Sedgwick County Chairman Ranzau turns aside bilingual Spanish TV reporter

Sedgwick County Commission Chairman Richard Ranzau said he refused to answer questions from a local bilingual television reporter – but agreed to speak with a reporter from the English-language side of the same news operation – because he thinks the Spanish-born reporter is an advocate for illegal immigrants.

In reply, station management said they felt Ranzau had defamed their reporter, Beatriz Parres, who covers news for both Spanish-language KDCU and English-language KWCH.

KWCH, Channel 12, is a CBS network affiliate; KDCU, Channel 31, is affiliated with the Spanish-language Univision network. The KWCH news operation produces newscasts for both stations through a shared-service agreement.

In a video broadcast Monday, Ranzau walked away from Parres, who had asked to interview him about a recall effort started by a pro-immigrant group and others. They want to remove Ranzau over his efforts to prevent federal food aid to families in which parents cannot prove legal residency.

“I’m not going to do your interview for Univision,” Ranzau told Parres. When she asked “Why not?” he replied, “Because I don’t want to.”

After Parres, who was born in Madrid and speaks English with a Spanish accent, told Ranzau that she was representing KWCH as well, Ranzau told her: “When you have someone who works for Channel 12 only, have them come here.”

On Tuesday, Ranzau did speak with KWCH reporter Rachel Skytta about the recall effort.

Ranzau told The Eagle he thinks Parres is “not interested in being a reporter; she’s interested in being an activist for illegal immigration. She’s working with that advocacy group.”

Ranzau said he was willing to speak with “legitimate news organizations.” But “if you want to be an advocate and pose as a journalist, then I’m not sure I’m interested in being part of your propaganda,” he said.

Asked what evidence he had of that, Ranzau said, “That’s my belief. She evidently knows them very well and some of her comments and this, that and the other.”

KWCH news director Brian Gregory defended Parres.

“Bea Parres is not an activist, she is a journalist and an employee of Sunflower Broadcasting, Inc., primarily reporting for KDCU, but also reporting for KWCH and KSCW,” he said in an e-mail. “As a journalist, she has covered events put on by advocacy groups; however she is not an advocate for them.

“It’s unfortunate that an elected public official would make such baseless comments about a journalist. I am disappointed that Commissioner Ranzau has chosen to defame one of our employees.”

Russell Fox, a professor of political science at Friends University, said he doesn’t think Ranzau runs any risk from turning Parres away because opposition to illegal immigrants is strong in his district.

“In small little corners of the right-wing echo chamber, (Univision) is the station that illegal immigrants watch where they plot to take advantage of the American system,” Fox said. “Politically speaking, I don’t see any kind of downside in him (Ranzau) acting this way.

“Now, as a county commissioner who is responsible for making decisions for all of Sedgwick County, it is … rather depressing to see someone who is unwilling to communicate his views to a group of people who live in Sedgwick County (and) pay Sedgwick County fees and taxes and maybe need to hear those views expressed on a Spanish-language station so that they can understand it.”

This story was originally published October 21, 2015 at 12:35 PM with the headline "Sedgwick County Chairman Ranzau turns aside bilingual Spanish TV reporter."