TEGNA has launched an internal review into a news story published by its Portland, Oregon station on Thursday that led to the firing of a young sports broadcaster, The Desk has learned.
The investigation focuses on whether KGW-TV (Channel 8, NBC) and its two journalists, news director John Tierney and sports reporter Devon Haskins, follow the company’s editorial processes with respect to researching and reporting a story involving social media posts made by former WNBA sports broadcaster Braiden Bell.
The story concerned tweets Bell wrote when he was a teenager, some of which included remarks that were sexist and misogynistic. The station admitted it was unable to find any evidence of similar comments made by Bell on social media as an adult…