WACH, a Fox-affiliate in Columbia, SC, is demanding that South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley apologize for a recent Facebook post in which she said the station “has no concept of journalism.”

The pointed criticism came after WACH posted a story about a new book from political advisor Will Folks, who claims that he had a sexual affair with Haley several years ago. Haley has vehemently denied Folks’s claims, which first surfaced last spring in the lead-up to the 2010 gubernatorial election, saying that she has been “100 percent faithful” to her husband.

David Olmsted, WACH’s president and CEO, issued the following statement regarding Haley’s Facebook comments:

The WACH Fox news department has published or broadcast more than 100 stories pertaining to Gov. Haley during the past year. Despite that voluminous amount of reporting, there is not a single documented instance of the governor challenging the accuracy of any fact in any of those reports. Read more

Nikki Haley, who was sworn in as Governor of South Carolina in January, has  attacked Columbia’s WACH after the Fox-affiliate ran a story about a forthcoming book from Will Folks, a political consultant and former gubernatorial spokesman who claimed last spring to have had an “inappropriate physical relationship” with Haley.

“WACH FOX 57 is a tabloid news station and has no concept of journalism,” Haley wrote on her Facebook page, after WACH reported that Folks was daring Haley to sue him for libel in connection with his account of their relationship.

Haley’s political campaign was forced into damage control mode last May when Folks claimed to have had a relationship with Haley “several years ago.”  At the time, Haley stated that she has “been 100 percent faithful” to her husband and that Folks’s claim was “totally false.”

WACH reported in its post, attributed to news director Bryan Cox, that “Folks has seized on the fact that Haley has not filed a lawsuit against him for libel or defamation as evidence to support his allegations.” WACH also linked to a 281-word excerpt from Folks’s forthcoming book in which he writes, “It was apparent to both Nikki and I that the sexual chemistry between the two of us was very strong.” Read more