Cincinnati FOX affiliate WXIX found itself with a front row seat on a national story after it was revealed the IRS had been targeting conservative political groups. After all, one of the IRS offices at the center of the controversy was in Cincinnati, making it a local story.

Kevin Roach, WXIX news director, told TVSpy, “We made a concerted effort to start unpeeling the onion on this local IRS story. I put a team together lead by [an] executive producer, it included three reporters and an anchor working full time on it. We were determined each day to try to break something else new with this story.”

The WXIX news director, who started in February, said his team went through “dozens and dozens of documents” and had “many conversations with several Cincinnati based IRS workers” to flesh out the story.

The national media noticed. Roach said he’s not sure how many outlets picked up his station’s reporting. “I do know Fox News Channel, CNN, Drudge (twice) and The Hill have reported our findings. As you would expect on a story like this one, The Blaze, Brietbart and the Washington Examiner reported our coverage; but so did a whole lot of local TV stations around the country.” Read more

Ben Swann will anchor his final broadcast at Cincinnati Fox affiliate WXIX Friday night.

Swann, whose contract expires this month, talks to the Cincinnati Enquirer about his new venture. He plans to focus on his “Truth in Media” project and will announce Monday Kickstarter funding to produce short reports that can be shared via streaming sites.

Swann is known for his “Reality Check” segments. Before working at WXIX, he worked at KTSM in El Paso.

Ben Swann, anchor for Cincinnati FOX affiliate WXIX, is no stranger to controversy. With both a local news platform and an internet reporting franchise, Swann has stirred the media pot with stories challenging the way police handled investigations at Sandy Hook Elementary, Aurora, Colorado and the Sikh Temple shootings in Wisconsin.

In his latest report, Swann questions whether the FBI knew about the bombings at the Boston Marathon beforehand and goes as far as to speculate they may have planned them — a “false flag” attack, as some conspiracy theorists have called it. He cites a 10-year-old story of alleged FBI involvement in the 1993 World Trade Center Bombings and the observations of a cross country coach from Alabama who ran in this year’s marathon (watch the report after the jump).

Swann starts off his story by referencing a 1993 New York Times report in which the Times reported the FBI used an informant, Emad A. Salem, to help terrorists build explosives that were later used in the first World Trade Center bombing. The informant alleges the FBI knew about the bombin beforehand but did nothing to stop them. The Times later walked back the report, issuing a correction that said the article “referred imprecisely in some copies to what Federal officials knew about the plan before the blast.” Swann did not mention the correction in his “Reality Check” segment.

Swann then talked about Alistair Stevenson, a cross country coach from Mobile, AL, who ran the marathon this year. Stevenson told his local NBC affiliate WPMI he was suspicious about what he saw at the race. ”He (Stevenson) said that he thought it was odd that there were bomb sniffing dogs at the start and at the finish lines,” said Swann. “He also said that law enforcement spotters were on the roofs at the start and the end of the race.”

But that’s where Swann stops, never saying in his report that he called the FBI or the Boston Police or even race organizers to ask about routine security measures for the race. He also never says he asked the FBI the million dollar question: did they know about the bombing and if so, why didn’t they stop it?

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Ben Swann, anchor for Raycom’s Cincinnati FOX Affiliate WXIX, has announced he is leaving the station when his contract expires in May.

“After 2 ½ years at WXIX Fox 19, the time has come for me to explore other opportunities,” Swann said in a station announcement posted to the Cincinnati Enquirer.

Swann also hosts a popular series on facebook titled “Full Disclosure” where he asks questions about controversial subjects he says are ignored by the national media.

“Ben has informed us he would like to take his career in a different direction,” FOX19 general manager Bill Lanesey told the Enquirer. “We will miss Ben’s work ethic and intellect and appreciate him giving us enough notice so we can begin the search for his replacement as soon as possible.” Read more

The Cincinnati Enquirer is hosting its own ‘March Madness’ tourney. The paper is asking readers to vote for their “TV Anchor Dream Team.”

Who’s the Cincinnati Anchor Dream Team?  You can help select it by voting below in my bracket-style tournament with 8 male anchors, 8 female anchors, 8 meteorologists and 8 sports anchors.

The winners will be re-seeded in each round, leading to Cincinnati’s favorite anchor team. You can check out the rankings after the jump.

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Since anchor Ben Swann joined WXIX two years ago, he has played a major part in the Fox-affiliate’s “balanced” approach to news. In his regular “Reality Check” segments, Swann dissects major news stories to give viewers a fresh perspective on the headlines.

As Republican presidential hopefuls have duked it out over the past few months, Swann’s “Reality Check” videos have gained a national following, largely because of his repeated coverage (and defense) of Ron Paul.

Washington Post media blogger Erik Wemple posted an in-depth look at Swann’s ideological ties to the constitutionalist candidate this week, pointing out that, as the anchor has analyzed Paul’s candidacy, he has gained a national following, especially among Paul supporters. Read more

Cincinnati Fox-affiliate WXIX is touting a new approach to presenting the news with a slogan that sounds a lot like that of the Fox News Channel.

Over the weekend, WXIX unveiled “Balanced News,” a new campaign that the Raycom-owned station insists is more than just a marketing gimmick.

“We are balancing the content within our newscasts,” WXIX said in a statement to its viewers, “we still report on the news of the day but we balance it by also reporting on stories that focus on what is working in our community.”

The station says that it will set aside time within its newscasts to give anchors and reporters the opportunity to thoroughly report on all sides of specific stories. Anchor Ben Swann (above), who WXIX brought on in December to provide a spark to its evening newscasts, has introduced a new segment during the station’s 10 p.m. newscast called “Reality Check,” in which he dissects a certain topic of the day.

Swann explains the new approach inside… Read more

In November, anchor Dan Carroll left WXIX when the station brought in a new primary c0-anchor. Now he’s back on TV … at least temporarily.

Cincinnati.com reports Carroll will be the temporary host of “U.S. Bank Business Watch” on WKRC. “I wanted someone with TV experience to help us launch, and Dan came to the rescue,” producer Kelly Leon said, adding that the permanent host will most likely be someone with Business Courier, who will staff the on-air team with their reporters.

Carroll, who had been with WXIX for 19 years, left in the fall after the Fox affiliate hired Ben Swann to replace him as Tricia Macke‘s co-anchor. Carroll turned down the station’s offer to be the reporter on WXIX’s morning show.

Carroll has been eligible to work in television since March, when the non-compete clause in his WXIX contract expired.