(FARGO) — Steve Hallstrom, President and Managing Partner of Fieldstone Consulting Group and operators of WDAY Radio, issued the following statement tonight after learning that the Kamala Harris for President Campaign had attributed a fabricated news headline to WDAY Radio:
“We feel insulted and violated by what was done here,” said Hallstrom. “A political campaign used our news brand and our URL to lie to people about the headline we wrote. We never wrote anything close to what is alleged here. They took two unrelated stories that we did have on our website, blended them together, and then re-wrote a few words to make it look like our news organization was cheering on the selection of a running mate.
We’re not a perfect company but we have been adamant from day one that we will do everything we can to eliminate bias and opinion in our news coverage, and we certainly would not express approval for a political campaign’s selection of a VP. And that goes for any candidate of any party.
The WDAY Radio call letters are more than 100 years old, and they mean something here. If your community believes that your news team is taking sides, you lose your credibility and your news brand. Then we’re in trouble because the number one thing we want to be known for is the combination of excellent news and weather coverage. I’ve heard the excuses about how this meets Google ad criteria, and I don’t care. When you see that ad – you may understand it’s an ad, but any reasonable human being wouldbelieve the campaign is using a headline they found on our website. The problem is we didn’t write that headline or that story. They lied to every single person that saw that ad.
It’s misleading, it’s dishonest, and it hurts our news brand.
We have reporters in that newsroom who have been in this community for decades, building their credibility. And this is a slap in the face to them, because it looks like we’re taking sides in our reporting, and that strikes at the heart of our integrity. We have reached out to the Harris campaign and demanded they terminate this ad immediately and we are considering all options here including legal action. This is not right, and they should not be allowed to get away with this and tarnish our reputation – whether it’s a family-owned North Dakota company like us or a major national news organization.”
