Miami Anchor Says He's Sorry for Post
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On Monday, FTVLive FIRST told you about WFOR (Miami) Anchor Eliott Rodriguez and his out of line post he made about a former Journalist and now Congressional candidate.
Rodriguez raised a lot of eyebrows when he posted on social media as to who he thought voters should cast their ballot for.
Former Journalist Maria Elvira Salazar is now running for Congress and in a post Rodriguez calls her his “old friend” and then proceeded to throw her under the bus and tell his followers why they should not vote for her.
The fact that an Anchor is telling viewers how they should vote and giving his personal opinion is just plain wrong.
WFOR is owned by CBS and their response is a weak one. WFOR CBS4 communications director Lori Conrad said "Eliott regrets his comments on social media."
"As an experienced journalist, he knows he has a responsibility to report news objectively and avoid expressing personal views. We believe Eliott has learned from this experience and will uphold his and our journalistic standards going forward. He has interviewed Ms. Salazar, along with her opponent before, and has been fair to both candidates."
Sorry, but you can’t put the toothpaste back in the tube. His personal views are out there and now viewer can now trust his reporting on this Congressional race.
Rodriguez should be banned from reporting on this race and the station should assign all stories involving Salazar or her opponent to his co-Anchor.
WFOR has entirely dropped the ball on this.
The Miami Herald writes that Rodriguez appears to have taken down the musing and apologized for "a rambling, disjointed and rather incoherent Facebook post" after critics began blasting him on social media, suggesting that he'd inferred that Salazar's accent made her unqualified for Congress. Miami Rep. Carlos Curbelo, a Salazar supporter, called the comments "shocking" from a "decent man and a serious journalist." And Salazar's campaign consultant, Jose Luis Castillo, called Rodriguez's comments "offensive," and "a slap in the face to our diverse South Florida community."
