Tegna Reporter Catches Heat for Interview with Murderer
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WGRZ (Buffalo) Reporter Claudine Ewing. is under fire for interview that she conducted with Muzzammil (Mo) Hassan.
Hassan was the CEO of Bridges TV was the first American Muslim television network broadcast in English and airing in Buffalo, NY.
in 2009, Hassan was arrested and convicted of beheading his estranged wife Aasiya Zubair at the TV station.
10 years later, Ewing interviewed Hassan and it did not go over well. Sonia Hassan the stepdaughter of Aasiya Zubair criticized Ewing and Tegna station for the sweeps interview with Hassan.
Sonia Hassan detailed the pain that the Ewing interview caused her and her siblings without naming their father or the WGRZ Reporter.
The decision not to name the father might have been so he wouldn’t get more attention.
The decision not to name the Reporter or the station may have caused some readers who hadn’t seen report to wonder who Sonia was talking about?
The Buffalo News writes that in her piece, Sonia asked why Channel 2 felt “the need” to interview the murderer and “believe that their best advertising strategy was to erect billboards with this convicted murderer and abuser’s face on them?”
She speculated that rather than Ewing’s claim that the story was done to show there is a need for more domestic violence advocates, her “true motivation” was revealed by “her cartoonish overreaction as she gasps, ‘Who could do something like this?' ”
And in her most biting criticism, Sonia said: “The better question is, ‘How could a reporter who has won awards for community service think this interview was helping domestic violence and survivors?’ ”
Asked for a response, WGRZ General Manager Jim Toellner released this statement: “We revisited this story during the 10th anniversary year of its occurrence. Given the sensitivity of the topic, throughout the piece, we shared information on domestic violence resources. A week later, we did a story on the victim’s life and spoke with a domestic violence advocate. We understand the sensitivity surrounding this story for the victim’s family. We did reach out to the family but were not successful in receiving a response. We welcome their point of view and feedback on our reporting.”
Toellner would not let the paper talk to Ewing about the interview with the killer.
The Buffalo News writes that allowing the murderer to speak without balance on the day it ran, the story was an atrocity. There was no point… other than to show WGRZ got an interview with a murderer to run during a sweeps week in May.
