Bernie Ward (born Bernard Vincent Ward on April 5, 1951) is a liberal American talk radio host, most recently heard on KGO 810 AM in San Francisco.^[1] Ward was best known as the former host of both "The Bernie Ward Show", a nightly news talk show that ran weekdays 10 p.m. to 1 a.m., and the three-hour GodTalk on Sunday mornings.^[2] On December 6, 2007, Ward, formerly billed by his station as "the lion of the left," was indicted by a grand jury on two federal counts of distributing child pornography in December 2004.^[1][2]

Biography

Ward was born in San Francisco, California, USA.^[1] He attended the city's Holy Name Grammar School and St. Ignatius High School, and later attended the University of San Francisco. He then studied for three years at the Franciscan School of Theology in Berkeley, obtaining a Theology degree in 1977.^[1] He was ordained to the priesthood with the Society of the Precious Blood the same year, but left the priesthood after two years.

Ward later taught theology at Cardinal Newman High School in Santa Rosa, California and at Bellarmine College Preparatory in San Jose, California.^[1] In 1981, he relocated to Washington, DC where he taught at a private school while his wife attended medical school. He later worked for then Representative Barbara Boxer from 1982 to 1985.

Ward is a Roman Catholic and former priest of the Catholic Society of the Precious Blood order.^[3][2]

Radio talk show host

Ward began employment at KGO (AM) in 1985, where he has served as a fill-in talk show host, then as general assignment reporter and later as a political talk show host since 1992.^[1] He began as a city hall reporter, where Jerry Carroll of the San Francisco Chronicle noted on October 25, 1995, that it had become a ritual for the then-San Francisco Mayor Art Agnos to denounce him for lies at the beginning of every news conference.

For a brief time, Ward's talk show was nationally syndicated until 1996 when ratings began declining.^[4] They began to improve in 1997 in Ward's core demographic group, women ages 25 to 54, as a result of his softening up on the air on topics such as child-rearing and ethics. However, on October 5, 1997, it was announced that his contract with KGO could come to an end by Halloween.^[5] As a result, supporters of his show began donating canned food to St. Anthony's soup kitchen in San Francisco, continuing a tradition that had been running for seven years that had netted more than $1 million to be shared by the St. Anthony Foundation and two other area charities.^[4]

On Anderson Cooper's CNN news show Anderson Cooper 360° (July 20, 2004), regarding a concert manager pulling Linda Ronstadt from the stage after her anti-Bush comment, Ward accused some country music fans of being members of the Ku Klux Klan: "Come on, I have to go — I like country music. I have to go to country concerts where you have to bring your own sheet — I have to sit there and listen to every kind of form and redneck right fascist patriotism, and I have to sit there nobody says anything about that."^[6]

On CNN on December 10, 2004, nationally syndicated conservative columnist Armstrong Williams debated Ward about the war in Iraq. Williams accused Ward of not being objective, stating, "We can at least give him [President Bush] the benefit of the doubt and show some support instead of being bitter, as you are, sir, because you don't like the President."^[7]

On January 17, 2008, Bernie Ward was fired from KGO 810 AM because of his indictment on child pornography charges, although the station's General Manager expressed interest in hiring Ward back on the air soon.^[8][2]

God Talk

Ward was the host of "God Talk", a show on the topic of religion, and other related topics.^[3][2]

Personal beliefs

Religion

On March 16, 1996, Ward criticized the confrontational tactics of the ACT-UP at a mosque, the group being a "collection of non-partisan individuals committed to direct action to end AIDS."^[9] He stated that "homosexuals had a good cause to make (against the Catholic Church)," and explained that the church encouraged homophobia and homophobic actions. The church denied this, stating that they did not encourage homophobia or resistance against homosexuals.

On December 9, 1996, Ward stated that Christianity was "morally superior" to Judaism because it was based on unconditional forgiveness. He offered apologies on his radio show on December 17 and again on the following day, the first being dismissed by the Jewish Community Relations Council and the second being accepted. Ward insisted that he did not have a problem with any individual religion, only with fundamentalists.^[10] He later compared fundamentalist Orthodox Judaism with Nazism on September 12, 2001 but offered an apology the following day.^[10]

Iraq war

On September 30, 2002, Ward appeared on CNN with Wolf Blitzer and discussed possible military action against Iraq. He commented regarding Saddam Hussein by stating that, "Hussein has not shown any threat to anyone," and that the "Kurds were prospering very well in the north even as al Qaeda has used some of their connections with the Kurds."^[11]

Causes

Among the causes and groups Ward currently supports are the Center for American Progress; Common Dreams; the Woodhull Institute for Ethical Leadership; and Democracy Now.

He also leads a pledge drive for Thanksgiving Charities every year, which supports four charities in the bay area;^[3] Sacred Heart Community Services in San Jose; St. Anthony's Foundation in San Francisco; St. Vincent De Paul dining room in Oakland; and Fresh Start in Walnut Creek. The charity drive has been going on since the late 1980s and raised over $4 million dollars. Ward also participates every year in the KGO leukemia cure-a-thon, which has raised over $13 million for research into leukemia and lymphoma causes. Ward also helped raise over $75,000 for the family of KGO host Duayne Garrett.

Recognition

Ward has received the Scripps Howard Award for Excellence in Journalism for his investigative journalism in a ten-part series, Heaven Help Us, which explored allegations of financial and sexual misconduct of the Archdiocese of San Francisco.^[3] He has also won numerous national awards, such as an Associated Press award for coverage of the Los Angeles riots of 1992.^[1]

Controversies

On December 6, 2007, Ward was indicted by a grand jury on two federal counts of distributing Internet child pornography in December 2004.^[1][2] According to the indictment, Ward was allegedly monitored downloading child pornography, participating in a chat room where child pornography images were sent and received, and distributing child pornography.^[12] Federal authorities seized his computer in early 2005, but found no illegal images on the hard drive.^[1]

The police investigation of Ward originated with a complaint from an internet chat partner. Chatting as the screen name "Vincentlio", Ward related group sex experiences at a pornographic theater in San Mateo to his chat partner, a dominatrix named "Sexfairy", and sent her pornographic pictures featuring children as young as four.^[13]

On January 25, 2008 the court set trial to begin on June 10th, 2008 with jury selection to begin the day before. Pretrial motions are scheduled to be heard on April 24 by U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker.^[14]

References

External links

• Profile of Bernie Ward at About.com
• Indictment in the Bernie Ward case at KGO-TV
• Oakdale, CA Police Report in the Bernie Ward case