Denver Station is Using Out of Town Reporter on Themselves

Tegna’s KUSA is still the focus after a security guard they hired killed a protester.

When it comes to reporting on the story and the station, KUSA is using Reporters from other Tegna stations to do so.

The security guard that killed the protestor was not licensed to carry a gun in the City of Denver.

KUSA posted and aired another story that claimed that the station has used multiple unlicensed security guards in the past.

In the story posted online, KUSA starts off with this disclaimer.

While that gives the appearance that the station is using outside Journalists to report on them, those Reporters are still on the Tegna payroll.

In a previous story, KUSA used a Reporter from a Tegna station in Texas.

Since all of the Journalists they are using are still under the Tegna umbrella and paid by the same company, it seems that the move is more about optics than anything else.

Is bringing a stranger into town that does not know the local laws, the area or have contacts in the area really better than having a KUSA crew on the story?

Also, does this show the fact that KUSA does not trust the Reporters and Producers that they have on staff to handle the story?

You don’t want a TV station reporting on themselves, but at the same time, isn’t bringing someone in that works for the same company, doing just that?

What if KUSA made some sort of arrangement to air the stories of the competing stations in town? Wouldn’t that have seemed to be more objective.

What if they hired an outside investigative Reporter with no ties to the company? Maybe one that is recently retired.

I think KUSA is trying to appear to be doing the right thing, but in using Tegna staffers to report on a Tegna station, it really is just an appearance.

Don’t you think?

Here is the latest story that A.J. Lagoe did about the shooting and how the station has been using unlicensed security guards in the past.

Lastly, if this is the case, shouldn’t someone lose their job?