Fox 5 banned from Nathan Deal immigration bill signing
Fox 5/WAGA-TV’s Justin Gray was blocked by state troopers from a public immigration bill signing held today by Gov. Nathan Deal at the Gold Dome. Why? Deal’s press office was angry about an unrelated, unflattering story Dale Russell had done the night before about Deal.
VIDEO: Governor Deal’s Office Bans FOX 5 Reporter from Immigration Bill Signing: MyFoxATLANTA.com
Below is the story that upset Deal’s office. The campaign had paid $90,000 to a fund-raising company the I-Team had never heard of called Southern Magnolia Capital. Russell discovered that company was connected to Deal’s daughter in law Denise Deal. Phil Wilheit, identified in the story as Deal’s campaign manager, told Russell the transaction was “transparent” but Russell said the firm has no website or any obvious public information or direct link to Deal’s name.
Fox 5 news director Mike McClain sent a statement today at about 5:30 p.m. to me: “FOX 5 Atlanta stands by our I-Team investigation and Reporter Dale Russell. The barring of FOX 5 cameras from the bill signing today was unacceptable and obviously an emotional reaction to our I-Team investigation. We’ve voiced out concerns to the Governor’s Office and hope that they will reconsider that decision.”
Deal’s spokesman Brian Robinson, when I called him, was still hot under the collar. He said the campaign never hid the fact Denise Deal ran the governor’s fund-raising campaign and having a family member do so is not illegal. He challenged me to Google the name “Southern Magnolia Capitol.” There was one site that immediately came up with her name attached to it: the Georgia Chamber of Commerce. (It was added, however, on May 10, just days before the report aired, so when Russell was first working on the piece, indeed, there was no sign of Deal’s connection with Southern Magnolia online.) He said she was compensated at a market rate. A P.O. box number Fox 5 identified as connected to Southern Magnolia was a clerical error, not a way to hide anything, he noted.
The person identified as campaign manager in the story Wilheit was the chairman, Robinson said, not the campaign manager, and he didn’t know all the details Fox 5 had showed him. Robinson thought they had “ambushed” him. The governor chose not to talk to Fox 5 about it because he didn’t want to be ambushed either, Robinson said.
He said the reason they blocked Gray was not anything Gray did but the fact the station did “a shoddy piece of journalism in which they should be embarrassed.” He is demanding an apology. He felt this was one way to punish Fox 5 because “we don’t have a TV station. We don’t have the power of the airwaves.”
Ironically, he said Deal has developed a good relationship with Fox 5 before this, noting the governor has has appeared on “Good Day Atlanta” since coming into office. “We’ve given them incredible access,” Robinson said. “That’s why this was so particularly upsetting to us.”
He said the story has “lots of innuendo but no context and very little facts.”
Judge for yourself:
I-Team: Gov. Deal Campaign Funds: MyFoxATLANTA.com
Join my Facebook fan page and Twitter.
By Rodney Ho, rho@ajc.com, AJCRadioTV blog
accessAtlanta Partner Sites
Sections
Advertise on accessAtlanta.com »
Reach the audience you want by advertising on accessAtlanta.com
Join the Access Atlanta Network »
Advertisers and Publishers, expand your reach by joining the Access Atlanta Network.
Tell us what you think about the site
Visitor Agreement | Privacy Statement | About our ads
© 2013 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
263 comments Add your comment
YouSuck
May 13th, 2011
5:41 pm
@ bill. didn’t say they “effected” it you dumb a$$; the point , as anyone with a 2nd grade education could presume, was that the media brushed it under the rug. Funny how the left are such f’ing idiots. Then again…look who’s in office.
Ackshun
May 13th, 2011
5:41 pm
What’s that I smell? smoke? Trust me if he will allow stuff like this, it’s just the tip of the iceberg and it’s going to be an interesting couple of years with this guy.
JD
May 13th, 2011
5:43 pm
Troopers should not have been sucked into this controversy by enforcing “press corp” rules. State laws only, now they will get in trouble.
Browncoat
May 13th, 2011
5:45 pm
Deal doesn’t like to follow the rules. Basically, Deal was run out of Congress because of shady dealings (he quit in order to derail an ethics investigation). This raises concerns when a public official uses the powers of his office to punish someone for exercising their First Amendment rights.
LackLusterLife
May 13th, 2011
5:45 pm
Jim, did you say black governor? Are you talking about the State of Georgia? Really?????Don’t hold your breath for that one!
U Gotta B Kidding
May 13th, 2011
5:46 pm
The Governor’s office can complain about “shoddy journalism” all they want, but not responding to the story and then putting limits on the media looks a whole lot worse than the original story.
So we now have gone from an unflattering piece about the Governor that only a fraction of the viewing audience likely even saw… to making the State Patrol look like stormtroopers and the Governor look like he’s about to be indicted.
If these are indicative of the decisions coming from that office, God help us all.
BIOMASS
May 13th, 2011
5:51 pm
Immigration enforcement, alcohol sales on Sunday, new bicyclist protection…..
If only we could get Milton county back
I’m loving this guy, Deal!
Freedom of the Press
May 13th, 2011
5:52 pm
No wisdom.
…………………No justice.
…………………………………..No moderation
God Bless Georgia
The Nerd
May 13th, 2011
5:53 pm
Gov. Deal is not a moron…HE’S A RACIST!!!!!
BeenThereDoneThat
May 13th, 2011
5:53 pm
So let me get this straight. The Governor’s office used over a dozen State Troopers to escort 1 reporter and 1 cameraman out? And the State has a shortage of Troopers on the road? I consider myself very conservative and very my anti mainstream media after the last Presidential election and with current reporting of the President. But the story Channel 5 did was factual and more illegal Dealings (a little pun) will be out before his term is over. Nathan Deal cannot stop the facts and if he wanted to hide from the facts he should have bowed out of the election. He was not the right Republican for the job and got the nomination by default.
red79ford
May 13th, 2011
5:56 pm
Now you get to see the Real Deal LOL
SteelerDawg
May 13th, 2011
5:57 pm
Where I come from (America) we have this thing called ‘freedom of the press’. It’s good to see the Governor of GA is throwing six figures worth of campaign funds to his daughter in law in such a opaque way… If they did nothing wrong, they would clear up any misunderstanding, or at least not be stupid enough to ban the station that did the reporting from a public news conference. That reaction only shows them as being corrupt, by using the GA STATE PATROL to BAN reporters they don’t like for getting too close to the truth. Great use of taxpayer resources…. What a joke.
JojoMojo
May 13th, 2011
5:59 pm
Nathan “Backroom” Deal has honed his graft over the years. He’s addicted to feathering his nest- enjoy the swamp tour folks!
Freedom of the Press
May 13th, 2011
6:00 pm
`
The U.S. Constitutional Law has been broken.
.
Fox 5 banned from Nathan Deal immigration bill signing - City-Data Forum
May 13th, 2011
6:05 pm
[...] Fox 5 banned from Nathan Deal immigration bill signing Too bad for them…this was one of the biggest news stories today… Fox 5 banned from Nathan Deal immigration bill signing http://blogs.ajc.com/radio-tv-talk/2011/05/13/fox-5-banned-from-nathan-deal-immigration-bill-signing... [...]
Freedom of the Press
May 13th, 2011
6:06 pm
When this fiasco is over with,
Lieutenant Governor Casey Cagle will be Governor.
Contractor
May 13th, 2011
6:07 pm
Guess it’s ok if the Lord and Savior Barry can exclude certain news stations from his briefings, but scold a Republican like hot water when he does it. Liberal media bias rearing its ugly head yet again.
Freedom of the Press
May 13th, 2011
6:10 pm
This has nothing to do with political parties.
The U.S. Constitution has been disgraced by the Governor.
John
May 13th, 2011
6:10 pm
I just saw the story on TV about this issue and the other story that the slimeball governor is upset about. The fact that Deal paid his daughter in law from campaign funds needs to be investigated fully. Something smells fishy.
bart
May 13th, 2011
6:15 pm
This is scarey stuff, and all you idiots who don’t think it is obviously don’t know anything about Hitler, Sadan Hussein, or any of those other dictators. Freedom of the press is a cornerstone of our democracy. This is really very frightening, and even more so becaues there are people who actually support this unconstitutional action.
DannyX
May 13th, 2011
6:16 pm
“Guess it’s ok if the Lord and Savior Barry can exclude certain news stations from his briefings, but scold a Republican like hot water when he does it. Liberal media bias rearing its ugly head yet again.”
Obama gave Fox News the prime front row seat in the Press Room at the White House.
Bush as you remember had gay escort Guckert/Gannon planted in that same room to lob softball questions at him. Bush also paid reporters to write favorable stories about him.
Browncoat
May 13th, 2011
6:18 pm
Wonder what Deal’s next step will be to silence critics? Maybe send the state troopers out to round up folks whom he believes have somehow wronged him or his family.
Contractor
May 13th, 2011
6:18 pm
SteelerDawg,
Look no further than the White House to sum up your own post. The White House and Barry have many issues they need to come clean about and just “clear up”. Pretty simple for you to rag on Deal, whom is getting great marks on his term thus far, and not look as far as the supreme leader of this country, whom still has an unfavorable approval rating on everything he has done, besides the bin Laden situation.
Tom
May 13th, 2011
6:18 pm
Since when is it the duty of thug troopers to enforce censorship of the press? What happened to freedom of the press?
DaddyInLawFreeMealDeal
May 13th, 2011
6:19 pm
I just saw the Dale Russell story and I thought it was an excellent piece of work. It is rather clear that this $90K was a gift to his son’s wife under a phony company name. Looks like ol’ Nathan is picking right up where fatboy Perdue left off, fricking crooks and liars.
DannyX
May 13th, 2011
6:19 pm
Deal needs to hire Guckert/Gannon.
Ed
May 13th, 2011
6:22 pm
Sounds a little shady to me. It may not be illegal, but it is unethical. Nathan Deal, if you can’t take the heat, get out of the kitchen!
Contractor
May 13th, 2011
6:23 pm
Danny X,
Take a deeper look dude. Obama pitches a fit anytime someone puts him in his place and throws the truth on him, He is a complete cry baby and can’t handle the pressure of the truth. He has vowed to no longer give interviews to certain news stations, and interviewers. Turn this any way you want, but the fact still stands that no one in the media ever skewers Obama, but aims for Republicans. Be short sided and not believe that, but it shows to your intelligence if you don’t even somewhat agree with that. I can agree that there are negatives on both sides of these political parties, and I’m not naive to that, but the media favors the Liberal side of things.
Atlantan
May 13th, 2011
6:31 pm
Disappointed in Deal acting like this. I expected more….. , but then I recall most of today’s GA Repubs, including Deal, were GA Yellow Dog Democrats just a mere 15-20 years ago.
Shoddy journalism or not, pretty low-brow on Deal’s part. Guess his skin is quite thin.
Atlantan
May 13th, 2011
6:34 pm
@DannyX – anyone coming on here defending Obama loses instant credibility. In fact, Deal is acting like Obama.
RLM
May 13th, 2011
6:36 pm
I wonder how many people who are complaining did not vote or voted for Deal who was never known for being squeaky clean. Who is surprised by business as usual in Georgia state government.
Live free or die
May 13th, 2011
6:40 pm
ALL local and national news media should never let go of this one,
until justice is done.
Alabama Communist
May 13th, 2011
6:49 pm
Nothing like watching a Police state Republican Governor banning free speech reguardless of the story……..
Phoneman
May 13th, 2011
6:53 pm
I hope we haven’t got someone worse than Sonny was! This could be a nightmare.
SpaceyG
May 13th, 2011
6:56 pm
Imma gonna Google: *Southern Magnolia Capital.*
DannyX
May 13th, 2011
6:56 pm
“anyone coming on here defending Obama loses instant credibility. In fact, Deal is acting like Obama.”
Say what you want about Obama but not once has he blocked Fox News from the White House press room. In fact he gave his biggest critics a front row seat.
Bino
May 13th, 2011
6:58 pm
Let’s see if I have got this right….the State economy, employment, infrastructure and public schools are on life support while Atlanta metropolitan crime is on the rise…and an Atlanta news organization is in a push/pull (i.e P-ness-pulling) contest with the Governor’s office?!! Shame on both of you. Let’s get back to business…PLEASE!!
SpaceyG
May 13th, 2011
7:12 pm
What’s weird is I did Google *Southern Magnolia Capital (with an *a*) earlier today, and that entry, now visible on the first page of results that Brian Robinson is referring to, did NOT come up then. Wish I’d gotten a screen shot capture.
Nick
May 13th, 2011
7:16 pm
I just wonder why anyone is surprised by this. This is what you voted for…
Gator Actual
May 13th, 2011
7:29 pm
Just wait. Channel 46 will blindside him with their “hard hitting” questions. Channel 11 will also go after him. Channel 2? WSB? They will be his puppet!
Boris Badnov
May 13th, 2011
7:35 pm
Watching a bill signing is not high on my viewing list. I’ll take Fatima Does Medina on Cinemax. Nice Nathan Deal would do well to take Harry Truman’s advice: If you want a friend get a dog. Being trashed by different media outlets is part of politics. My fav TV channel is 46 because they have hotter reporter babes. Nothing they say upsets me because I have the sound turned off and am listening to opera.
John
May 13th, 2011
7:41 pm
Bunch of scums. Where’s Roy when you need him.
CP
May 13th, 2011
7:44 pm
jim: You are coming across like a bitter racist.
Robert
May 13th, 2011
7:50 pm
Were these taxpayer dollars? Or funds donated to his election campaign?
I think it was the latter, therefore should be no inpropriaty.
Shouldn’t Fox be more concerened about whose mouth Bill’s willy is in?
Would it have been more acceptable if he was the mayor of Atlanta and had son-in-laws that were known drug dealers and murderers?
Matter not. We will elect criminals and allow their families to receive government contracts despite their past.
Mel
May 13th, 2011
7:54 pm
So what if it’s bad journalism…banning them makes you look about 4 years old. Grow up and deal with it behind closed doors. If it’s wrong, you’ll probably get a retraction.
Dunsmeir
May 13th, 2011
7:55 pm
Deal looks like a jerk for doing this. And now the investigative piece is being seen far and wide whereas before it was pretty much limited to Channel 5’s audience. This will become an even bigger story in the next few days, I would bet.
C
May 13th, 2011
7:59 pm
This new immigration bill is modeled after Arizona legislation that never made it to becoming a law. The Ninth District Court, Judge Bolton eviscerated the AZ bill and now it is on its way to The Supremes. It would have been a wiser choice for the GA legislature to wait and see what is going to happen to the AZ and UT bills. The ACLU and the Federal Government are going to take this law apart in court and the thugs in the GA state house will be held up in court for the forseeable future.
An intelligent body of men and women would have waited on this racial profiling bill, but no one ever accused the men and women of the GA legislature of being intelligent. Good luck, the GA legislature and Deal just spent a lot of time and money on a law that will never pass a judicial review.
Buck
May 13th, 2011
7:59 pm
Like they said during the election, he’s just a SHADY DEAL!!!!!!!!
Ima Pol Crook
May 13th, 2011
8:11 pm
So the crooked ex congressman of “the top 15 most corrupt in congress” sicced his Nazi storm troopers on Fox 5 huh? This is typical of this scumbag and his hidden dealings and yes, I AM a Republican but ashamed so many stupid, corrupt people worked for and voted for him. This means YOU you slimey Deal team members!!!
Don Abernethy
May 13th, 2011
8:13 pm
I have absolutely no confidence in our federal or state government or any of the media including Fox News ( and I am a conservative Republican). I voted for Deal because I could not vote for Barnes,but Deal was not my choice. I do not trust the government or the media. I predict eventually the people will be in the streets just as they are now in the Middle East.