It’s okay, though: She didn’t apologize to Jeff Cole, just to Wilson Goode (her boss at her $90K-a-year job) and other members of City Council: “I sincerely apologize to you, to City Council President Anna Verna, to all other City Council members and staffers… and especially to all residents and taxpayers of Philadelphia.” Ooh, does that count as Jeff Cole?
Anyway, now she’s going to do what she should have done in the first place, says her lawyer in another letter:
“I agree that my client’s reaction was inappropriate. I explained to her that the appropriate response would have been to do exactly what she later did. And that was to contact an attorney who could determine whether or not Fox29’s relentless paparazzi-like conduct… was libelous and slanderous, thereby warranting the filing of a defamation lawsuit.”
Woo-hoo! Maybe she can file the lawsuit from prison, where she will soon be along with the rest of Philadelphia’s residents.
Then a newspaper columnist suggested imprisonment for a protest sign; the responses to her column are more art than commentary. thelastRepublicaninPhilly: “I can see it now; if we make the tragic mistake of electing Obama; he’ll take some advice from Goode and hire goons to keep away those pesty reporters (’just one second sweetie’). He’ll have his goons rooming around in press conferences just to make sure they ask the right questions. I know a few other countries that have socialized health care, high taxes and and restricted freedom of speech.” Djata: “It’s even funnier how this paper censors legitimate intellectual ideas.” And, finally, Philly Guy: “You can put nice suits on thugs, give them (they really don’t have to earn them) decent jobs, expect nothing from them, pay them an extremely nice salary, allow them to act like they are respectable in respectable surroundings and at the end they are what we all know they are ….. thugs. There has been this double standard where black behavior can sink to any level they want and there are no recriminations.” Comment number two, Philly Guy; that’s an impressive dedication to nonsensical racism.
Today, more developments: Councilman Goode both defended and bashed the media, Chris Brennan reports. His buzzword: Media diversity — rather, the lack thereof. While he loves freedom of speech, he also didn’t like being followed around by Jeff Cole.
“For the last week, it appears as if the press doesn’t care about my mission either. But I care about my mission. I believe in freedom of the press, even with its lack of diversity. Many black elected officials would never admit it but the lack of diversity in the press is a major issue for us. In fact, many don’t feel that the freedom of speech applies equally to them.”
Councilman Goode probably has quite a few insightful things to say about being a black politician covered largely by an all-white press. Could be a fascinating conversation. Of course, though, none of this would have gotten the publicity it did had his aide not held up a sign that read, “Fox 29 are racist.” Jeff Cole goes out and annoys local powerful people almost every week. “Fox 29 Investigates” saying a Philadelphia politician and his aide are screwing the public trust isn’t going to land on the front page of the Metro section. Hell, a timesheet problem is more notable.
Jeff Cole is apparently spending his time recording awesome promos; Claudia Gomez covered Goode in City Hall today. She seems a dogged enough reporter who appears to get bumped quite easily. There’s video on Fox’s site, but the real treasure is the photo gallery, which I’ve excerpted above. Larger (~1MB) version after the jump. Deinterlace your video before taking screenshots next time, guys!
If you asked me how Fox 29 could make this Jeff Cole/Fox 29 are racist sign story even better, I might have come up with some decent ideas. But I never would have come up with the idea of slying asking Al Sharpton to weigh in! Yes, this is incredible; but what makes it better is how he talks in general terms, making everyone wonder: Was he just asked about it in general terms, too?
Really, though, who cares. This is some of the best entertainment from a news station in months. The summer doldrums are over!
In case you didn’t notice, here’s a screengrab from yesterday’s Fox 29 promo. I’m not so much befuddled about the “Fox 29 are racist” construction but by this thought: Nobody had a Sharpie to make sure the sign showed up better on TV? Geeze, that’s just kind of poor planning.
There’s so much in this little promo from yesterday for Jeff Cole’s report about the woman who called the station racist that it might be the best 20 second promo ever. First, the awesome sign that reads, “Fox 29 are racist.” Then, Cole’s insinuation that there’s no way people could be racist against this woman — she makes $90,000 a year! Then the case of beer, the shots of her washing her car, the classic Philly rowhome she’s walking out of. Man, can Tuesday at 10 come fast enough?
Do you know who Latrice Bryant is? Right. Apparently, she’s an aide to Councilman Wilson Goode. And Jeff Cole and his team of crack Fox 29 reporters have been following Bryant around for some report about “city employees slacking off on the job” or something.
Cole confronted Goode after Council’s session wrapped up, asking if he thought Fox29’s reporting was racist. Goode didn’t break stride as reporters rushed after him.
Cole’s questions involved videotape he says Fox29 has of Bryant, while listed as working in City Hall: a) working out in the gym and b) walking with Goode into his house with a case of beer and c) leaving Goode’s house looking as if she had spent the night there.
Goode responded that a) his employees had not been filling out their work time sheets daily, which led to mistakes that have been corrected and b) who he goes to his house with is his business and c) Cole’s question was disrespectful.
Jeff Cole is following Wilson Goode all the way to his house and seeing who he kicks back and gets drunk with? Man, this is the best thing this station has done since May.
And don’t think I didn’t notice Wilson Goode’s clever strategy: Have an aide hold up signs calling Jeff Cole racist, then when questioned about it by Cole himself, call him disrespectful. That’s a rhetorical strategy usually reserved for a blog! I am impressed.
Last night, Fox 29’s Jeff Cole reported on some sort of scam email that says if you don’t pay several thousand dollars to a hitman, he’ll kill you. This was part of “Fox 29 Undercover,” even though it didn’t really involve any undercover work.
The highlight of the segment, though, is the voice-over reading the email; any of the death threats I’ve received would be way better if I could get somebody to read them in that voice. Also, apparently some versions of the email are in all caps, always the sign of a competent and professional hit man.
Below is a promo for tonight’s 10 O’Clock News on Fox. It shows investigative reporter Jeff Cole fighting the good fight against evil. Al Qaeda? Naw. The ONDCP? Nope. His ex-girlfriends? No.
Right, you guessed it: He’s fighting those evil telemarketers.
I kind of want to see how Jeff Cole would cover a war.
Yes, as expected, the 
Do you know who Latrice Bryant is? Right. Apparently, she’s an aide to Councilman Wilson Goode. And Jeff Cole and his team of crack Fox 29 reporters have been following Bryant around for some report about “city employees slacking off on the job” or something.
