Guv’s office, TV station spar over report

As our own Trip Jennings reported earlier this week, Gov. Bill Richardson left a press conference rather abruptly when reporters asked him off-topic questions about a federal investigation into a 2004 agreement between California based CDR Financial Products Inc. and the New Mexico Finance Authority that netted the company almost $1.5 million. The company happened to get the contract after donating $100,000 to two of Richardson’s political action committees.

“Richardson’s abrupt departure was out of character for a governor who usually lingers at the end of news conferences to shake hands and mingle with individuals in the room,” Jennings said. “But on Tuesday he never made eye contact with the reporters.”

As it turns out, Channel 13 KRQE caught the moment on film and aired it on their evening telecast. Yesterday, they had a rather intense interaction with Richardson’s spokesperson, Gilbert Gallegos. In a lengthy e-mail dispute, Gallegos said the station was unprofessional and dishonest because it aired footage of Gallegos that Gallegos claimed was gained by reporters who were attempting to hide their microphone and the fact that their camera was rolling.

The station’s news director said the reporters were simply doing their jobs and never tried to hide anything, and in the process takes Gallegos to task for the fact that Richardson refused to answer legitimate questions about the “public’s business.”

Here are excerpts of the exchange, which you can see in its entirety here.

From: Gallegos, Gilbert, GOV [mailto:Gilbert.Gallegos@state.nm.us]
Sent: Wednesday, December 17, 2008 11:28 AM
To: Forrest Carr
Cc: Paul Burt; Dave Bohman
Subject: Complaint about story

Mr. Carr,

I want to register a complaint about Dave Bohman’s story and the deceitful tactics he used at the Governor’s news conference yesterday.

… it was dishonest to portray the story the way you did. After taking several questions about the subject of the news conference, the Governor chose to end it. As he left, two reporters — not Dave Bohman — shouted out questions on another issue. Dave had a hand-held microphone, and he may have spoken into that. But he did not make an effort to get the Governor’s attention following the news conference, contrary to your news report.

In any case, the Governor chose not to answer questions other than those related to the news conference. When Dave and another reporter requested a one-on-one interview with the Governor, I told both reporters that the Governor would not comment on the issue. I said that I released a statement in August on this issue, and that nothing has changed since I first released that statement. I told them I was happy to provide that statement to them. They agreed. When I returned and handed the statement to both reporters, Dave asked me why nobody would go on camera to address this issue. I noticed that he was hiding the hand-held microphone, so rather than answer his question, I turned and walked away. Obviously, I did not know that his colleague, who acted like he was putting his camera away, actually had it rolling on me. It’s your prerogative to use that footage and call it news. But it is unprofessional and dishonest.

Several media outlets reported that the Governor refused to answer questions about this issue. That’s fine. But they were not dishonest about their news gathering.

Gilbert Gallegos
Deputy Chief of Staff
Office of New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson

From: Forrest Carr [mailto:Forrest.Carr@krqe.com]
Sent: Wednesday, December 17, 2008 11:59 AM
To: Gallegos, Gilbert, GOV
Cc: Paul Burt; Dave Bohman; Bill Anderson; Dick Knipfing; Iain Munro
Subject: RE: Complaint about story

Dear Mr. Gallegos:

Based on what you are telling me here, I don’t see any proof or even a hint of anything deceptive. You imply in one sentence that the Governor didn’t hear Dave’s question. If that were true and it were simply a matter of the Governor not hearing the question, then it would be easy to make amends, apologize, and give him another opportunity to speak with us and address this issue. But then you immediately follow up with a statement that the Governor deliberately chose not to answer questions of the nature Mr. Bohman was trying to ask. And you further follow up by saying that the Governor will not be granting one on one interviews on this subject, either. Ipso facto, the Governor is ignoring interview questions on this issue, exactly as we reported. I don’t see that any retraction, correction or apology is necessary. If I’m missing something, I’d be happy to discuss this further.

Nor do I see that an apology is necessary for having our camera rolling during Mr. Bohman’s attempt to question you on this issue. I don’t see that your accusation of dishonesty is supported by the facts. The camera was not hidden, nor was the microphone. I assure you we were attempting no deception. You state yourself that you spotted both the camera and the microphone and walked away for that specific reason. That is your choice. However, I would remind you that you are a public official, and that this was a public event to which the media were invited. You may assume in the future that if our cameras and microphones are present, they will be in use. Our purpose is not to embarrass you. However, as a matter of philosophy, we believe public officials have a duty to speak publicly about the public’s business. The level of access we get in pursuit of a response from those in power will be a feature of our reporting, as it was last night. And as a practical matter, what would have been the harm of answering Mr. Bohman’s question? I believe our viewers would like to hear from the Governor, or at very least from his staff, face to face, that nothing inappropriate is going on or has gone on. A short, two-month-old written statement is a cold substitute for that.

…

Sincerely,

Forrest Carr
News Director
KRQE/KASA
13 Broadcast Plaza SW
Albuquerque, NM 87104
(505) 764-5296

In his relatively brief reply, Gallegos stuck to pressing his case that the station was unprofessional, with Carr replying that had the reporter wanted to hide his camera he would have done so successfully, and that the station’s reporting is always on the record, including any forms of communication it uses to gather information — such as this particular e-mail exchange.