KGW reportedly under review after Blazers broadcaster controversy

The story surrounding former Trail Blazers play-by-play announcer Braiden Bell has taken another turn.

Now the people who reported the story are reportedly facing scrutiny of their own.

TEGNA, the parent company of Portland television station KGW, has launched an internal review into whether proper editorial procedures were followed in the station’s reporting on Bell, according to Matthew Keys of The Desk⁠.

KGW reported this week on offensive social media posts Bell made in 2012 and 2013, when he was 15 years old. The station brought the posts to the attention of the Trail Blazers, who withdrew their offer to Bell just hours after announcing him as their new television play-by-play voice.

As we noted previously at Hoops Wire⁠, the decision generated considerable backlash.

Now, per Keys, TEGNA is examining whether KGW and the journalists involved followed the company’s editorial processes while researching and reporting the story.

Keys also reported that KGW has been flooded with calls, emails and social-media responses, with much of the reaction critical of the station’s handling of Bell.

That’s where this gets complicated. Nothing about Bell’s old comments needs defending. They were offensive, and Bell himself said as much Friday, apologizing and saying the posts have “no reflection of who I am today.”

But Bell was also 15 years old when he wrote them. KGW itself reported that it found no evidence of similar comments from Bell as an adult.

Those two facts have become central to the backlash. There’s also a legitimate journalistic question here: How much weight should statements made by a child carry when evaluating the adult he became more than a decade later?

Apparently, TEGNA wants to take a closer look at how its Portland station answered that question.

And given everything that has happened since KGW published its story, that’s probably not a bad idea.