A Flock device downed in Church Hill. | Dave Infante
On February 17th, WTVR published this this article by reporter Joi Fultz:
On February 18th, 2026, WTVR reporter Jon Burkett published this post on his professional Facebook account:
Jon Burkett/Facebook (highlight added)
Both these items include substantial material that was either paraphrased or (in Burkett’s case) copied word-for-word from press releases issued by the Richmond Police Department. Neither included attribution that would make clear to readers that RPD was the source of this information—itself a direct contradiction to the Society for Professional Journalists’ advice to journalists to “avoid press release journalism that merely regurgitates official sources.” On February 19th, I submitted the following inquiry to WTVR news director Sheryl Barnhouse:
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