KHQA refuses comment on report of Blagojevich – Obama meeting

I called KHQA to ask why the station twice reported a meeting between Governor Rod Blagojevich and President-elect Barack Obama.
I asked to speak to the public relations staff but was not allowed to do so. The receptionist wanted to know the reason for my call which I explained. Then she said I could read the statement on their website. When I asked why the station twice reported a meeting about which they had no knowledge, she told me that the station had made a statement. After taking my number, she hung up.
I suspect the station is getting many calls which may explain in part the abrupt approach. However, their “clarification” does not clarify why the station made the report in the first place – twice. Human error would be a fine answer, but as for now, their conduct invites speculation.
Why would a news organization not be more transparent about a story of national significance – or any story – about which they now say they may have been incorrect? I have no idea if this is relevant but the owner of KHQA is the Barrington Group which is owned and controlled by the Pilot Group. This finance group is run by Rob Pittman of MTV/AOL fame. Pittman is a New Yorker who supported Obama in the primaries and according to the New York Post, hosted a fundraiser for him along with Huffington Post co-founder, Ken Lerer.

Obama mined for more gold at the Central Park West home of Huffington Post co-founder Ken Lerer, who co-hosted a cash bash with former AOL honcho Bob Pittman.

HuffPo has been known to be a little partial to Mr. Obama. Who knows if any of this is related, but as I said, the curious conduct of the station opens the door to speculation.

19 thoughts on “KHQA refuses comment on report of Blagojevich – Obama meeting”

  1. Warren,
    The people who have much more factual knowledge about this case have said Obama is not guilty of anything – we only have bits and pieces of information regarding what happened in Chicago – THAT should be enough for anyone, but for some reason, certain Republicans – obviously with an agenda – have to push any issue they can that might make the new president elect look bad – its not hard to see what you are doing – its very transparent actually – its something you might want to take a look at! And its not just about this one article I posted, it has far more to do with the many many articles you post!

  2. Warren,
    And you ignore the long, laundry list of things you have posted about Obama over these many many months – all of which have proven to be false or misleading – you refuse to deal with the fact that it is YOU that probably has issues with Confirmation Bias, given the history of your Obama posts, and you don’t deal with the fact that ALL the people – investigators and prosecutors closes to this entire case have completely and utterly exonerated Obama – talk about there being problems having a conversation with someone – gees

  3. The problem with having any conversation with you about this is illustrated by your reaction to my comment on the WashPo article. I point out with sources two substantial factual errors and you ignore that and still call it great.

  4. Let’s reiterate that the people CLOSEST to this issue – not you nor I Warren – have completely exonerated Obama – perhaps you should take a cue from them?

  5. I think, perhaps, YOU are the one who should take a closer look at confirmation bias Warren πŸ˜‰ Only you and other Republicans who have had nothing but disdain for Obama are the ones pushing this issue? Should THAT raise an eyebrow- or two? Um, yeah! πŸ™‚
    BTW – I agree with you – it IS a great article πŸ™‚

  6. In fact – the people closest to this issue have completely exonerated Obama – Warren – you didn’t like Obama when he was running – you made it a point to publish anything and everything bad and questionable about him that you could, and you continue to do the same. I’m not surprised, and it is your blog, but c’mon!!!!!!

  7. Warren,
    Did Obama say he NEVER talked to the governor? I’m trying to understand the specifics here – REGARDLESS, Obama isn’t implicated in ANYTHING – he isn’t charged with ANYTHING – and the people closest – that doesn’t include you or I – to this issue, haven’t charged him with ANYTHING! I’m struggling to figure out why the only people that care about this issue are Republicans who did not like Obama from the get-go. THAT is more telling than anything else if you ask me πŸ™‚

  8. It’s impossible to draw conclusions based upon what appears to have been bad reporting. However it seems unlikely Obama would be dumb enough to deny having met the Gov. if in fact he had. But even without evidence of a meeting, things are getting stranger. Obama today DENIED that his campaign had been involved in any quid-pro-quo for his vacant Senate seat— a denial that seems odd given that neither he nor his campaign has been accused of such. Further, the recordings of the Gov. sugest he was was personally insulted that Obama wouldn’t reward him for a favorable appointment to the Senate (“F*** him…” etc). Why should he be either surprised OR insulted if he knew Obama to be ‘Mr. Clean’? If , on the other hand, a former ‘good-old-boy’ was now snubbing a friend because of his election to the Presidency, the Gov’s anger makes more sense.

  9. @Jayhuck: No one I know is suggesting Obama wanted to make a deal (well at least for the first 2 years – read the criminal complaint closely), but he said he didn’t talk to the Gov and there are at least three reports he did. I suppose there is a scenario where all those are misspeaks but you gotta really be charitable to Obama to go there.

  10. Drowssap –
    Pleeeeease! We all know how you feel about Obama! The FACT of the matter is that Blagojevich has been under investigation for YEARS! Obama hasn’t been implicated in anything – AT ALL! The prosecutors of the governor’s case have gone to pains to make sure people understand it – although its not hard to notice the people who just want to believe what they want to believe πŸ™‚

  11. The entire Chicago political scene is a cesspool of corruption.
    Uh Oh… Rezko is talking.

    β€œRezko paid the asking price on the same day Obama paid $300,000 less than the asking price to the same seller for his adjacent mansion,” he said. β€œThis begs the question of payoff, bribe, kickback.”

    100% chance that Obama was getting paid off for something.

  12. Hi Warren,
    I called at 4;45 p.m. Wednesday to ask the same thing and no one answered. Today, at 10 a.m. I made the same call and got the same receptionist. Again, she asked for my name, news outlet and number and said Ms. Sowers would return my call. I’ve also contacted the Quincy Herald-Whig about this and have yet to hear back from them either. A lot of these upper Mississippi River Valley news outlets lean democrat. I don’t expect a thorough explanation or response for that matter. Keep an eye on my Oklahoma news site – RedDirtReport.com – for updates.

  13. Rich
    If a sympathetic media outlet and Axelrod hadn’t put out two different stories it wouldn’t look suspicious.
    Story #1) Obama is involved in the selection of his succesor (makes him look important)
    Story #2) Obama is in no way involved in the selection of his succesor (run Forest run!)
    I don’t know what the truth is but I’m going to go make some popcorn. It appears that several corrupt politicians in Chicago are about to take a “perp walk.” 😎

  14. @Rich: I agree with this point. The Tribune reported a conversation prior to the election but no one else did afterwards. I have looked briefly for the schedules of both men for those days but found nothing as yet. I suppose if the issue comes up bigger, then their offices could produce them. KHQA could clear things up easily by a statement about how/why they reported it twice.
    My call to KHQA should not be interpreted as an assumption that someone is covering up. KHQA could just as easily said, we are looking into it, we don’t know yet how the reporters came up with that information or the reporters simply made it up. Their response is what provokes more conjecture.

  15. People will believe what they want to believe, but the more germane question is this — if Obama did meet with Blagojevich, why did no other news organization in the country report on it? The fact that KHQA is the only news outlet which reported the supposed meeting is strong evidence that the report was wrong.

  16. @Drowssap: Now, channeling my vast left wing conspiracy inner child, I added some info regarding the ownership of KHQA. Hmmmmm….

  17. Right on!!! When ya want something done do it yourself.
    So the media was reporting misinformation then… or is reporting misinformation now.

Comments are closed.