“Witch”-Gate: Binky & WRAL got some ‘splainin’ to do

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Splainin'ToDo-8x6Who Killed JFK?  Who shot JR?  DID Martin Nesbitt really call Aldona Wos a witch?

WRAL’s  Mark “Binky” Binker — Cagney to Laura Leslie’s Lacey — has had the North Carolina political world atwitter over his reporting about DHHS Secretary Aldona Wos’ recent appearance before a legislative committee. He included  a quote attributed to Senate Democrat leader Martin Nesbitt that appeared to suggest Nesbitt was calling Wos a ‘witch.’

Other media outlets ran with the reporting that included that quote.   The problem is — video of the hearing (fast forward to 3:25) in question appears to suggest Binker did a bit of creative writing.

Binker originally quoted Nesbitt saying THIS:

“I’ve been sitting in here reading it and digesting it for the past two hours,” Nesbitt said. “The second thing is, it’s not a witch hunt to try to find out what went on, and all of these changes were made by this administration after they took over … There’s not – maybe the lady who wrote the article was on a witch hunt. I think she found one.”

Now, if you browse over to WRAL’s site, you’ll see this article has been inexplicably edited:

“I’ve been sitting in here reading it and digesting it for the past two hours,” Nesbitt said. “The second thing is, it’s not a witch hunt to try to find out what went on, and all of these changes were made by this administration after they took over … There’s not – maybe the lady who wrote the article was on a witch hunt. I think she found one – a little.”

Well — as those TV anchors have always said, let’s go to the tape.  After watching and listening to WRAL’s own video, I found that the last sentence in the above Nesbitt quote should read: “I think she found a little.”  That’s a far cry from the original quote.

WRAL’s site shows Binker’s original story was posted on Tuesday, and “updated” on Saturday.  The update — amazingly, even with the availability of video — STILL got it wrong.

Did the personal feelings of Binker or the editorial staff ooze into the content of Binker’s post?   Is this evidence of a political agenda by Binker and / or WRAL?  Or is it incompetence? Either way — this inflicts a beating on Binker and WRAL’s credibility as a news source.

WRAL viewers need a serious, credible explanation here.  It looks like senator Nesbitt and secretary Wos also deserve an apology.