Take a look at this Jon-tweet:
Hey @numbah_6! I think we have a problem! Our rent free space in @WendyBellPgh’s head is gonna have occupancy issues! Have you met @trashyleesuh ?? She moved in today…rent free of course…because…pronouns???? pic.twitter.com/3IyetUSRjv
— JON (@JonInPGH) January 29, 2022
Wendy is talking about this piece by Lisa Cunningham in the City Paper.
Wendy's offended by Cunningham's use of facts and logic and context. Oh and
Lisa's inclusion of "meow" as one of her pronouns on her Twitter page really
triggers the usually even-tempered Wendy Bell.
I'm not sure why
Wendy's so offended by the CP reporting. The piece opens:
Local controversial media personality Wendy Bell is joining national far-right online opinion site Newsmax.
Bell’s new show, Wendy Bell Common Sense, will premiere on Sat., Jan. 29, according to a Newsmax press release, and will examine daily news with a “lively approach to national issues.”
"People are hungry for common sense in this country, and that's what this new program is about," Bell said in the press release. "Telling the truth, having great conversations, talking about what really matters.”
All of which is absolutely true. The last paragraph is "true" in the sense
that it's faithful to what Wendy said in the Newsmax press release.
Then
there's some context:
Recently, she has been spreading anti-vaccine rhetoric on her website Wendy Bell Radio, as frequently reported by David DeAngelo of local blog 2 Political Junkies. During the pandemic, she also went as far as comparing those who disagreed with Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf's coronavirus closures to people killed in Benghazi attacks.
Both points are also true - as you can see by those links.
For this, Wendy's triggered into saying this in the above linked video snippet:
[This] quote unquote journalism is disrespectful to anyone out there who wants to be an actual journalist.
This is coming from someone who doxxed someone on the air.
I remember it like it was one year and twenty-two days ago. Here's what happened:
Wendy Bell Radio has sponsors and an otherwise concerned citizen called one of
those sponsors, in this case a company called "Sierra Experts" (who can
be reached at at 412 379-8333, by the way) and left a message that was critical of our wonderful and completely ethical Wendy Bell.
Wendy explained (in public!) what happened next:
That woman left, what she thought was an anonymous phone call at my advertisers. Well, my advertisers are really smart people. And they don't like it when people they don't know, who aren't customers of theirs, try to browbeat them into submission to join "Joe Biden's America." So one of my advertisers managed to unravel the no-caller ID private line blocked number and I got to see the number.
Wendy Bell then found out the woman's name, a picture of her, her phone number, her place of employment and then Wendy Bell told her adoring listeners to call the woman to harass her.
So Wendy, you don't get to define or gate-keep or lecture anyone on "journalistic ethics" ever again. I don't give a flying fuck how many Emmys you won in your earlier life. You doxed someone on the air.
Let me say that again, Wendy.
You doxed someone on the air and that led to your victim being harassed by your followers.
And that's reprehensible behavior for a human being, don't you think? And I haven't even mentioned the medical misinformation you routinely regurgitate into the brains of your fans.
As a followup to this blog post, I asked Lisa Cunningham for her a comment regarding Wendy's charges. She responded:
I think it's important to highlight Wendy Bell's problematic past, and her misinformation, not for clicks or for laughs, but to educate readers on the difference between factual journalism and misguided right-wing opinions that have the potential to put people in harm's way. Readers can, and will, make up their minds on whether they will listen, but they should have the information available before they do so. Pittsburgh City Paper writers are not activists, but we do lean left in the stories that we choose do cover, not in our balanced reporting on those subjects. But we make no apologies for believing that Black lives and LGBTQ lives matter. That's not activism, that's human dignity.Damn! That was so much better than what I wrote!
