Tom Pappert, lead reporter at The Tennessee Star, criticized Tennessee media outlets for what he described as their failure to report on his recent investigation into a 2020 911 call involving independent gubernatorial candidate David Hatley, suggesting financial and ideological considerations may be influencing their coverage ahead of Election Day.
During Monday’s edition of The Michael Patrick Leahy Show, Pappert discussed his October 29 exclusive report, which detailed audio obtained by The Star from the Washington County Emergency Communications District (WCECD) of a February 16, 2020, 911 call in which a woman identifying herself as Hatley’s wife reported that he had threatened suicide and told her he had taken pills.
Hatley did not deny being the subject of the call when contacted by The Star, instead accusing U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) of being responsible for the emergence of the recording.
Pappert contrasted the lack of attention given to Hatley’s record and past controversies with the extensive media coverage of controversies surrounding President Donald Trump during the 2016 presidential campaign.
“It’s a great analogy, because President Trump is, of course, on his third wife. He’s very happily married to Melania Trump now. So let’s imagine that this exact scenario played out, where a media company, a news outlet like The Tennessee Star obtained audio of President Trump’s second wife, Marla Maples, calling 911 and saying, ‘My husband Donald is threatening this and he’s taken these pills, and I’m very worried. Please get the police over there.’ It would be a five-alarm fire in terms of media coverage,” Pappert said.
“We know this because they had something much less significant. They had the Billy Bush tape, which was from 20 years prior, and it was wall-to-wall coverage for days on end, and Trump still won the election, of course,” he added. “So we know how this would be treated if it were a Republican, and for some reason, for this independent candidate who campaigns and sounds a lot like a Democrat, it’s being treated very differently.”
Asked whether other Tennessee news outlets had reported on the investigation, Pappert said he had not found coverage beyond Nashville radio station 99.7 WTN, along with commentary and social media posts from conservative organizations and activists.
“But no, Tennessee’s local media corps is completely ignoring this one at least four days out,” Pappert said.
Pappert questioned what television news directors were thinking by declining to cover the recording, arguing that the seven-minute audio presented an opportunity for a significant investigative report just days before the election.
“What I would think if I were in that position is, ‘Okay, wow, we have seven minutes of audio. We need to get some pictures to put with this and get it on the air because this is a compelling story. We have a matter of days, really hours, until the election happens,’” Pappert said.
Pappert suggested Hatley’s substantial personal campaign spending could be one reason media outlets were reluctant to report on the investigation.
“Now, what’s happening in these newsrooms is perhaps they’re thinking the Hatley campaign has spent $12 million of his own money on this race. He’s turned what should have been a one-sided election that Marsha Blackburn will win by 25 points into a three-way race that she will likely still win by 10 points. Maybe they wanna ride this gravy train until the end,” Pappert said.
When Leahy asked whether the situation could represent a financial conflict of interest, Pappert called it “the obvious financial conflict” before pointing to what he described as an ideological conflict among journalists.
“And then there comes the ideological conflict of the fact that the majority of people graduated from journalism schools, just like all schools, are going to be left of center, to put it mildly,” Pappert said.
“And so perhaps these people are actually smart, and they know everything I just said is likely to be the case, that Hatley is taking votes from the Republican candidate in this race, and de facto helping the Democrat as a result. And perhaps they’re politically motivated, they’re ideologically aligned with that goal, and so they’re not going to report it,” he added.
Pappert also emphasized that The Star independently confirmed the authenticity of the 911 recording through its public records request.
“Because once again, this was just beneath the surface. We were able to confirm the authenticity of the 911 audio in less than 30 hours,” Pappert said.
He went on to stress that concerns about media coverage extended beyond the Hatley investigation.
“I would just add that it’s not just President Trump that these people either lie about, get it wrong, or are lazy on. It’s everything. They are wrong as a matter of fact, a matter of course, a matter of pattern. It’s not just one topic,” Pappert said.
“And so when you see Hatley in the news and he’s getting positive coverage, I think that should raise some alarm bells,” he added.
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network.
