NBC10's news chief clashes with Nutter
The station rejects the Nutter administration's assertion that they got suicide story wrong.
ANZIO WILLIAMS, NBC10's vice president of news, is proud of his station's coverage of the fatal Market Street building collapse and its aftermath. But a controversy recently emerged during the station's coverage of the suicide video left by building inspector Ronald Wagenhoffer.
While the outlet scored a coup by being the first to report on the contents of one of two cellphone videos left by Wagenhoffer, there is some debate over whether the station got its contents correct.
According to a June 13 report on NBC10, Wagenhoffer's video includes the sentence, "It was my fault" (he was apparently referring to his admission that he was not as diligent as he could have been inspecting the site). But shortly after the station broke the story, Mark McDonald, Mayor Nutter's spokesman, refuted Channel 10's account, insisting that Wagenhoffer actually said, "It wasn't my fault."
In a statement issued by the station, Williams said: "NBC10 stands by the reporting of our news department. Our reporter watched one of the two videos left behind by building inspector Ronald Wagenhoffer multiple times and is confident the content of that video has been accurately reported.
"NBC10 has asked the city of Philadelphia and the lawyer representing the family of Mr. Wagenhoffer to review with us both videos."
According to a station spokeswoman, as of Friday afternoon there had been no response from either party.
- Chuck Darrow