A white TV reporter who voiced his opinions about black families and relations with police during a segment about a fatal police shooting said Tuesday he was suspended from his station and won’t return.
Sean Bergin said he was suspended from News 12 New Jersey without pay on Monday and with pay on Tuesday. Bergin, a contracted employee, said the station told him that his assignments would be cut to one a week and he declined to remain in the position.
Bergin’s report, which aired Sunday, featured the widow of a black man who police say shot a rookie Jersey City police officer to death and who was then killed by officers responding to the shooting.
The widow, Angelique Campbell, told Bergin that Lawrence Campbell should have killed more officers, but she later apologized.
Bergin said in his report that the underlying cause of an anti-police mentality is young black men growing up without fathers.
‘It’s important to shine a light on this anti-cop mentality that has so contaminated America’s inner cities,’ Bergin said after airing the widow’s comments and showing a memorial for her husband. “The underlying cause of all of this, of course, young black men growing up without fathers.”
The TV station said that the response to Bergin’s report was being handled internally and that it doesn’t comment on personnel matters.
‘It is News 12’s policy that reporters must be objective and not state personal opinions on-air,’ the station said in a statement Tuesday.
Bergin said that he added his commentary just before going on air because he had heard from police officers outraged that the station was airing the widow’s comments.
‘If I had it to do over again, I would do the exact same thing,’ Bergin said. “I broke the rules. I knew I was breaking the rules. But sometimes you have to break the rules to do the right thing.’
He said that the issue of young black men without fathers deserves more media coverage.
‘Replacing husbands and fathers with government checks created this mess and that’s why liberal media refuse to look at it,’ a defiant Mr Bergin wrote on his Facebook page Tuesday in response to a comment by one of his numerous fans.
News 12 New Jersey viewers have been leaving messages on Bergin’s ‘wall’ thanking him for taking a stand on a controversial issue.
A Facebook page created in support of the ousted journalist has drawn nearly 1,900 ‘likes.’
http://youtu.be/wIqC7HjeP9g
