted July 14, 2007 Share Posted July 14, 2007 One word, Matt. RATINGS. Two more words: South Florida. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdcnow 14 Posted July 14, 2007 Share Posted July 14, 2007 One word, Matt. RATINGS. Two more words: South Florida. Two other words come to mind, if I'm correct: Tabloid Heaven. EDIT >> One could easily argue that this is just as bad as the WTMJ incident: http://www.tvnewstalk.net/forum/index.php/topic,1038.0.html Some friends and I were discussing this yesterday, that if he had been anyone else's son, that no one would bat an eyelash (pardon the pun, CBS 4). But because his father is a member of the top brass at the local police dept., that makes it "major serious breaking news". It's always unfair that preacher's kids, police officer's kids, pillars-of-the-community's kids, etc. are unfairly held to a higher standard than the rest of us. And when there is even the alligation, the very suspicion, that these particular kids may be doing something they shouldn't, there are always these filthy wolves (like WFOR in this case) who lie in wait for the kill (or in this case to point the finger). Shame on WFOR for not doing the proper due dilligence and for essentially taking the attitude of "truth be damned, because this story sounds so juicy". This is "Gotcha! Journalism" taken too darn far and simply run amok. And that's my $0.02 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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