FTVLive EXCLUSIVE! The Black Swann
WGCL Anchor Ben Swann disappeared from the Atlanta station's airwaves after an embarrassing report he did, trying to prove that the "Pizzagate" story was real.
Weeks after the story was debunked, Swann decided he would try and reheat the Pizzagate story and serve up some leftovers. His "investigation" used no on camera interviews and was filled with speculation and little on facts.
It left WGCL and parent company Meredith red faced and it was another black mark on a station with an awful track record.
Swann has not been on the air, but is expected to return to anchor the news tonight.
It seems that Swann's bosses figured with a bit of a break, the Pizzagate controversy would die down and things could get back to normal.
But, then FTVLive found out that Swann was asking viewers to give him $50,000 so he could tell the story about how the US government intentionally created ISIS.
Swann had set up a crowdfunding page and had raised nearly $15,000 for other one of his conspiracy stories.
Swann never said where he was going to report his ISIS story. Some viewers believed that he was going to do it on WGCL. So an Anchor is soliciting $50 grand to report a story? Did his bosses know this?
His fans in the tin foil hats were not happy.
The question remains, did his bosses learn of his ISIS and crowd funding through the FTVLive story? If they didn't know he was doing it, then Swann should have been fired. If his bosses did know, then they are the ones that should be axed.
After FTVLive's stories, Swann now says that he is taking down his Facebook page on Feb. 1st.
This is what he posted:
The page is going dark and Swann returns to the air.
The questions remain, what did his bosses know? How does parent company Meredith feel about all this? Why is the station trying to sweep so much under the rug?
And lastly, why did it take stories on FTVLive to get the plug pulled on the ISIS story, the money returned and now the conspiracy Facebook page pulled? Did people at the station really not know? Or did they look the other way, until FTVLive brought the story to light?
As for now, Swann is expected to return to the anchor chair tonight. We're guessing, he won't be wearing his tin foil hat when he does.
Stay tuned...