KMGH-Channel 7 launched an investigation of self-styled consumer advocate Tom Martino’s business that dissolved Wednesday into a game of spy- versus-spy.
The ABC affiliate planned to use money and hidden cameras to research whether Martino, who appears regularly on Fox-31 News, takes payments to endorse products and services. Martino fought back with a similarly surreptitious tactic: his own hidden camera.
Channel 7 initially asked a Denver businessman for help with its report. At Martino’s behest, the man on Wednesday secretly taped the journalists as they outlined their proposed investigation.
The situation pitting a TV station against a well-known TV personality doesn’t reflect “a lot of heroes on either side,” said Gary Hill, chairman of the Society of Professional Journalists’ ethics committee and news manager of special projects for KSTP-TV in Minneapolis-St. Paul.
“Is this really a story that rises to the level of deception you have to resort to when using a hidden camera?” he asked. “Those are very powerful tools that should be used only when you can’t find another way to tell a story of profound importance accurately and fully.”
Channel 7’s Tony Kovaleski and John Ferrugia defended their attempt to find out whether the consumer advocate accepts money in exchange for endorsements on his radio show and website, Troubleshooter.com.
“When you get as many calls about Tom as we have, we have to ask questions,” Ferrugia said.
Martino defended his counterinvestigation.
“I have no reason to hide and absolutely no reason to accept a few thousand bucks to slant a story,” he said. “It’s not right to bait people, and it’s a shame Channel 7 has to resort to that to do its work.”
The recording was made by Tyrone Allen, the owner of a Denver trucking brokerage. Allen turned coat in part because he likes Martino, who once referred on the air to Allen’s company as “one of the worst of the worst.” That made Allen a seemingly desirable source for Channel 7.
“I have been the subject of ‘gotcha’ journalism, and I can’t stand to see it used against anyone,” Allen said. The tape is now in Martino’s hands, and it could end up on the air. “You can count on me using what’s on that tape in an open forum,” Martino said.
Staff writer Christine Tatum can be reached at 303-820-1015 or ctatum@denverpost.com.
