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Wendy Bell: ‘WTAE-TV’ Fires Journalist Over Black-On-Black Crime Facebook Comment

By Tara Dodrill
Published on: 02:04 PST, Mar 31, 2016

Wendy Bell was fired by WTAE-TV News over Facebook post comments some have deemed racist. Bell, an award-winning journalist, worked for the media outlet for 18 years.

WTAE-TV President and General Manager Charles Wolfertz III announced the Wendy Bell firing from the Hearst Television company, but refused to comment on the allegedly racist post about black-on-black crime by the Pittsburgh journalist.

Bell was yanked off the air last week as the Pittsburgh news station issued an on-air apology by Wolfertz. The general manager said the journalist’s use of racial stereotypes on her news network Facebook page showed an “egregious lack of judgment.”

A statement about Wendy Bell being fired said her statements about crime in the inner city were not consistent with Heart Television’s “ethics and journalistic standards.” Bell has won 21 regional Emmy Awards over the course of her career.

The Wendy Bell Facebook post was edited after it originally appeared and was ultimately deleted from the WTAE Facebook page, the Post-Gazette reports. Bell has not commented publicly about her firing, but she did tell Associated Press reporters that the news station did not give her a “fair shake.”

The renowned journalist staunchly maintains the story should not have focused upon her but rather about “African-Americans being killed by other African-Americans.”

Here’s an excerpt from Wendy Bell’s statement about the controversial Facebook comment and her termination from WTAE-TV News.

“It makes me sick. What matters is what’s going on in America, and it is the death of black people in this country. I live next to three war-torn communities in the city of Pittsburgh, that I love dearly. My stories, they struck a nerve. They touched people, but it’s not enough. More needs to be done. The problem needs to be addressed.”

Wendy Bell published the Facebook post in response to a March 9 shooting in Wilkinsburg, Fox News reports. Pittsburgh area police officers have not yet arrested anyone in connection with the crime.

After the Facebook post backlash and racism claims emerged, Bell apologized and said her comments “were insensitive and could be viewed as racist,” which was not her intent. Some detractors claim the journalist praised a black restaurant worker in a condescending way when describing the details of another local shooting in an urban neighborhood.

In the portion of her post praising the black man who works at a South Side restaurant, Wendy Bell said she made a point of heralding the young man to the manager and added, “I wonder how long it had been since someone told him he was special.”

Here’s an excerpt from the Wendy Bell Facebook post which got her fired from WTAE-TV News.

“You needn’t be a criminal profiler to draw a mental sketch of the killers who broke so many hearts two weeks ago Wednesday… they are young black men, likely in their teens or early 20s. They have multiple siblings from multiple fathers and their mothers work multiple jobs.”

Bell’s profile on the WTAE News website was removed quickly after she was fired yesterday. On Wednesday members of the Pittsburgh Black Media Federation met with news station board members to discuss both Wendy Bell and other diversity issues. The meeting reportedly occurred after the journalist was fired, and the group said it had not demanded a termination.

What do you think about Wendy Bell’s Facebook post and the decision to fire her for the comments about black-on-black crime?

[Image by Shutterstock]

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