Silencing the Fourth Estate
Religion & Liberty Online

Silencing the Fourth Estate

Investigative reporter Steve Wilson has been under attack from public officials in both Detroit and the suburb of Warren, Michigan. And now, a group of Detroit pastors is calling for his termination, according to the Detroit Free Press.

“Whereas Warren officials accused Wilson of mischaracterizing a trip to Costa Rica, more than two dozen pastors said their ire peaked when they heard that the muckraker had, in their words, harassed Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick on a Friday flight home from Boston,” writes M.L. Elrick.

Wilson has been on a dogged pursuit of corruption in city governments. A quick survey of Wilson’s reports on the site of his employer, WXYZ TV in Detroit, turns up this gem: video of Wilson tracking down Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick at a mayors’ convention and being unceremoniously escorted into a meeting with a wall by one of the mayor’s bodyguards after Kilpatrick dodges his questions.

 

Jordan J. Ballor

Jordan J. Ballor (Dr. theol., University of Zurich; PhD, Calvin Theological Seminary) is director of research at the Center for Religion, Culture & Democracy at First Liberty Institute.