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9News would have problems in the wake of Lee Keltner鈥檚 killing regardless, but the station’s problems are worse because its most prominent anchor frequently targets for ridicule the same kind of person Matthew Dolloff targeted with his gun.

Two weeks ago, Kyle Clark鈥檚 tweets were cute enough, if you didn鈥檛 mind seeing your neighbors bullied by the local newscaster. Now, a growing number of Coloradans are reading Clark鈥檚 commentary differently: as inexcusably hostile toward the Lee Keltners of our state, who deserve better than the treatment they receive from 9News鈥� anchors and security guards alike.

Certain other journalists have long recognized that Clark damages the brand — both his station鈥檚 and their profession鈥檚. The Colorado Springs Gazette in an editorial identified Clark as 鈥渁 liberal political activist.鈥� Veteran Colorado reporter Joey Bunch said, 鈥淜yle is kind of a quasi-newsman.鈥�

But while others have critiqued, Clark鈥檚 superiors have been content to watch him transform the 6:00 news into half-an-hour of preening sanctimony, and his social media channels into bloody political bludgeons. As Clark abuses his position under their watch, they richly deserve the problems he has created for them now.

One consequence of Clark鈥檚 unprofessional activism: it has made 9News a ridiculous hypocrite. In a September tweet that re-circulated widely after Keltner鈥檚 death, Clark wrote, 鈥淪hame to think there are people cowering in the suburbs, cleaning their guns, wondering if every person of color outside is Antifa. If you鈥檙e afraid to come into Denver because of talk radio fear-mongering, you鈥檙e missing out on a lot.鈥�

That抖阴ap quite a sneer and smear, especially considering that, when he wrote it, Clark must have known his employer was worried about violence downtown and had hired guards to protect his 鈥渃owering鈥� colleagues.

An eviler consequence of Clark鈥檚 activism: it makes his audience fear people like Lee Keltner. Clark frequently portrays right-wingers as dangerous loons. On Oct. 8, two days before Keltner鈥檚 killing, he likened the Michiganders who plotted to kidnap Gov. Gretchen Whitmer to perfectly innocent Coloradans who oppose Gov. Jared Polis. On Aug. 30, he tweeted a video of an unmasked man having a meltdown in a store and said, 鈥淎nti-masker America is terrifying. Add guns and this is how lives are lost.鈥�

When people are frightened, they鈥檙e dangerous; and Clark tells people to feel frightened around the Lee Keltners of Colorado. It will be interesting to see whether the inevitable wrongful death lawsuits against 9News draws a straight line between the attitudes of its news coverage and the attitudes of its security guards.

Another evil consequence of Clark鈥檚 activism: by excusing violence from groups aligned with him politically, Clark encourages more of it. When my friend Michelle Malkin headlined a 鈥淏ack the Blue鈥� rally in Denver on July 19, a leftwing group attacked her and her fellow rally-goers. She posted enough evidence online that the Acting Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security condemned the attack as 鈥渙utrageous violence,鈥� but Clark minimized it as 鈥渙pposing speech鈥� and posted a photo of Malkin looking upset for his followers to scoff at.

The left-wingers who assembled to antagonize Lee Keltner and his friends at the Patriot Muster might well have expected similar support from 9News. Jeremiah Elliot, the leftwing instigator captured on video screaming racial epithets at Lee Keltner immediately before Dolloff shot him, might well have expected similar support — and he received it, when a 9News interview on Thursday, Oct. 15, insanely cast him and promoted his GoFundMe.

9News has given Kyle Clark a uniquely privileged perch in Colorado media. He inherited from others, who toiled long before he arrived on the scene, the most-watched slot on the most-watched network in Denver; and after an initial ratings slip, apparently he鈥檚 somewhat regained his footing.

With his privilege comes duty — if not of fairness and impartiality, at least of the negative kind: duty not to mock people for worrying publicly about the violence that worries his station privately; not to set neighbor against innocent neighbor; not to wink at assaults against groups and individuals he dislikes.

Clark has failed in that duty. 9News has failed to correct him.

Together, they鈥檝e failed the people of Colorado.

Daniel聽Cole聽is the former communications director of the Colorado Republican Party.

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