Priest/Station Chair Shoves Reporter
By Dan Trigoboff -- Broadcasting & Cable, 1/27/2003
A South Bend, Ind., TV reporter was considering charges against the chairman of the board of the Notre Dame-owned station following an alleged shoving prior to a mass for a missing university student.
Police last week were investigating WNDU-TV Bonnie Druker's claim that university Executive Vice President Father Timothy Scully shoved her and WSBT-TV's Jennifer Kuk when he became angry over television vehicles parked illegally prior to the mass. Scully has apologized to both reporters.
Druker says that she was shocked when the priest confronted her and that she smelled alcohol on his breath when he shoved her. She said Scully asked her, "Do you know who I am?" Neither she nor Kuk, who had not contacted police by mid week, was able to do a live shot from the mass.
Druker said that the university-owned station had not pressured her to back off her report to police and that management was supportive. The station referred calls to university spokesman Matthew Storin, who noted that the priest, who lives on the same floor of the residence hall as the missing young man, has been upset over the disappearance of 18-year-old freshman Chad Sharon.
