A reporter for an NBC affiliate in Louisiana claims that he got fired after he asked David Vitter a question about him having sex with prostitutes in the past. This is Derek Myers a television reporter with NBC affiliate WVLA Baton Rouge. Myers believes that he was terminated because Vitter’s campaign threatened to pull $250,000 in advertising from WVLA over the confrontation.
Cenk Uygur and Ana Kasparian (The Point) hosts of The Young Turks discuss.
Read more here: http://gawker.com/reporter-claims-he-…
Derek Myers, a television reporter with NBC affiliate WVLA in Baton Rouge, was fired from the network Tuesday after asking U.S. Senator and Louisiana gubernatorial candidate David Vitter about his admitted history of patronizing prostitutes. Myers believes that he was terminated because Vitter’s campaign threatened to pull $250,000 in advertising from WVLA over the confrontation.
Tuesday morning, Myers confronted Vitter in the parking lot of the Louisiana Secretary of State’s office after Vitter officially declared his candidacy for governor, the Louisiana Advocate reports, asking the senator whether he still continues to visit prostitutes. Vitter did not answer his question.
Myers told Gawker that a coworker at WVLA informed him of a conversation that he or she overheard between the station’s news director and its vice president of news later that day, during which the threat of pulled campaign advertising was allegedly discussed. After it was stated that the station’s general manager should personally apologize to the Vitter campaign for Myers’ questions, “It was said that David Vitter pulled his advertising dollars, or someone from David Vitter’s office called about ad dollars,” Myers said. He declined to name the coworker who informed him about the alleged conversation.