KDFW out of line with ambush reporting
Update: KDFW is demanding the video be pulled. I’ve updated the video embed below to point to a source where it’s still online.
KDFW, a Dallas-Fort Worth television station, crossed the line into sensationalist drivel when Rebecca Aguilar, an apparent award-winning reporter, ambushed a 70-year-old man in his car after he defended his property and life with deadly force. He shot a burglar and killed him. As luck would have it, he also had to do that another time in the past three weeks, thanks to the inability of local police to respond in time - both times. The man lives at his place of business, so it’s not like he’s camped out at work waiting to cap some thug’s ass; he was in his residence.
The insensitive “journalism” practiced by the professionals at KDFW has apparently resulted in Aguilar’s being suspended for some time. James Walton, the man who had to shoot two criminals, sat in his car tearing up, something that’s understandable as the man just had to take a life or risk losing his own, while Aguilar asked such unbiased questions as “Are you a trigger happy kind of person? Is that what what you wanted to do? Shoot to kill?”
The station’s craptastic berating of the man is creating a backlash here in Texas and the blogosphere. Dan Riehl has a piece, as do Michelle Malkin, Captain Ed and Instapundit. Add me to the list of pissed-off gun-enthusiasts.
Aguilar and the entire editorial staff at KDFW should be forced to take a two-day self-defense course at a local gun range. Hell, take a Concealed Handgun License (CHL) course and learn what responsible gunowners are really like. Of course they have to pass the criminal background check.
If you want to express your opinions to the management of KDFW, here’s some contact information:
News director
Maria.Barrs@foxtv.com
Vice President and General Manager
Kathy.Saunders@foxtv.com
October 18th, 2007 at 21:41 EDT
A very typical example of the pompous, self-righteous attitude of most so-called journalists. And they claim they can be ‘unbiased’. Oh, please.
October 19th, 2007 at 05:00 EDT
If KDFW had any real sense, they’d apologize very publicly and then maybe auction the original tape on eBay, donating the proceeds to the DAV, or…?
October 19th, 2007 at 06:56 EDT
Seeing as this is a family-friendly site, I’ll limit my comments about this “journalist” to this.
****.
October 19th, 2007 at 08:30 EDT
“Aguilar and the entire editorial staff at KDFW should be forced to take a two-day self-defense course…and learn what responsible gunowners are really like.”
How about forcing them to live for a year, without police protection, in a dangerous neighborhood? Utter terror might be enough to teach a lesson to even a journalist.
June 18th, 2008 at 23:48 EDT
How did you get to know that this video is accessible from some corner of the Internet? KDFW is now asking for the pulling out of this video. But they/the reporter at KDFW could have been more careful in this regard
July 21st, 2008 at 03:35 EDT
This is shameful what the journalists tried to do. The man obviously tried to protect himself and his business, and it was not his fault if he felt his life was threatened. They made him out to be a person who should not have done what he did, but the journalist should put herself in the same situation and see how she would react.