Update: Fox 31 finally admits “more steps should have been taken … to verify information.” Update at the end of the story
A debunked Denver television news story about the supposed detention and questioning of an Italian shotgun company executive as a possible terrorist is being called a hoax by another local TV station, a departure from protocol in which stations usually don’t call out the competition on the quality of their reporting.
But the problems with a Fox 31 story that were reported by The Daily Caller News Foundation on Tuesday were too great to ignore, said 9News anchor Kyle Clark before refuting Fox’s story point by point.
“It is exceedingly rare for us to fact-check the work of another media outlet in town,” Clark said during Tuesday’s evening newscast, “but there’s a report causing concern among gun rights supporters and impacting the reputation of local law enforcement and businesses.”
On Saturday, Fox 31 reported that Daniele Perazzi, described as president of the Italian shotgun manufacturer Perazzi, was brought in for questioning by Adams County sheriff’s deputies when a cabbie, concerned that Perazzi was supposedly carrying seven shotguns into a gun show, called 911.
But Perazzi died last year and the Adams County sheriff’s department said it has no record that the incident occurred.
Neither does Larry Stevenson, a former Denver police officer who runs a program called Taxis on Patrol, which encourages cab drivers to report suspicious activity. The program was cited in the Fox report as a possible reason the cab driver allegedly overreacted.
On the 9News report and on Denver talk radio station 630KHOW Wednesday morning, Stevenson said the reputation of the popular program — which has spread to other cities and to Europe — was damaged when the Fox story went viral.
“My program has been damaged by this,” he told 9News. “Taxis on Patrol, we have been across the globe since 2011. I literally have been getting calls from around the world. … This is absolutely not true, there is no proof whatsoever.”
9News went further, with Clark reporting that he obtained the name and telephone number of the Fox report’s only source, an unnamed “attorney” who supposedly represented Perazzi.
“She admitted to being that unnamed attorney and told me that things, quote, ‘blew up more than they were supposed to,’ end quote,” Clark said, adding that the woman’s name isn’t found in the state database of attorneys.
On the radio Wednesday morning, Stevenson said he wanted an apology from Fox and its reporter, Hendrick Sybrandy.
Clark said the station’s management didn’t respond to his request for comment.
Fox pulled the story from its website on Wednesday morning. A message left for Fox 31 news director Ed Kosowski by The Daily Caller News Foundation wasn’t immediately returned.
By noon on Wednesday, the Adams County sheriff’s department took the unusual step of adding its voice — via press release — to those calling for Fox 31 to address the issue.
“This is truly an unfortunate instance where Fox 31 dropped the ball and alleged our involvement when we had none,” the release reads in part. “It is stunning to us that they have not stepped up and said they were wrong.”
Update: On Wednesday’s evening newscast, Fox 31 admitted it was duped by a woman posing as Perazzi’s attorney, who’d also apparently hoodwinked two of the station’s trusted sources to vouch for the story, even though neither source had a firsthand account of what was reported to have happened.
Those sources were Colorado NRA board member Steve Schreiner and Independence Institute lawyer David Kopel. Kopel is representing nearly two dozen plaintiffs — including 55 elected county sheriffs — in a lawsuit against Colorado to overturn new gun control bills.
The woman, Korrine Aguirre, staged an apparently elaborate hoax, going so far as to let Schreiner listen in on a conversation she was pretending to have with another of Perazzi’s attorneys. In its online story, Fox 31 said it couldn’t determine a motive for Aguirre’s alleged storytelling.
“More steps should have been taken to corroborate Aguirre’s story and verify information provided by Kopel and Schreiner,” Fox 31 news director Ed Kosowski is quoted as saying in the station’s online version of the story. “KDVR is committed to fair, accurate and balanced reporting and we are reviewing policies and procedures to ensure our content meets those standards.”
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