  Calmone Member Username: Calmone Post Number: 8 Registered: 02-2008 |
Well I see WXYZ finally went to far and killed someone over one of their made up for TV news hack stories. I have to guess that their team of lawyers told them to not cover the story of Wanglers death to start the process of covering their butts for when the family files a civil suit against the station for wrongful death. I wonder if Jack Johanson the producer of that terrible story and Heather the big bird looking reporter can sleep at night knowing that there are 4 children without a mother because of their BS story. | ||
Oldredfordette Member Username: Oldredfordette Post Number: 3966 Registered: 02-2004 |
Why do people enable the television "news"? One station more despicable than the next. This woman might have been guilty of a crime she might not but it seems clear she was hounded. We should go back to the old days - headlines weather - 15 minutes then more reruns. | ||
Fastcarsfreedom Member Username: Fastcarsfreedom Post Number: 263 Registered: 11-2005 |
WXYZ's silence is telling and I intend, for what it's worth, to give Grace Gilchrist a piece of my mind on this issue--one week criminal allegations against a news anchor in a city miles away is worthy of an "Investigators" report, and the next week--after said person commits suicide--it doesn't warrant so much as a passing mention--even when this person is a former colleague? WDIV handled this story with taste and grace yesterday--they don't often impress me--but yesterday they did. I'm not prepared to lay blame for Wangler's death at the feet of anyone--but clearly, despite all allegations, this was a woman that needed help from someone--because she was obviously a risk to her own safety. | ||
Shark Member Username: Shark Post Number: 324 Registered: 12-2003 |
Since you can create a new post from something that you wrote a few hours ago, I will just cut and paste my response to you: "Oh cry me a river... The big bad media didn't kill her. Did it ever occur to you that she may have been a nut and a criminal and she decided to off herself because she couldn't deal with the consequences of her actions?" | ||
Bigb23 Member Username: Bigb23 Post Number: 563 Registered: 11-2007 |
Just recycling a thread - https://www.atdetroit.net/forum/mes sages/5/125146.html?1203485006 | ||
Wash_man Member Username: Wash_man Post Number: 635 Registered: 05-2006 |
"WXYZ's silence is telling and I intend, for what it's worth, to give Grace Gilchrist a piece of my mind on this issue" Grace retired in December. | ||
Fastcarsfreedom Member Username: Fastcarsfreedom Post Number: 265 Registered: 11-2005 |
Really Wash_man, I had no idea. Thanks for the update--spent a few weeks out of town and must've missed it. Has Scripps brought someone else in yet, or is the search ongoing? Forgive my ignorance. As for the thread being "recycled"--I was the original poster of the other thread--but thanks for the update. | ||
Wash_man Member Username: Wash_man Post Number: 636 Registered: 05-2006 |
"The time is right, says Gilchrist, who will be replaced by Bob Sliva, currently vice president of sales for the Scripps Television Station Group." Full article: http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs .dll/article?AID=/20071130/ENT 03/711300412/1035 | ||
Gplimpton Member Username: Gplimpton Post Number: 125 Registered: 05-2007 |
Why in the hell are you people blaming the reporter for this woman's choice to take her own life? No one is taking glee in her death. Sheesh, I think Catallo probably feels terrible right now. But how can you fault her for simply reporting on how Wangler, who is a public figure in a position of trust, who clearly used her position to take advantage of others? | ||
Ltdave Member Username: Ltdave Post Number: 113 Registered: 09-2006 |
okay, she looks very familiar (the mug shot from wednesday) did she used to do traffic or something similar from the WDIV helicopter? they say she was an anchor but i dont remember her ever being behind the desk... (Message edited by ltdave on February 24, 2008) | ||
Dannyv Member Username: Dannyv Post Number: 109 Registered: 08-2007 |
I looked on the WXYZ web site this afternoon and there was a video clip, introduced by Heather Catallo, about Suzanne's death that was posted after the news at noon. There are print stories in the daily newspapers. The one I read had interviews with her former co-workers at UPN, channel 50. Although it's easy to point the finger of blame, I don't understand how someone could see their former friend and co-worker as part of a troubling story on TV and not reach out or give that person a call to just touch base and see that they're OK. That being said, it's not her co-workers who are to blame for what happened to Suzanne. We'll never know what was going through her head and why she did what she did. | ||
Ladyinabag Member Username: Ladyinabag Post Number: 385 Registered: 03-2007 |
She looks TOTALLY different without make-up. She looks like two different people. | ||
Fastcarsfreedom Member Username: Fastcarsfreedom Post Number: 266 Registered: 11-2005 |
Ltdave, during much of her time at WDIV she was the Chopper 4 reporter--she didn't do traffic but reported Live/Breaking News from the helicopter. She was strikingly beautiful. I have to say again--I questioned WXYZ decision/motivation for airing the report--I'm certainly not placing blame on anyone there for what happened--as can be seen, this woman's life was a mess. | ||
Pam Member Username: Pam Post Number: 3572 Registered: 11-2005 |
Channel 7 news had the story on this morning. | ||
Rjk Member Username: Rjk Post Number: 1056 Registered: 11-2003 |
"But how can you fault her for simply reporting on how Wangler, who is a public figure in a position of trust, who clearly used her position to take advantage of others?" That sounds nice and I'm sure that's WXYZ's angle. This was nothing but a story of a person who was on top the world at one time and came tumbling down. She married the star QB, had a great job, lived in a beautiful house, but look at how F'd up her life is now. People love those type of stories. What was the point of showing her clearly drunk (stumbling) on the police video tape? I saw this piece when it first aired and it came across as very ghoulish. | ||
Gnome Member Username: Gnome Post Number: 800 Registered: 08-2007 |
CalmOne: Gosh, it seems you are pretty right. I don't know if Heather Catallo has a heart at all, but after viewing her reports, I don't really see why this lady's misfortunes were newsworthy. Seems that her hubby took up with their nanny and that just devastated her. sad that anyone could spin so out of control. | ||
Rotation_slim Member Username: Rotation_slim Post Number: 81 Registered: 10-2005 |
Gnome and Calmone is the same person. of this there is no doubt. | ||
Fastcarsfreedom Member Username: Fastcarsfreedom Post Number: 268 Registered: 11-2005 |
Nonetheless, it was barely newsworthy. Marlinga asked WXYZ to hold off on the report and they refused, knowing of course it would end Wangler's job at WLAJ...innocent until proven guilty. That job, it would appear, was all the was keeping this woman's life together. | ||
Rotation_slim Member Username: Rotation_slim Post Number: 82 Registered: 10-2005 |
It was certainly newsworthy to the poor fellow who's life saving she stole. In my opinion a charge of felony against a high profile community member is newsworthy. "innocent until proven guilty" is a legal principle. No responsible journalist waits for the legal system to adjudicate something that they have the full facts on. Marlinga has even avoided saying that WXYZ had any of their facts wrong. Suzanne had a chance to stand up and profess her innocence, both to Ch. 7, and the legal system, but instead she (and I hate to go Dr. Phil tough love on you here, but I am hoping it may shock some of you saps back to your senses) took the cowards way out. If she had a side, why did she, or her lawyer not lay it out? If appearance was so important to her (and it was) why would she remain moot if she was innocent. I hate to be a hard case.. but many of you posters are falling for her manipulative ploy to make sure she was the final victim. It is a choice her kids will pay for for the rest of their lives. This is "lookism" at its worst. Someone picks on a pretty white woman, and there is hell to pay (ignore the fact that she brought much if not all of this on herself by her choices) but a poor black woman sees some hard times, maybe even makes a bad choice. I don't see any call for sympathy. It is shameful, I expect higher standards on this board. | ||
Rotation_slim Member Username: Rotation_slim Post Number: 83 Registered: 10-2005 |
And while I am on my high horse here.. has it occured to anyone that WXYZ may have choosen to respectfully put her death "on the record" then leave it alone. Maybe they had no desire to dance on her grave. Would you all have felt better if they were live in front of her house reviewing all of her faults, and the downward spiral that led to her killing herself? Or wait... should they have hounded her family for a statement? Maybe they should have gotten a statement from the guy who she stole from? Any chance WXYZ didn't really fell the need to defend any of the accurate reporting, and they just did what responsible news organizations do when a high profile member of a community commits suicide, they respectfully put it on the record and move on. Honestly, what would you have done? Anything more than a simple mention to get is on the record is downright ghoulish. | ||
Rel Member Username: Rel Post Number: 242 Registered: 02-2008 |
I don't believe suicide isn't a "coward's way out". It's a mentally-ill way out. A coward's way out would have been to leave the state. I respectfully disagree with the term used, and think it does nothing to help take the stigma away from mental health issues. The stigma makes it more difficult for people to ask for help or even acknowledge to themselves they need it. This woman's world came crashing down. Her poor 4 children are devastated. I only wish that she had reached out for some help before things completely spiraled out of control. On the other Wangler thread, I was a little disturbed by all of the nosy questions & wierd observations about her. Someone thought to share which kind of licorice she liked to order... Seriously? Next, someone will spill her shoe size and if she ever had botox. Who cares? Let her family grieve and let it go. I think this still might have been in the news had she not been on TV. $140,000 is a lot of money and would have gotten attention. But because she was a "public" figure, they *definitely* felt it was newsworthy. Keep in mind however, that without her OWN actions, this wouldn't be press-worthy. She is the one who set the ball in motion with her own actions... and those who work in the public eye know that their privacy isn't guaranteed. Still, you can't help but feel pity. | ||
Gnome Member Username: Gnome Post Number: 801 Registered: 08-2007 |
Like I said, I don't know Suzanne Wangler, never met the lady and can't say I rememeber her even being on the air. I didn't know her, but Heather Catallo certainly did. But in the cursory research I did, it was quite easy to find out that her husband ran off with the nanny. That is pretty devastating. I think the Catallo piece was just the poke in the ribs an unstable person needed to be pushed over the edge. I can remember a friend of mine, Joe Wesner, did the same thing after his wife took up with another man. His funeral was packed with friends and students. He is truly missed. No one called him a coward. No one said he deserved to die. A lost man in deep pain, and his death made me think a tiny bit about Suzanne Wangler, and show her a little compassion. | ||
Rjk Member Username: Rjk Post Number: 1057 Registered: 11-2003 |
"...it was quite easy to find out that her husband ran off with the nanny." Where did you hear/read this? | ||
Mcp001 Member Username: Mcp001 Post Number: 3282 Registered: 11-2003 |
"This just in! Channel 7 takes former anchor, places her in a running vehicle in her own garage and closes the door..." I must have missed that "little" detail in this thread so far. | ||
Leoqueen Member Username: Leoqueen Post Number: 1867 Registered: 07-2004 |
Gnome, I worked with Joe Wesner. You are right...he is missed. I have his picture on my desk, and think of him every day. | ||
Gnome Member Username: Gnome Post Number: 802 Registered: 08-2007 |
LeoQ- The Wangler thing has made me think of Joe and the last time we talked and how "not-Joe" he was. I remember being really pissed off at what I considered warranted bruskness, then a couple of days later the news of his death. I had mistaken bruskness for what it really was and have pored over our last meeting a million times since. Joe was a incredible guy who just put everything he had into his work and his family, and when his faith was betrayed it just devastated him. The folks at Channel 7 certainly knew about her personal situation, and just because she reads the news, they flayed her bare. I guess, my point is that this whole thing is just so sad and needless. Heartless. It is just sad. I'm sad for the children and the resentment they will carry for all their lives, I'm sad for the family gatherings that will never be the same. For those children who'll never be able to recall a memory without it being tinged with pain. Dancing on her grave, to me, hurts those little children. | ||
Ladyinabag Member Username: Ladyinabag Post Number: 388 Registered: 03-2007 |
She had been in trouble for the retail fraud of food from Westborn Mkt. God knows if her ex-husband had been regular with the child support. She lived on Vinsetta....high mortgage payment. She got in trouble for drinking with two of her kids in the car and lost custody. She finally got that job in Lansing. She took money for her mortgage payments from the guy who filed charges against her....he filed because she refused his marriage proposal and he felt like a fool. She begged WXYZ not to air the story because she would have got fired from the job in Lansing. When she found out that they were going to air the story she retired from her job. She now had no job, she was losing her house, she lost her kids, there were embezzlement charges filed against her by a spurned lover, the husband that she loved had divorced her....she lost hope. Poor thing. | ||
Dannyv Member Username: Dannyv Post Number: 110 Registered: 08-2007 |
BagLady, that's one way of looking at her problems. No one forced her to drive drunk with her children in the car. Who knows what the truth is about her relationships with her former husband and "spurned lover". You only have her lawyer giving any information on that. No one forced her to steal from the Westborn Market. She made many bad decisions and to blame those who happened to be involved with her lacks balance. It's sad that she did what she did. | ||
Fastcarsfreedom Member Username: Fastcarsfreedom Post Number: 269 Registered: 11-2005 |
Everyone, no matter their lot in life deserves some mercy. I for one don't blame WXYZ or anyone in their employ for what happened here. This woman was juggling grenades--what WXYZ chose to do was pull one of the pins. Whether or not this woman's life was public or not--knowing the business that they themselves are in--they aired the story knowing it would cost her her job--and they did so based on an allegation. End of story. Sad. | ||
Cmubryan Member Username: Cmubryan Post Number: 534 Registered: 11-2003 |
http://www.wxyz.com/content/ne ws/investigators/story.aspx?co ntent_id=4a70ff1a-e197-4fa5-81 72-23be7ebd2058 The original investigative report is still on the website. It's interesting to see where Catallo approaches Wangler outside the studio. Wangler actually comes back after she changes clothes and drops her stuff, she wasn't a coward then. However she probably had no choice unless she wanted to cause a scene which wouldn't have been good if she was trying to save her job. Wangler did handle the situation as gracefully as possible, keeping her temper to a minimum and continuing to keep a smile. She even shook Catallo's hand at the beginning instead of running away like we see so many public figures do. | ||
Bdglsmn Member Username: Bdglsmn Post Number: 13 Registered: 01-2008 |
"Everyone, no matter their lot in life deserves some mercy." Well said Fastcarsfreedom. | ||
Fury13 Member Username: Fury13 Post Number: 4039 Registered: 10-2003 |
I wonder if Catallo feels the slightest twinge of regret over Wangler's fate. I just wonder... | ||
Shark Member Username: Shark Post Number: 328 Registered: 12-2003 |
"I wonder if Catallo feels the slightest twinge of regret over Wangler's fate. I just wonder..." Probably not. She was a kook who ran afoul of the law and decided to do herself in. End of story. | ||
Fury13 Member Username: Fury13 Post Number: 4042 Registered: 10-2003 |
Zero tolerance, huh, Shark? By the book, right? I gotcha. | ||
Shark Member Username: Shark Post Number: 329 Registered: 12-2003 |
Yeah, whatever... | ||
Fastcarsfreedom Member Username: Fastcarsfreedom Post Number: 270 Registered: 11-2005 |
It's a 'discussion' thread, unfortunately Shark has been trying to derail it since it started. End of story. | ||
Shark Member Username: Shark Post Number: 330 Registered: 12-2003 |
Oh THAT is freaking hilarious. Everyone here is hand-wringing and blaming a news story because some mentally unstable woman committed suicide. A woman who was a thief, drunk driver and (allegedly) a con-artist. None of you cared about her when she was perpetrating her crimes, but now everyone needs to find some scapegoat for why she decided to kill herself. Maybe there is no scapegoat, ever think of that? End of story. And yeah, saying that Heather Catallo looks like "Big Bird" is a real great example of 'discussion'... | ||
Rel Member Username: Rel Post Number: 291 Registered: 02-2008 |
Even the title of this thread is propaganda. There was already a "Suzanne Wangler" thread. This was obviously started from someone's personal ax to grind... does no one else notice that? Hey, Calmone.... You aren't sounding so calm. So unless you have the guts to say this garbage to someone's face, don't say it here, please. What's the matter... Heather turned you down after a night of too many drinks? You're being hypocritical to protect Suzanne W, but attack others. |
