Reporter fired over pro-Obama T-shirt
WWJ lets 13-year veteran Dinkins go after she wore top while covering candidate's rally.
George Hunter / The Detroit News
SOUTHFIELD -- Longtime Metro Detroit radio reporter Karen Dinkins has been fired after wearing a pro-Barack Obama T-shirt while covering a rally for the presidential candidate.
Dinkins, who has worked at WWJ (950 AM) for 13 years, covered the rally Sunday at the Detroit Public Library.
Reached by telephone, Dinkins acknowledged that she wore the shirt, and that the radio station fired her Monday. But she declined to elaborate.
"I don't want to comment at this time," she said.
Georgeann Herbert, WWJ's director of programming, said in a statement that Dinkins compromised the station's objectivity by wearing the T-shirt.
"(The station) believes that our credibility with our listeners rests on the independence of our newsroom staff," the statement said. "WWJ does not favor any candidate, party or issue.
"While we encourage employees to exercise their rights as citizens, we expect them to be on guard against any actual or perceived conflict of interest when covering news stories."
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Dinkins told the Detroit Free Press:
“I was really kind of surprised this is a news story,” she said, adding that she wouldn’t comment further. “I didn’t anticipate it.”
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