Bernie Ward

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Bernie Ward


Birth name Bernard Vincent Ward
Born April 5, 1951 (1951-04-05) (age 57)
San Francisco, California, USA, North America
Style Talk show
Country United States

Bernie Ward (born Bernard Vincent Ward on April 5, 1951) was a liberal American talk radio host, most recently heard on KGO 810 AM in San Francisco.[1] Ward, once billed by his former station as "the lion of the left," was the host of both The Bernie Ward Show, a nightly news talk show that ran weekdays 10 p.m. to 1 a.m., and the three-hour GodTalk on Sunday mornings.[2] In December 2007, Ward was dismissed from KGO after a federal grand jury indictment on two counts of distributing child pornography.[1][3] Ward subsequently admitted to the charges in a plea bargain with federal prosecutors [1][2].

Contents

[edit] Biography

Ward was born in San Francisco, California, USA.[1] He attended the city's Holy Name Grammar School and St. Ignatius High School, and later attended the University of San Francisco. He then studied for three years at the Franciscan School of Theology in Berkeley, obtaining a Theology degree in 1977.[1] He was ordained to the Roman Catholic priesthood with the Society of the Precious Blood the same year,[4][2] but left the priesthood after two years.

Ward later taught theology at Cardinal Newman High School in Santa Rosa, California and at Bellarmine College Preparatory in San Jose, California.[1] In 1981, he relocated to Washington, DC where he taught at the Georgetown Preparatory School, a private Jesuit Roman Catholic high school, while his wife attended medical school. He later worked for then-Representative Barbara Boxer from 1982 to 1985.

[edit] Radio talk show host

Ward began employment at KGO (AM) in 1985, where he has served as a fill-in talk show host, then as general assignment reporter and later as a political talk show host since 1992.[1] He began as a City Hall reporter, where Jerry Carroll of the San Francisco Chronicle noted on October 25, 1995, that it had become a ritual for the then-San Francisco Mayor Art Agnos to denounce him for lies at the beginning of every news conference.

For a brief time, Ward's talk show was nationally syndicated until 1996 when ratings began declining.[5] They began to improve in 1997 in Ward's core demographic group, women ages 25 to 54, as a result of his softening up on the air on topics such as child-rearing and ethics. However, on October 5, 1997, it was announced that his contract with KGO could come to an end by Halloween.[6] As a result, supporters of his show began donating canned food to St. Anthony's soup kitchen in San Francisco, continuing a tradition that had been running for seven years that had netted more than $1 million to be shared by the St. Anthony Foundation and two other area charities.[5]

On Anderson Cooper's CNN news show Anderson Cooper 360° (July 20, 2004), regarding a concert manager pulling Linda Ronstadt from the stage after her anti-Bush comment, Ward accused some country music fans of being members of the Ku Klux Klan: "Come on, I have to go — I like country music. I have to go to country concerts where you have to bring your own sheet — I have to sit there and listen to every kind of form and redneck right fascist patriotism, and I have to sit there nobody says anything about that."[7]

On CNN on December 10, 2004, nationally syndicated conservative columnist Armstrong Williams debated Ward about the war in Iraq. Williams accused Ward of not being objective, stating, "We can at least give him [President Bush] the benefit of the doubt and show some support instead of being bitter, as you are, sir, because you don't like the President."[8]

On December 31, 2007, Bernie Ward was fired from KGO 810 AM because of his indictment on child pornography charges, although the station's general manager expressed interest in hiring Ward back on the air soon.[9][2]

[edit] God Talk

Ward was the host of God Talk, a show on the topic of religion, and other related topics.[4][2]

[edit] Child pornography conviction

On December 6, 2007, Ward was indicted by a grand jury on two federal counts of distributing Internet child pornography in December 2004.[1][2] According to the indictment, Ward downloaded child pornography, participated in a chat room where child pornography images were sent and received, and distributed child pornography.[10] The police investigation of Ward originated with a complaint from an internet chat partner named "Sexfairy2005," a housewife who was posing online as a dominatrix.[11][12] According to the now unsealed police report, Ward sent pornographic pictures of children to the chat partner, who turned the chat logs as well as the pictures Ward sent her over to the police. In the chat logs (found here), Ward also describes inappropriate sexual activity with his own children.[13] In a statement, Ward's attorney did not dispute this activity but instead claimed Ward was role-playing with the dominatrix in part for research on a book on hypocrisy in America.[1][2][12] The attorney claimed that Federal authorities found no illegal images on his computer, which they seized in early 2005.[1][14]

On May 8, 2008, Ward announced an agreement to plead guilty to one count of distribution of child pornography in exchange for the dropping of two additional counts of possession and distribution. In his plea agreement, Ward admits that he has transmitted child pornography "up to 150 times". Ward faces between five and nine years in prison at his sentencing on August 28, 2008.[15][16] There were two sexual misconduct complaints against Ward in 1978 when he was a priest teaching religion at Ursuline High School in Santa Rosa, California. The complaints related to offering alcohol and drugs, and inappropriate touching of underaged girls.[17]

[edit] Personal beliefs

[edit] Religion

On March 16, 1996, Ward discussed the confrontational tactics of the group ACT-UP at a mosque, describing the group as a "collection of non-partisan individuals committed to direct action to end AIDS."[18] He stated that "homosexuals had a good cause to make (against the Catholic Church)," and explained that the church encouraged homophobia and homophobic actions. The church denied this, stating that they did not encourage homophobia or resistance against homosexuals.

On December 9, 1996, Ward stated that Christianity was "morally superior" to Judaism because it was based on unconditional forgiveness. He offered apologies on his radio show on December 17 and again on the following day, the first being dismissed by the Jewish Community Relations Council and the second being accepted. Ward insisted that he did not have a problem with any individual religion, only with fundamentalists.[19] He later compared fundamentalist Orthodox Judaism with Nazism on September 12, 2001 but offered an apology the following day.[19]

[edit] Iraq war

On September 30, 2002, Ward appeared on CNN with Wolf Blitzer and discussed possible military action against Iraq. He commented regarding Saddam Hussein by stating that, "Hussein has not shown any threat to anyone," and that the "Kurds were prospering very well in the north even as al Qaeda has used some of their connections with the Kurds."[20]

[edit] Causes

Among the causes and groups Ward currently supports are the Center for American Progress; Common Dreams; the Woodhull Institute for Ethical Leadership; and Democracy Now.

He also led a pledge drive for Thanksgiving Charities every year, which supported four charities in the San Francisco Bay Area:[4] Sacred Heart Community Services in San Jose, St. Anthony's Foundation in San Francisco, St. Vincent De Paul dining room in Oakland, and Fresh Start in Walnut Creek. The charity drive began in the late 1980s and raised over $4 million dollars in the decades following. Ward also participated in the KGO leukemia cure-a-thon, which has raised over $13 million for research into leukemia and lymphoma causes. Ward also helped raise over $75,000 for the family of KGO host Dwayne Garrett.

[edit] Recognition

Ward received the Scripps Howard Award for Excellence in Journalism for his investigative journalism in a ten-part series, Heaven Help Us, which explored allegations of financial and sexual misconduct of the Archdiocese of San Francisco.[4] He has also won numerous national awards, such as an Associated Press award for coverage of the Los Angeles riots of 1992.[1]

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Derbeken, Jaxon; Elizabeth Fernandez. "Talk show host Ward charged with Internet kiddie porn", San Francisco Chronicle, 7 December 2007. 
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Doyle, Jim. "Ward's fans want him back on the air", San Francisco Chronicle, 23 January 2008. Retrieved on 2008-01-23. 
  3. ^ http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/01/23/BA43UK479.DTL
  4. ^ a b c d Bernie Ward. KGO (AM). Retrieved on 2007-12-10.
  5. ^ a b Salter, Stephanie. "The canning of Bernie Ward (a radio drama)", 26 October 1997. 
  6. ^ Morse, Rob. "When in doubt, punt a pundit", 5 October 1997. 
  7. ^ "ANDERSON COOPER 360 DEGREES: Transcript, July 20, 2004 - 19:00 ET", CNN, 20 July 2007. 
  8. ^ "NEWS FROM CNN: Transcript, December 10, 2004 - 12:00 ET", CNN, 10 December 2004. 
  9. ^ "Bernie Ward Officially Fired", sfist, 20 January 2008. Retrieved on 2008-01-20. 
  10. ^ Kava, Brad. "Ward opens up about child porn charges", InsideBayArea.com, 14 December 2007. 
  11. ^ Dan Noyes. ""Sexfairy" reveals herself, speaks to I-Team", ABC7 News, May 15, 2008. 
  12. ^ a b Lee, Henry. "Police report says Bernie Ward sent child-porn pictures to dominatrix", San Francisco Chronicle, 15 February 2008. Retrieved on 2008-02-15. 
  13. ^ ""Inside Bernie Ward's online chats", abclocal.go.com, 14 February 2008. 
  14. ^ ""Trial Set For Radio Host Bernie Ward On Child Porn Charges", NBC11.com, 24 January 2008. 
  15. ^ Egelko, Bob. "Ex-talk show host Bernie Ward admits to distributing child pornography", The San Francisco Chronicle, Hearst Corporation, 2008-05-08. Retrieved on 2008-05-09. 
  16. ^ ""Bernie Ward to Plead Guilty", kgoam810.com, 05 May 2008. 
  17. ^ Noyes, Dan. "Ward complaints date back to priesthood", ABC7, ABC7 I-Team, 2008-05-08. Retrieved on 2008-05-09. 
  18. ^ Goldsmith, Aleza. "Bernie Ward show defames Catholicism", Catalyst, May 1996. Archived from the original on 2006-10-06. 
  19. ^ a b Goldsmith, Aleza. "KGO Radio's Bernie Ward apologizes to Jews", Jewish News Weekly, 21 September 2001. 
  20. ^ ""Radio Talk Show Hosts Debate Iraq"", CNN, 30 September 2002. 

[edit] External links