Posts Tagged ‘NBC’

I shared with you earlier an email exchange between myself and NBC 26 reporter Kristoffer Engebretson (Kris Engebretson, the new Joe Friday of Green Bay: ‘Just the facts, ma’am’). I can’t believe this guy continues to try and debate this with me!

Here’s his latest installment in an increasingly more ludicrous conversation (note how he loses his professional cool and starts getting vindictive):

Do your research and check with the organizers, it is not a listening session or a debate, it is a rally. People on the left have been holding these same type of rallies. Your angle on this event is not a story.

If this was a listening session or a debate, it might be a story, but I still wouldn’t think it would qualify. There is nothing wrong with either side telling supporters to go out and show your support for any event. However, it was a story nationally, when the networks discovered information from groups telling supporters to disrupt the meetings.
That was a story.

And why don’t you ask Fox news why they cancelled their interview with you. I’m sure you would love that producers response.

Kristoffer Engebretson
NBC 26 Reporter

lol! I almost feel like a bully on the playground; this man is clearly not equipped to debate on any intellectual level. My response:

Kristoffer,

I am not a reporter, I am a private citizen. Researching stories is not my job, it’s yours; but we all know from your history of investigating that no research is required to back up your angle on a story; if a google search and a screen shot are evidence enough, the Organizing for America email should be as well. I have no angle on this event; all I have is what Organizing for America has told me in their email blast. Again (and this time I’ve highlighted the key terms enforcing my impression, since those points seem to be eluding your sharp journalistic instincts): ” He’ll be talking to constituents and gathering feedback on the need for reform. Whether you ask a question or show your support with a sign, attending this event is a powerful way to show where you stand and thank those in Congress who are fighting for reform.”

And, again, I agree with you that this is not a story, anymore than the story on me was. I just figured that if you were able to turn my story into a breathless expose, you’d have plenty of material to work with here.

Feel free to investigate the Fox news story; I’d love to see them cover this baby from beginning to end. I doubt you’d receive the same accolades from them that you received from Rachel Maddow. Please let us all know what you find out.

Heather Blish
Just a Mom From Down the Street

Let’s see if he can resist the temptation to further expose himself as the biased hack that he is.

Update: he couldn’t resist. Here’s Engebretson’s last (?) stand:

Again, feel free to contact the Fox News producer to find out why they cancelled their plans to put you on camera.

Kristoffer Engebretson
NBC 26 Reporter

My response?

That’s all you got left? Okay, I’m officially bored with this conversation.

May I suggest that instead of spending your morning engaging in a debate with a housewife about whether a story qualifies as a story, you may want to get out there and find out why Congressman Kagen’s office is still refusing to confirm that he will be at this event today, even though the email I received confirms that he will. Now that sounds like a story. Here, I’ll even throw you a bone: here’s some audio of Kagen completely dodging the question during an interview with a reporter on Monday: http://partyofknow.org/2009/08/24/answer-the-question-dude/

That’s a good start for you. Start investigating. Get some sunshine. It’s a beautiful day!

Thanks to Charlie Sykes and Rebecca Kleefisch for helping to further expose the lazy, irresponsible, agenda-driven “journalism” of Kristoffer Engebretson and NBC 26 WGBA.

“Our web reporter, Rebecca Kleefisch dissects a breathless television station’s “expose” of those townhall hooligans.” Source: KLEEFISCH: PIN THE BLAME ON THE “OPERATIVE” | Newsradio 620 – Milwaukee, Wisconsin News, Talk, Sports, Weather | Charlie Sykes

Read the full story of how one private citizen was nationally demonized after speaking out a town-hall meeting. We’re calling for a boycott of NBC 26 WGBA for allowing this kind of tabloid journalism. Join our Facebook group at http://www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=logo#/pages/Boycott-NBC26-in-Green-Bay/116519111023?ref=ts

NBC 26 WGBA, the station that ran the original hatchet-piece accusing me of being a Republican plant and a liar (and subsequently launching me into the national spotlight, igniting a barrage of hate mail, threats, and calls to my employer demanding that I be fired) has posted my account of that first week ON THEIR WEBSITE!!!

It’s been posted under the title “Heather Blish Letter”

As far as we can see, it has been posted in its entirety, although they have removed all links to the coverage and messed up the formatting of paragraphs etc.

What they’ve left intact is what really has us flabbergasted: complete paragraphs outlining detailed information that demonstrates the predatory interviewing style of their own reporter:

Shoving the mic and camera into my face, the reporter [Kristoffer Engebretson] began to badger me, asking if anyone had influence me to be there. Annoyed, I said no, and explained that I had only just learned about it this morning on Facebook. He looked cynical, and repeated the question, suggesting that because I was so well-informed, I must have been influenced by somebody to be there. I quickly took offense to that, and when he asked me again, I angrily responded that average people were educating themselves about this bill and getting involved. Again, he asked the same question, and finally I looked straight at him and said flat out: “No, I was not influenced to be here. I am not a member of the Republican Party.” I walked away, disgusted with what I perceived to be complete density on his part, gathered my children, and walked home.

…his complete refusal to follow-up and check his facts:

I wrote back, offering to produce the email of resignation with which I had ended my relationship with the party, as well as multiple witness inside and outside the party that would prove my statement, but I also asked him why I was “having to defend my independence? Even if I was associated with a larger organization, like ACORN for example, does that make my opinion somehow less valuable?” He didn’t respond (I can only assume he already had the story he wanted, and was not interested in allowing the facts to get in the way.)

…the devastating affects his irresponsible reporting had on an innocent private citizen:

By this time the hate mail had started. Multiple liberal blogs were linking to the Huffington Post article, and strangers who disagreed with me and had no other way to express it than to insult me personally began to find me in Facebook and send me messages. My employer was beginning to receive phone calls and emails from people demanding that I be fired for being a liar.

…his own lies as exposed during a his live interview on the Jerry Bader Show:

He [Bader] followed up the essay by interviewing the NBC reporter [Engebretson] live in Bader’s studio, during which time the reporter refused to answer the yes or no question: “Knowing what you now know, do you still believe that Heather Blish lied?” The reporter was caught in several lies of his own; Williams called in to the show and confronted the reporter about calling me a liar; the reporter denied it. Williams challenged him to release the footage from their conversation and exonerate himself; he dodged the challenge.

…and the left-leaning agenda-driven reporting of the station as a whole:

Stunningly, the reporter [Engebretson] admitted that he had gone to that event with instructions from his director not to report on the event, but to find Republican plants and expose them. He admitted on live radio that he had gone there with an agenda!

This mystery really has us drooling on our keyboards, so forthwith I am offering a free “Just a mom” t-shirt (or “Just a dad”/Just a [insert descriptor here]) to the first person who can offer an explanation that makes sense. We’re betting there won’t be any t-shirt giveaways on this one.

btw, if you’re interested in seeing the version of my account with all the coverage links intact, you’ll find it here.

At last! A journalist with integrity who is willing to do a little homework! Amanda Carpenter writes in today’s Washington Times…

“Heather Blish was shocked when big-name television personalities labeled her as a Republican operative after she made an impassioned plea to her congressman to quit letting Washington intervene in the free market during a town-hall meeting.

Mrs. Blish, a graphic designer, quit volunteering for the Republican Party last year because she was so disillusioned with Republican politics.

“The Republican Party wants nothing to do with me any more than I want anything to do with them,” she told The Washington Times.

But that didn’t matter to the local NBC reporter who aired the television piece about Mrs. Blish that was picked up by left-leaning outlets far and wide as evidence of dirty politics. ” Source: Hot Button – Washington Times

Ms. Carpenter goes on to say…

“It all began with a segment by Kristoffer Engebretson, a television reporter for the local NBC affiliate, who covered Democratic Rep. Steve Kagen’s meeting in Kewaunee, Wis. The TV spot was teased by a desk anchor who warned, “There were allegations of opponents being planted in the crowd” at the town hall.

Mrs. Blish was presented as a top example of such nefarious activities. Mr. Engebretson said Mrs. Blish “introduced herself as just a mom from a few blocks away not affiliated with any political party” but that information about her on social networking sites, such as Facebook, “showed something different.”

Mr. Engebretson strongly suggested she wasn’t truthful, citing information he found on LinkedIn.com, a business networking Web site, showing she had worked as vice chairman of her county’s Republican Party and volunteered for a Republican candidate in the past.

“Again, Blish introduced herself as just a mom with no affiliation with any party,” he emphasized again in the report.

“The Rachel Maddow Show” on MSNBC embraced the story during a show dedicated to exposing Republican operatives’ intent on disrupting town-hall meetings for political effect. “Ta-da! Journalism!” the host declared, smiling broadly, after showing the local news package. “Congratulations to Kristoffer Engebretson of that local station in Green Bay for going the extra step to find out what was behind the incivility in his town rather than just covering it like a ping-pong match.” Read the rest of this entry »

What’s stunning to me is the way that conservative bloggers have completely ignored this story [and I'll have more on that topic later]. Here, for the first time in print, is Heather Blish’s perspective on the media whirlwind around her confrontation last week with Congressman Kagen…

“In many ways, this has been the worst week of my life.

It all began last Thursday. I logged in to Facebook and saw that a friend of mine planned to attend a listening session held by my congressman just a few blocks from my home. Although I’d been aware that Congressman Kagen had been holding sessions across the district all week, I’d had no idea that he was going to be holding one in my home town. I struggled with the decision to attend the meeting and lose several hours of valuable time, but there was never really a choice. I’ve always been politically active, I had many legitimate concerns about the healthcare proposal being debated, and I knew that if I didn’t attend this meeting, I would have no right to complain if the bill passed into law. Read the rest of this entry »