Tom Pappert, lead reporter at The Tennessee Star, said NewsChannel 5’s Phil Williams “ought to be embarrassed” as the investigative journalist continues to provide illegitimate responses to inquiries surrounding the legality of a recorded phone call the network aired during last Monday’s 8-minute anti-school choice hit piece.
During last week’s segment, Williams aired a phone call between Tennessee State Representative Todd Warner (R-Chapel Hill) and Tori Venable, executive director of Americans for Prosperity–Tennessee (AFP-TN), which was recorded by “someone in the room” who listened to the call on a speakerphone but was not a party to the call.
However, Williams did not disclose when the conversation took place or who recorded the call.
Venable and Warner have since denied recording the call and further denied consenting to recording of the pair’s phone conversation by anyone else.
Michael Patrick Leahy, editor-in-chief and CEO of The Tennessee Star, has continually engaged Williams on X, formerly Twitter, about the legality of the recorded call, noting how the person who listened on speakerphone and recorded the call without identifying themselves to Venable and Warner appears to have committed a crime.
However, Williams has continued to dodge Leahy on X instead of providing any clarity in regards to the recorded call.
“I think that Phil Williams ought to be embarrassed,” Pappert said on Monday’s episode of The Michael Patrick Leahy Show. “The guy seems to just be taking loss after loss in these online debates. I think he should go back to the TV station and stop interfacing with the public. It doesn’t work out for him.”
Pappert went on to explain how Williams has resorted to pivoting the discussion, claiming that meddling by rich progressives in state politics is unworthy of his reporting because Republicans have a majority in the General Assembly.
“After four or five days of rallying against school choice, putting out this phone call that was probably recorded illegally, somebody committed a felony, he all of a sudden says, ‘Most of my job is talking to Republicans, and one of my Republican critics, who is a smart guy, he said, ‘How come, Phil, you don’t cover these left wing billionaires and millionaires that are meddling in Tennessee politics?’ Phil Williams, in his infinite wisdom, said his answer was, ‘Well the Republicans are in control right now so why should I investigate progressive billionaires? That just seems silly.’ In one way I guess that does make sense. Republicans do have a supermajority in the Tennessee state legislature, but what about in metropolitan areas? What about in Memphis or Nashville where the Bloomberg [American Sustainable Cities] initiative is going to be spending hundreds of millions of dollars in conjunction with the federal government for climate change. So it seems as though Phil Williams beclowned himself. It seems to me that he is partisanly attacking the Republicans while carving out a special place for his friends over at Bloomberg,” Pappert said.
In regards to Leahy’s continued efforts to engage with Williams over the questionable recorded call, Pappert said he predicts Williams will ignore Leahy for 12 to 14 hours before offering another illegitimate response.
“If past behavior is any indication of future behavior, then what I suspect is Phil Williams will probably ignore you for about 12 to 14 hours while your response gets a bunch of likes, a bunch of engagement, the whole world is wondering what’s going on, and then he will probably meet with whoever advises him – maybe these anonymous sources who are allegedly Republican that he loves so much- and he’ll come up to you with a really good snapback. I predict that snapback will be something to the effect of, ‘Yeah the Republicans do it too.’ I think that is the type of wit and wisdom that we’re going to get out of Phil over the next couple of days,” Pappert said.
Pappert went on to say that Williams seems to be competing in a “popularity contest,” adding, “If he has to maybe bend the law in order to be a little bit more popular, maybe get invited to the National Association of Broadcasters, maybe win an award, I think he’s willing to do that.”
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Kaitlin on X / Twitter.
Image “NewsChannel 5’s Phil Williams” by Phil Williams; background image by News Channel 5.
