WPIX reporter Larry Mendte returned from Libya last week after a hectic trip to the country’s capital with U.S. Congressman Curt Weldon, and now some are questioning the wisdom of the mission as Weldon’s planned meeting with Muammar Qaddafi never materialized.

“This is a station that fires people left and right, and they’ll pay for a Libya trip,” a WPIX insider complained to the New York Post recently.

This morning the Post published a takedown of WPIX, which is currently trailing far behind its rival WNYW in the ratings, and wondered if Mendte’s trip to Libya was less about bolstering the station’s hard news identity and more about repairing the image of the troubled reporter, who is in the midst of a messy legal battle with his former KYW co-anchor Alycia Lane: Read more

Larry Mendte, who has been working as a contributor for WPIX, is currently in Libya, covering U.S. congressman Curt Weldon‘s discussions with Muammar Qaddafi and hoping to potentially land an interview.

Mendte, along with WPIX photographer John Frasse, recently traveled to Tripoli with Weldon, a Republican representative from Pennsylvania, and has provided exclusive coverage of the diplomatic engagement for the New York CW-affiliate.

“Today’s dawn could bring new hope for an end to the crisis in Libya,” Mendte said on Tuesday, reporting live from Tripoli, “that’s because in a strange twist to this saga, the leader Col. Muammar Qaddafi has reached out to an American he has dealt with in the past” (video above).

So how did this “strange twist,” as well as Mendte’s seemingly unlikely coverage of it, come about? Read more