News Anchor Never 'Tires' of Helping Target of Probe

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Not everything that happens in Las Vegas stays in Las Vegas. Just ask Nina Radetich, co-anchor of the KTNV-TV Channel 13 Action News Team.

Radetich finds herself featured in Romanesko's media news column (http://www.poynter.org/column.asp?id=45) for allegedly recommending the services of her public relations maven boyfriend to Tire Works owner Roshie Weightman, whose company is the target of a state probe into consumer fraud and the target of a KTNV-TV  investigative series that began last March.

Nevada's Business & Industry Dept. lodged a complaint against the 13-store Tire Works chain, alleging deceptive business practices involving purportedly charging customers for unnecessary services.  Radetich introduced a number of the stories in KTNV-TV's undercover series on Tire Works.

The San Rafael, Calif., native during recorded  telephone conversations with Weightman purportedly told her that Radetich's boyfriend, former tv journalist turned political flak Jack Finn, could handle Tire Works' media relations and counter the negative image being fostered by KTNV-TV's series.  Radetich allegedly told Weightman not to repeat their discussions about Finn to anyone.

Finn presently is a special projects manager for Nevada Energy and former spokesperson for Republican U.S. Sen. John Ensign, the born-again Christian who confessed in June 2009, to an extramarital affair with one of his female campaign staffers.  Finn denies ever speaking to Weightman.

Tire Works previously has advertised on KTNV-TV's Web site, and Weightman has made significant contributions annually to Radetich's charitable fundraiser, "Nina's Night Out." Channel 13's general manager labeled Radetich's conduct a "lapse of judgment," which may be akin to describing a parishioner burning down his church as an "overreaction."

Radetich has a bachelor in arts in Mass Communications from UCLA and 15 years' experience in broadcast journalism, with her first on-air job in Bakersfield, Calif. for KERO-TV.  “Professional electronic journalists should present the news with integrity and decency, avoiding real or perceived conflicts of interest, and respect the dignity and intelligence of the audience as well as the subjects of news." So sayeth the Ethics Code of the Radio-Television News Directors Assn. (RTNDA), which must have been covered  in UCLA on a day Radetich was absent.