A Rapid City, S.D., news anchor has been temporarily suspended for giving a speech at a local tea-party rally. Shad Olson, a news anchor at KOTA-TV, was suspended after his supervisors learned of the speech in a Rapid City Journal story. "Shad’s speech to the tax day rally was a lapse in ethics, so we took appropriate action,” KOTA news director John Petersen told Kevin Wooster of the Journal. Peterson declined to say how long the suspension would last or what other penalties Olson faced.
Olson was a featured speaker at the April 15 rally, where he "spoke of misconceptions about the makeup of tea party participants," Wooster wrote. "Did you all forget your militias?" Olson told the crowd, referring to allegations of militia influence. He also pointed out the absence of insulting, profane signs or misspelled slogans at the rally during his speech and asserted that most Americans agree with the tea party movement. "Most people agree with us," he said. "They just haven't been taught enough history to know they agree with us."
Peterson told Wooster that Olson was entitled to those beliefs but his speech had crossed an ethical line. "A journalist should not participate," Peterson said. "A journalist should report the news, not make the news." News of the suspension was greeted by protests outside the KOTA studio Wednesday, the Journal reports. (Read more)
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