Yesterday we learned of The Angel of Death's upward fail into Chris Ruddy's Newsmax.
At that point, there had been no local SWPA news coverage of Wendy's trip upward into the dominion of Newsmax conspiracy theories.
However as the day progressed that situation changed.
I wanted to see whether the local coverage of Wendy's hiring included her history of being
fired for her "controversial" (read: racist and fascist) statements.
I
was not disappointed.
There was
Joshua Axelrod over at the P-G. After doing the what where whys, he included this:
She spent 18 years at WTAE-TV before being fired in 2016 for posting racist comments about a mass shooting in Wilkinsburg. Bell landed at KDKA Radio in 2019 but was taken off the air in September 2020 after suggesting that park rangers should “shoot on sight” anyone caught vandalizing public monuments.
WJAS Pittsburgh took a chance on Bell in January of last year before taking her off the air in May. She has been hosting the “Wendy Bell Radio Program” on the Wendy Bell Radio Network app since leaving WJAS.
BTW, I didn't include any WJAS material in my coverage as I was filling in the gaps in the press release from Newsmax - and Newsmax didn't mention WJAS.
Then there's former Tribune-Review writer Eric Heyl over at Patch:
Bell's last Pittsburgh job was at WJAS, which she left in May after just four months on the air. St. Barnabas Radio, which owns the station, attributed her departure to an unspecified personnel matter. Bell joined WJAS in January 2021, three months after she parted ways with KDKA-AM.
KDKA took the former WTAE-TV anchor off the air then after she suggested that park rangers should shoot people who vandalize monuments honoring historical figures. In October 2020, the station said KDKA and Bell had agreed to mutually part ways.
This piece was also mirrored at msn.com, BTW.
I have no idea why he left out the racist Facebook posting. Eric, if you're reading
this, feel free to
email me
and let me know why you left out Wendy Bell's racist Facebook posting. It was kind of a BFD.
Finally,
there's
Lisa Cunningham over at the CP:
Bell was fired in 2016 after she posted a message on Facebook about a mass shooting in Wilkinsburg, which was called out for being racist. In September 2020, Bell was taken off the air from her radio host position at KDKA Radio following comments she made on-air advocating for park rangers to shoot protesters while talking about demonstrators protesting Mt. Rushmore in summer 2020.
During her time at KDKA Radio, she also questioned if it was worth shutting down many parts of the American economy to avoid millions of Americans dying from coronavirus, causing advertisers to pull from her show.
After losing her job at KDKA Radio, Bell hosted a show on her Facebook page, which accumulated tens of thousands of viewers, but her account was banned from posting videos for spreading misinformation.
Yep. Lisa hit all the right notes. Go take a look. Her news sourcing is impeccable.
In spite of all that, let's remember what Chris Ruddy said of our Angel of Death:
"Wendy Bell has had a remarkable career as a television journalist and radio host, and throughout it all has been an advocate of common sense and American values," Newsmax CEO Chris Ruddy said. "We are glad to have her on the Newsmax team."Chris, you apologized to Dominion for your stuff on their voting machines. Did you know that Wendy pushed the same BS?
Did you know that?
