The station says Karina Aguirre, who claimed to be the man’s U.S. attorney, “concocted an elaborate but false story” about a man who was detained after a taxi driver mistook him for “a terrorist.” KDVR says they were referred to Aguirre by David Kopel, an attorney for the Independence Institute in Denver, and Steve Schreiner, a Colorado board member of the National Rifle Association.

“More steps should have been taken to corroborate Aguirre’s story and verify information provided by Kopel and Schreiner,” news director Ed Kosowski said in a statement. “KDVR is committed to fair, accurate and balanced reporting and we are reviewing policies and procedures to ensure our content meets those standards.”

Neither Kosowski’s statement or the post on KDVR’s website address the fact that the station failed to reach out to law enforcement or the gun company to corroborate Aguirre’s story before the report aired. In a strongly-worded statement Wednesday, the Adams County Sheriff’s Office said KDVR “dropped the ball.”

“The Sheriff’s Office feels that it is unfortunate for Fox 31 Denver to have released a report that claimed the Adams County Sheriff’s Office involvement in an event without verifying it first. It is also unfortunate and disturbing for Fox 31 Denver to have released such a bold report before doing their due diligence by thoroughly investigating the tips prior to broadcasting,” the statement reads.

The Sheriff’s office also praised KUSA, the NBC affiliate in Denver, for uncovering the hoax.

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“We believe we were intentionally misled by someone who misrepresented herself not only to the news media but to two of our sources on the story, an NRA board member from Colorado and a nationally-recognized Second Amendment attorney, both of whom as recently as yesterday were standing by the story,” KDVR news director Ed Kosowski told TVSpy in a statement. “These sources now tell us they believe they were misled by the woman. We are working on a follow-up story that will thoroughly explain what happened.”

The KDVR report, which aired Saturday, claims Daniele Perazzi, the grandson of a “prominent Italian gunmaker,” was questioned by law enforcement after “a taxi driver mistook him for a terrorist.” Hendrik Sybrandy sources the man’s U.S. attorney, who was not identified by name. KDVR reported the attorney said “that her client was scared during the incident because he’s not familiar with U.S. gun laws.”

KUSA said they received “numerous emails inquiring as to why the story wasn’t being broadly covered.” During the NBC affiliate’s investigation of the story, the gun company, the Adams County Sheriff’s office and the taxi company denied the incident happened, KUSA reported Tuesday night.

“The company says there’s no grandson named Daniele and they didn’t have a representative in Denver last week, either,” Kyle Clark said in the KUSA report.

KUSA also identified KDVR’s source as a Colorado woman named Korrine Aguirre. “There was a comment that I had made the other day that I probably shouldn’t have made,” Aguirre told KUSA. “Apparently that blew up a lot bigger than it was supposed to.”

The original story was removed from KDVR’s website Wednesday afternoon. TVSpy hears that KDVR staffers met Wednesday morning to review the report.

Watch both the KDVR report and the KUSA report after the jump.  continued…

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“We believe Brooke and Kirk, along with meteorologist Jennifer Broome and traffic anchor Ken Clark, will make a dynamic team,” KDVR news director Ed Kosowski told TVSpy. “They have the experience, passion and personality to make “Good Day Colorado” a unique morning newscast in this highly-competitive market.”

Both Wagner and Yuhnke, who go on-air two weeks from today on April 22, broke the news via social media.  Wagner chose twitter to announce, saying, “Friends, I’m thrilled and proud to announce I have a new TV home @KDVR ! I will start on #GoodDayColorado soon! Honored to join the team!” continued…

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To replace the longtime anchor, KDVR has announced Jeremy Hubbard (pictured right) will join Deborah Takahara to form the new anchor team at 5:00 and 9:00 p.m. beginning Monday April 8.

“I’ve had a really fortunate run,” Zappolo told the Denver Post. “I’ve been able to see the world, provoke a little thought, have fun and get paid for it. How many people can say they got to do exactly what they wanted to do?” continued…

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Libby Weaver

Weaver told the Denver Post she is not retiring, just seeking a change.  Ed Kosowski, news director for the Denver Fox affiliate told the Post, “It was her decision. She made it clear that while she loved her job, this was a personal choice. She wanted to be a full-time mom.”

During last night’s 9 p.m.news, the station ran several tributes to Weaver from co-workers wishing her well. Chief Meteorologist Dave Fraser gave her a plastic snow dome of Denver saying, “This is an heirloom.  Its made of the finest plastic you can find on the globe. So be very gentle with it,” to which Weaver replied. “I will treasure it.”

After the jump, you can watch a video montage of Weaver’s greatest moments that aired at the end of the newscast. continued…

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Denver broadcasters deserve praise not only for reality testing political claims, but for also doing it well.  Our research shows that when stations reduce the size of the ad on the screen, clearly identify it as political content and stamp the corrections onto the boxed ad, voters remember the reporters’ analysis better than they do when the critiqued ad is played full screen.

You can watch what two Denver stations are doing to fact check political ads after the jump.

continued…

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KDVR reporter Dan Daru made a young child cry on live television last week while reporting from a local farm (video above).

Daru was crouched down next to “Drew the Farm Kid,” talking in a playful Einstein-like voice, when Drew began to cry and moved to get out of his stroller. “That’s terrible. That’s terrible,” Daru whispered, moving away from the crying child. “I love that kid.” continued…

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A KDVR crew reporting on a woman’s disappearance found a body in the bushes next to the missing woman’s home while preparing for a live shot over the weekend (video above).

KDVR reporter Deborah Takahara was preparing for her report on the 5 p.m. newscast when neighbors approached her and said they wanted to show her a person who may have been sleeping in the bushes near the home of the missing woman, according to the station. continued…

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Libby Weaver

“We can confirm that (she) will be leaving KDVR sometime around the end of this year or early in January,” KDVR news director Ed Kosowski told the Denver Post.  “Beyond that we cannot and will not discuss anything else at this time about Libby’s departure except to say that we will certainly miss her presence both on the air in our newscasts and in the newsroom.”

Weaver co-anchored the 9 p.m. news with c0-anchor Ron Zappolo who previously announced he was leaving the anchor desk when his contract ends in March.

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Ghawi, who used the name Jessica Redfield, was a former intern at KDVR, according to the Fox-affiliate’s live blog. She was a sports blogger for Busted Coverage who also kept a blog of her own. The chilling last entry was an account of her experience narrowly avoiding another mass shooting at the Eaton Center in Toronto last month:

I was shown how fragile life was on Saturday. I saw the terror on bystanders’ faces. I saw the victims of a senseless crime. I saw lives change. I was reminded that we don’t know when or where our time on Earth will end. When or where we will breathe our last breath. For one man, it was in the middle of a busy food court on a Saturday evening.

[via Deadspin, KMGH, KENS]

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Local stations in Denver remain in breaking news coverage at this hour after a gunman opened fire at a midnight showing of “The Dark Knight Rises” in Aurora, CO left at least 12 dead and 50 injured.

NBC-affiliate KUSA was the first station to go into continuing coverage, around 2:25 a.m. local time. Reporter Brandon Rittiman anchored from the scene of the shooting. Rittiman was joined by morning anchor Kyle Dyer at 2:45 a.m.

KMGH, the ABC-affiliate, ran a breaking news ticker during “World News Now” starting shortly after 2:40 a.m. “World News” reported on the news at 2:50 a.m. KMGH broke in to that program with its own coverage at 3:08 a.m. Mitch Jelniker anchored coverage. continued…

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“We have a brand-new set,” KDVR-KWGN anchor Deborah Takahara announced on Monday, during KWGN’s 7 p.m. newscast. “[It] really embodies our station, our brand, and our image: ‘Colorado’s Own.’”

“Yeah, it looks like a ski lodge around here,” added Jeremy Hubbard, Takahara’s co-anchor, alluding to the new set’s rustic stone pillars and homey accents. continued…

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Ryan Minnaugh, who most recently served as executive producer of KDVR-KWGN’s evening newscasts, is joining WXIN in Indianapolis.  And Marc Sternfield, KDVR-KWGN’s executive producer for digital media, has been named assistant ND at KSTU in Salt Lake City.

Both moves represent promotions within the Local TV-Tribune family. continued…

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The Salt Lake City NBC-affiliate announced in March that Dave McCann (right) would replace Lindsay, who has anchored the evening newscasts for 34 years. This weekend, it was announced that Mike Headrick (left), who joins KSL from KDVR in Denver, will be the third anchor for the program.

“It’s surprising how adding a third person can change the whole dynamic of a show,” Tanya Vea, KSL’s executive vice president of news, said in a statement. “This will allow us to better highlight our communities in new, exciting ways.” continued…

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While President Obama was preparing to sit for an exclusive interview with ABC News, in which he would express his support for same-sex marriage, Mitt Romney was in Colorado, talking to local reporters.

Just hours before news broke of Obama’s gay marriage pronouncement, Romney affirmed his opposition to same-sex unions in interviews with reporters from a handful of Denver stations.

On Tuesday night, Republicans in the Colorado state house of representatives blocked a bill that would have allowed same-sex civil unions, so on Wednesday reporters from KDVR, KUSA, and KCNC asked Romney to discuss his stance on the issue. continued…

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