Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments on how WTSP St. Petersburg responded to our news release yesterday:
On January 6, we issued a news release on WTSP, the CBS affiliate in St. Petersburg, for posting on its website a misleading headline in a story about a Protestant bishop charged with battering a child. The headline said, “‘It’s Disheartening’: Former Catholic Church Abuse Victim Says Local Bishop Could Have More Victims.” In the story, mention was made of a Catholic man who says he was abused 50 years ago. No Catholic bishop had anything to do with this story.
We are happy to report that after giving our readers the email address of Kelly Frank at WTSP, the station issued an apology. Here is the reply.
“After reading the headline and the story, we have added language to the headline and provided a clarification to make it clear that while the alleged victim we spoke to was a member of the Catholic Church, the Bishop in question represented a non-denominational church. We regret this omission and apologize for it.”
Good for WTSP. It is always better to remedy a wrong and apologize for making it than to stonewall your critics.
Thanks to all of those who made their voice heard. Unless you follow through, progress will not be made. We can’t do this by ourselves.
