Ohio GOP Tees Off on Cleveland Reporter

The Ohio Republican Party sent out a press release in which they called out WEWS Reporter Morgan Trau for what they considered a slanted and false report on the campaign for Ohio Supreme Court.

The Ohio GOP said in part:

Ms. Trau recently published a TV and web story on three Ohio Republican Supreme Court Justices, falsely asserting they may have broken the judicial ethics code. The only “evidence” presented in the story consisted of an opinion from a self-described “Democratic strategist” and abortion advocate who Ms. Trau claimed was “nonpartisan” and nothing more than an “ethics and bias lawyer.” 

 The first obligation in the Society of Professional Journalists’ Code of Ethics declares, “ethical journalism should be accurate and fair. Journalists should be honest and courageous in gathering, reporting and interpreting information.” The evidence is irrefutable that Ms. Trau was not honest in the very first paragraph of her story:

By purposefully selecting a self-declared ‘democratic strategist’ to criticize three Republican Ohio Supreme Court Justices and then falsely claiming that this Democrat strategist was somehow ‘non-partisan,’ Ms. Trau blatantly violated journalistic ethics and betrayed her viewers. News directors and editors at the media outlets and blog where this reporter works have a duty to promptly investigate this ethical violation.

 Ms. Trau purposefully sought out and interviewed Tracy Pearson as one of these “nonpartisan lawyers.” Yet Tracy Pearson, is a self-proclaimed “democratic strategist,” according to her own website.

Clearly, Ms. Pearson has an implicit bias on the topic of abortion and its impact on a political campaign as a staunch Democrat and pro-abortion advocate.

WEWS addressed the press release on their newscast and included a statement from News Director Jodie Heisner who said the station stands behind the story.