Earlier today, we wrote a post blasting 9News‘ Nelson Garcia for sloppy journalism, but an astute reader sent us a Facebook post from a recall supporter suggesting that Garcia may not have been just sloppy, but intentionally inaccurate. In other words, did Garcia intentionally misrepresent the facts in his 9News “Truth Test” in order to benefit a political campaign with which he sympathized?  Here’s a screen shot of the post:

Garcia FB Post

In case you cannot read this post, PeakNation™, here’s an excerpt from the text:

“Before the broadcast: I just had a 10 minute conversation with Nelson Garcia. I left him a message and he called me back…. He was actually very nice, told me that he has seen how Ken Witt treated people at board meetings, felt bad about his portrayal on Sunday. He said he was not on his game…We will see if this statement aligns with tonights [sic] coverage. I left him with the message that news stories need to dig in, superficial coverage perpetuates the claims of the reformers at the surface, but not when you look in context.”

It is possible that 9News would say that one should not believe the rantings of a passionate activist, that perhaps she read into this what she wanted to hear.  That all would be a consideration if Garcia’s piece did not use such inaccurate information.  That would be true if he had spoken with the Jefferson County School District, which Complete Colorado says never happened. What this means is that Nelson Garcia may have taken the word of the recall activists armed with an agenda over doing a quick Google search or calling the school district, which would have been the ultimate source for the information.

Further, Garcia apologized to the recallers for his performance on 9News‘ Balance of Power? Apologized for what? For not carrying their water? That’s not his job as a journalist. His job is to fairly present the facts, which he seems to be having difficulty doing.

Complete Colorado asserts that 9News will not reveal its sources for its (Un)Truth Test. Is that because the only source 9News used were the recallers? 9News needs to do an on air correction and, if there is even a kernel of truth to this, Garcia needs to be fired. If 9News really considers itself an unbiased news source, and one as dedicated to the community as it claims to be, there is no other option.