News Anchor fired after Facebook post

Wendy Bell pictured here with her CO-Anchor

Pittsburgh-area news anchor was fired Wednesday after engaging in racial profiling of the worst kind on her official Facebook page, saying that the killers in a brutal area murder were “young black men,” reports the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. The problem was that she posted this before any kind of investigation took place.

After a horrific mass shooting in early March in Wilkinsburg, Pa., near Pittsburgh, WTAE-TV news anchor Wendy Bell wrote on her Facebook page—before anyone was in custody: “You needn’t be a criminal profiler to draw a mental sketch of the killers who broke so many hearts two weeks ago Wednesday ... they are young black men, likely in their teens or early 20s.”

And then, “They have multiple siblings from multiple fathers, and their mothers work multiple jobs.”


Here post here:



I’ve been dragging around this feeling like a cold I can’t shake that rattles in my chest each time I breathe and makes my temples throb. I don’t want to hurt anymore. I’m tired of hurting. You needn’t be a criminal profiler to draw a mental sketch of the killers who broke so many hearts two weeks ago Wednesday. I will tell you they live within 5 miles of Franklin Avenue and Ardmore Boulevard and have been hiding out since in a home likely much closer to that backyard patio than anyone thinks. They are young black men, likely teens or in their early 20s. They have multiple siblings from multiple fathers and their mothers work multiple jobs. These boys have been in the system before. They’ve grown up there. They know the police. They’ve been arrested. They’ve made the circuit and nothing has scared them enough.

But there is HOPE. And Joe and I caught a glimpse of it Saturday night. A young, African American teen hustling like nobody’s business at a restaurant we took the boys to over at the Southside Works. This child stacked heavy glass glasses 10 high and carried three teetering towers of them in one hand with plates piled high in the other. He wiped off the tables. Tended to the chairs. Got down on his hands and knees to pick up the scraps that had fallen to the floor. And he did all this with a rhythm and a step that gushed positivity. He moved like a dancer with a satisfied smile on his face. And I couldn’t take my eyes off him. He’s going to Make It.

When Joe paid the bill, I asked to see the manager. He came over to our table apprehensively and I told him that that young man was the best thing his restaurant had going. The manager beamed and agreed that his young employee was special. As the boys and we put on our coats and started walking out—I saw the manager put his arm around that child’s shoulder and pat him on the back in congratulation. It will be some time before I forget the smile that beamed across that young worker’s face—or the look in his eyes as we caught each other’s gaze. I wonder how long it had been since someone told him he was special.

 

Racially insensitive but not racist. She's been with the network for nearly 20 years, they must of been itching to get rid of her and that was the perfect opportunity without looking like assholes.

 

She's not in the business to editorialize.

Sucks for her but that's not the platform to do what she did.
She needs a column at her local newspaper.

IMO she's probably one of those people who's good hearted and doesn't know they harbor prejudiced attitudes.

When she makes this kind of observation that the young Black man working at the restaurant she was attending was practically DANCING while he worked is nonsense;

And he did all this with a rhythm and a step that gushed positivity. He moved like a dancer with a satisfied smile on his face. And I couldn’t take my eyes off him. He’s going to Make It.

:butthead:

 

Minstrel :smt043 :smt043

 

A meteorologist who was pretty popular in this area was busted while trolling the internet for young boys. He not only got fired but got arrested by the FBI. He was sent to a federal prison in Connecticut.

This woman, I believe, meant no harm. Perhaps she didn't know how to phrase it. And Facebook is not the place to be.

 

^^agrerd. She probably meant no harm, but she has to realize her wrongdoing in the matter also.

 

As others have indicated, I don't believe she intentionally meant to upset or insult anyone. She needs some social etiquette and awareness about how she says things and realize she has a larger audience. You have to be careful about how you say things you say because while you may mean no harm or ill will, others don't always understand your heart and will interpret a different message.

I don't think she deserved to be fired for sure...

 

When you are in the public eye like in local or national news there is not such thing as privacy. A person can't express him/herself because some people can be over sensitive on either PC or a lack of common sense.

 

Pretty ignorant, particularly when taking into account the fact that most mass, random or serial shootings/killings are usually done by white perpetrators. Black shooters are primarily involved in drug or robbery-related shootings that result in either the death of the intended or an innocent bystander nearby. If I hear "mass shooting" I think about frustrated, closet racist, paranoid, maladjusted white male. If I hear "shooting on MLK Blvd." or "drug-related shooting" I might be more likely to think black male, pants-sagging stereotype.

 

She was spot on. Wilkinsburg is very hood and you won't catch anyone who isn't black there unless it's for drugs.

 

No wonder you support Trump.

You are one weird confused lil man.

You said "I stand by my illegal immigrant Brothers"

Then ...you say you will vote for Trump....who is against your precious illegal Brethren

 

She should kept her ballwasher closed..WM aren't angels...she should focus on them.

 

:smt081:smt081:smt081:smt081:smt081:smt081:smt081

 

I'm totally unfamiliar with the area, so I took the report as her stereotyping because there was a shooting, not because of the area per se.

 

That area is always on the news for drug and gang related shootings. The problem I think people had most with her post was her choice of words and example of hope in black male youth.

 

I absolutely cannot stand people like this and it's nauseating that so many are giving her a pass, thinking she's good hearted just lacking etiquette. She's an ignorant human being, no better than the Trumps of the world, judging others from their glass houses. Foh. She absolutely deserved to be fired. Maybe a little dose of reality will pop that closed minded, stereotyping, dumbass bubble she's living in. :smt023

 

*waiting for the obligatory WWBM "She hot & can get all this dick" post*

 

Lol

 

Yes, I've been to Wilkinsburg which is indeed da hood. While I don't agree with her stereotyping, I'd have to agree that there was some truth to her statement. However, I think it was extremely poor judgement, and just another thing to suggest that all young black men are up to no good. It's not much different than that Arpaio dude in Arizona profiling all latino people as illegal immigrants.