Bernie Ward
Encyclopedia
Bernie Ward is a former American
radio personality. Formerly a radio talk show
host with KGO
810 AM in San Francisco, California, Ward is now serving a seven-year prison sentence for the online distribution of child pornography. Ward, once billed by KGO as "The Lion of the Left" and "unabashedly liberal," was the host of the daily news talk program, The Bernie Ward Show, and the three-hour program, GodTalk, on Sunday mornings. In December 2007, Ward was dismissed from KGO following his federal grand jury child-pornography indictment. Subsequently, in a plea bargain with federal prosecutors, Ward admitted to a single felony charge of distributing child pornography and signed an admission of distributing between 15 and 150 images via email.
, California
, USA
where he attended Holy Name Grammar School, St. Ignatius High School, and 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. He was ordained to the Roman Catholic 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 its sister school, Ursuline High School. It was at Ursuline in 1978 that allegations of Ward's sexual misconduct first began to surface. Ward also taught at Bellarmine College Preparatory
in San Jose, California
. In 1981, he relocated to Washington, DC where he taught at the Georgetown Preparatory School
, a private Jesuit Roman Catholic high school, while his wife attended medical school. Ward later worked for then-Representative
Barbara Boxer
from 1982 to 1985.
began in 1985 where he served as a fill-in talk show
host, a general assignment reporter, and later as a political talk show
host starting in 1992. As a reporter, where Jerry Carroll of the San Francisco Chronicle
noted on October 25, 1995, that it had become a ritual for the mayor at that time, Art Agnos, to denounce him for lies at the beginning of every news conference. Ward also went on to host "God Talk," a show on the topic of religion and its related topics.
Briefly in 1996, Ward's talk show was nationally syndicated until his ratings declined. His show's ratings began to improve in 1997 in Ward's core demographic group (women ages 25 to 54) as a result of his more lenient views on topics such as child-rearing and ethics. On October 5, 1997, a rumor that KGO was discontinuing Bernie Ward's contract effective at the end of the month was published by the San Francisco Chronicle. In protest, supporters of his show flooded the KGO studios with canned food donations, continuing a seven-year Thanksgiving fundraising drive started by Ward that had netted more than $1 million in donations shared by the St. Anthony Foundation and two other area charities. The protest culminated in a noon time rally staged in front of the KGO studios. KGO management reversed their decision and renewed Ward's contract.
On December 31, 2007, Bernie Ward was fired from KGO because of his indictment on child pornography charges.
via the internet
from December 2004 to January 2005. The police investigation of Ward originated with a complaint from a Stanislaus County homemaker who was posing online as a dominatrix
under the screenname "Sexfairy2005" and who had engaged in online chats with Ward. According to the police report, Ward sent pornographic images of children to the chat partner, which caused her to contact police. The police began collecting evidence with her help and continued chat sessions with Ward. In the chat logs (found here http://dig.abclocal.go.com/kgo/PDF/oakdale-police-report.pdf), Ward also described sexual activity with his own children. Ward and his children both later told investigators that none of the activities described in the chats ever actually occurred.
In a statement, Ward's attorney did not dispute engaging in the chats or transmitting the photos but instead claimed Ward was role-playing
with the dominatrix in part for research on a book about hypocrisy in America. Federal investigators could find no evidence that Ward was working on such a book. Ward's attorney claimed that federal authorities found no illegal images on his computer, which they seized in early 2005. However, after police obtained a search warrant for Ward's online account, they found about 100 images of child pornography in his AOL email account on AOL's servers which had been opened and forwarded, with sexual activity involving children.
On May 8, 2008, Ward announced an agreement to plead guilty to one count of Distribution of Child Pornography in exchange for the dropping of two additional counts of Possession and Distribution. In his plea agreement, Ward admits that he transmitted child pornography "between 15 and 150 times." Under federal statute, Ward could have been sentenced to between five and 20 years in prison. The Department of Justice requested he be sentenced to nine years in prison.
On August 28, 2008, Judge Vaughn Walker sentenced Ward to seven years and three months in Federal prison. Judge Walker agreed to Ward's request that he be allowed to serve his time in the Federal Correctional Institution, Lompoc
, to which the U.S. Attorney raised no objection. Judge Walker commented that Ward's alleged sexual misconduct while serving as a priest may go to character, but that the events happened too long ago to be relevant to his sentencing decision. He also said that he was not convinced sending Ward to prison is the best way to deal with an individual with such problems and that "very little good has come out of all this." Ward told Judge Walker that he took full responsibility for his actions and said, "I regret my actions, the harm they caused my family, my friends, and this community."
With good behavior Ward's sentence of 87 months will be reduced by 15 percent, making him eligible for Supervised Release on December 21, 2014; there is no parole in the Federal system. When Ward is released, California's Megan's Law
will require him to register as a sex offender with local law enforcement for life.
Ward is now serving his sentence at the Lompoc Low Security Federal Correctional Facility (FCI) as inmate # 90569-111.
, describing the group as a "collection of non-partisan individuals committed to direct action to end AIDS
." He stated that "homosexuals had a good cause to make (against the Catholic Church)," and claimed that the church encouraged homophobia
and homophobic actions. The church denied this, stating that they did not encourage homophobia or resistance against homosexuals, but merely taught that homosexual sex, because it is outside a marriage between a man and a woman, was immoral.
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. He later compared fundamentalist Orthodox Judaism
with Nazism
on September 12, 2001 but offered an apology the following day.
with Wolf Blitzer
and discussed possible military action against Iraq
. He commented about Saddam Hussein
: "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."
, Common Dreams, the Woodhull Institute for Ethical Leadership, and Democracy Now.
He also led a pledge drive for Thanksgiving Charities every year, which supported four charities in the San Francisco Bay Area: 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 began in the late 1980s and raised over $4 million in the following decades. Ward was also an active participant in the KGO leukemia cure-a-thon, which has raised over $13 million for research into leukemia and lymphoma causes.
for his investigative journalism
in a 10-part series, Heaven Help Us, which explored allegations of financial and sexual misconduct of the Archdiocese of San Francisco. He has also won numerous national awards, such as an Associated Press
award for coverage of the Los Angeles riots of 1992.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
radio personality. Formerly a radio talk show
Talk show
A talk show or chat show is a television program or radio program where one person discuss various topics put forth by a talk show host....
host with KGO
KGO (AM)
KGO is a news/talk-format radio station radio with offices and studios in San Francisco, California. Unlike most other American news/talk stations, KGO originates nearly all of its own programming locally. Since 1978, KGO radio has received Arbitron's number-one ranking in the Bay Area...
810 AM in San Francisco, California, Ward is now serving a seven-year prison sentence for the online distribution of child pornography. Ward, once billed by KGO as "The Lion of the Left" and "unabashedly liberal," was the host of the daily news talk program, The Bernie Ward Show, and the three-hour program, GodTalk, on Sunday mornings. In December 2007, Ward was dismissed from KGO following his federal grand jury child-pornography indictment. Subsequently, in a plea bargain with federal prosecutors, Ward admitted to a single felony charge of distributing child pornography and signed an admission of distributing between 15 and 150 images via email.
Biography
Bernie Ward was born in San FranciscoSan Francisco, California
San Francisco , officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region of 7.15 million people which includes San Jose and Oakland...
, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, USA
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
where he attended Holy Name Grammar School, St. Ignatius High School, and the University of San Francisco
University of San Francisco
The University of San Francisco , is a private, Jesuit/Catholic university located in San Francisco, California. Founded in 1855, USF was established as the first university in San Francisco. It is the second oldest institution for higher learning in California and the tenth-oldest university of...
. He then studied for three years at the Franciscan School of Theology
Franciscan School of Theology
The Franciscan School of Theology is a Roman Catholic graduate theological school, owned and operated by the Province of Saint Barbara of the Order of Friars Minor...
in Berkeley
Berkeley, California
Berkeley is a city on the east shore of the San Francisco Bay in Northern California, United States. Its neighbors to the south are the cities of Oakland and Emeryville. To the north is the city of Albany and the unincorporated community of Kensington...
, obtaining a Theology degree in 1977. He was ordained to the Roman Catholic priesthood
Priesthood (Catholic Church)
The ministerial orders of the Catholic Church include the orders of bishops, deacons and presbyters, which in Latin is sacerdos. The ordained priesthood and common priesthood are different in function and essence....
with the Society of the Precious Blood the same year, but left the priesthood after two years.
Ward later taught theology
Theology
Theology is the systematic and rational study of religion and its influences and of the nature of religious truths, or the learned profession acquired by completing specialized training in religious studies, usually at a university or school of divinity or seminary.-Definition:Augustine of Hippo...
at Cardinal Newman High School in Santa Rosa, California
Santa Rosa, California
Santa Rosa is the county seat of Sonoma County, California, United States. The 2010 census reported a population of 167,815. Santa Rosa is the largest city in California's Wine Country and fifth largest city in the San Francisco Bay Area, after San Jose, San Francisco, Oakland, and Fremont and 26th...
and its sister school, Ursuline High School. It was at Ursuline in 1978 that allegations of Ward's sexual misconduct first began to surface. Ward also taught at Bellarmine College Preparatory
Bellarmine College Preparatory
Bellarmine College Preparatory is an all-male, private secondary school located in San Jose, California, USA. Founded in 1851, it is the oldest secondary school in California....
in San Jose, California
San Jose, California
San Jose is the third-largest city in California, the tenth-largest in the U.S., and the county seat of Santa Clara County which is located at the southern end of San Francisco Bay...
. In 1981, he relocated to Washington, DC where he taught at the Georgetown Preparatory School
Georgetown Preparatory School
Georgetown Preparatory School is an American Jesuit college preparatory school for grades 9 through 12. It is the oldest all boys school in the United States, and the only Jesuit boarding school in the country...
, a private Jesuit Roman Catholic high school, while his wife attended medical school. Ward later worked for then-Representative
United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...
Barbara Boxer
Barbara Boxer
Barbara Levy Boxer is the junior United States Senator from California . A member of the Democratic Party, she previously served in the U.S. House of Representatives ....
from 1982 to 1985.
Radio talk show host
Ward's employment at KGO (AM)KGO (AM)
KGO is a news/talk-format radio station radio with offices and studios in San Francisco, California. Unlike most other American news/talk stations, KGO originates nearly all of its own programming locally. Since 1978, KGO radio has received Arbitron's number-one ranking in the Bay Area...
began in 1985 where he served as a fill-in talk show
Talk show
A talk show or chat show is a television program or radio program where one person discuss various topics put forth by a talk show host....
host, a general assignment reporter, and later as a political talk show
Talk show
A talk show or chat show is a television program or radio program where one person discuss various topics put forth by a talk show host....
host starting in 1992. As a reporter, where Jerry Carroll of the San Francisco Chronicle
San Francisco Chronicle
thumb|right|upright|The Chronicle Building following the [[1906 San Francisco earthquake|1906 earthquake]] and fireThe San Francisco Chronicle is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California, but distributed throughout Northern and Central California,...
noted on October 25, 1995, that it had become a ritual for the mayor at that time, Art Agnos, to denounce him for lies at the beginning of every news conference. Ward also went on to host "God Talk," a show on the topic of religion and its related topics.
Briefly in 1996, Ward's talk show was nationally syndicated until his ratings declined. His show's ratings began to improve in 1997 in Ward's core demographic group (women ages 25 to 54) as a result of his more lenient views on topics such as child-rearing and ethics. On October 5, 1997, a rumor that KGO was discontinuing Bernie Ward's contract effective at the end of the month was published by the San Francisco Chronicle. In protest, supporters of his show flooded the KGO studios with canned food donations, continuing a seven-year Thanksgiving fundraising drive started by Ward that had netted more than $1 million in donations shared by the St. Anthony Foundation and two other area charities. The protest culminated in a noon time rally staged in front of the KGO studios. KGO management reversed their decision and renewed Ward's contract.
On December 31, 2007, Bernie Ward was fired from KGO because of his indictment on child pornography charges.
Child pornography conviction
On September 20, 2007, Ward was indicted by a grand jury on two federal counts of Attempting to Distribute and one count of Receiving child pornographyChild pornography
Child pornography refers to images or films and, in some cases, writings depicting sexually explicit activities involving a child...
via the internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
from December 2004 to January 2005. The police investigation of Ward originated with a complaint from a Stanislaus County homemaker who was posing online as a dominatrix
Dominatrix
Dominatrix or mistress is a woman or women who takes the dominant role in bondage, discipline and sadomasochism, or BDSM. A common form of address for a submissive to a dominatrix is "mistress", "ma'am", "domina" or "maîtresse"...
under the screenname "Sexfairy2005" and who had engaged in online chats with Ward. According to the police report, Ward sent pornographic images of children to the chat partner, which caused her to contact police. The police began collecting evidence with her help and continued chat sessions with Ward. In the chat logs (found here http://dig.abclocal.go.com/kgo/PDF/oakdale-police-report.pdf), Ward also described sexual activity with his own children. Ward and his children both later told investigators that none of the activities described in the chats ever actually occurred.
In a statement, Ward's attorney did not dispute engaging in the chats or transmitting the photos but instead claimed Ward was role-playing
Role-playing
Role-playing refers to the changing of one's behaviour to assume a role, either unconsciously to fill a social role, or consciously to act out an adopted role...
with the dominatrix in part for research on a book about hypocrisy in America. Federal investigators could find no evidence that Ward was working on such a book. Ward's attorney claimed that federal authorities found no illegal images on his computer, which they seized in early 2005. However, after police obtained a search warrant for Ward's online account, they found about 100 images of child pornography in his AOL email account on AOL's servers which had been opened and forwarded, with sexual activity involving children.
On May 8, 2008, Ward announced an agreement to plead guilty to one count of Distribution of Child Pornography in exchange for the dropping of two additional counts of Possession and Distribution. In his plea agreement, Ward admits that he transmitted child pornography "between 15 and 150 times." Under federal statute, Ward could have been sentenced to between five and 20 years in prison. The Department of Justice requested he be sentenced to nine years in prison.
On August 28, 2008, Judge Vaughn Walker sentenced Ward to seven years and three months in Federal prison. Judge Walker agreed to Ward's request that he be allowed to serve his time in the Federal Correctional Institution, Lompoc
Federal Correctional Institution, Lompoc
The Lompoc Federal Correctional Complex is a complex with four United States federal prisons located near Lompoc, Santa Barbara County, California...
, to which the U.S. Attorney raised no objection. Judge Walker commented that Ward's alleged sexual misconduct while serving as a priest may go to character, but that the events happened too long ago to be relevant to his sentencing decision. He also said that he was not convinced sending Ward to prison is the best way to deal with an individual with such problems and that "very little good has come out of all this." Ward told Judge Walker that he took full responsibility for his actions and said, "I regret my actions, the harm they caused my family, my friends, and this community."
With good behavior Ward's sentence of 87 months will be reduced by 15 percent, making him eligible for Supervised Release on December 21, 2014; there is no parole in the Federal system. When Ward is released, California's Megan's Law
Megan's Law
Megan's Law is an informal name for laws in the United States requiring law enforcement authorities to make information available to the public regarding registered sex offenders. Individual states decide what information will be made available and how it should be disseminated...
will require him to register as a sex offender with local law enforcement for life.
Ward is now serving his sentence at the Lompoc Low Security Federal Correctional Facility (FCI) as inmate # 90569-111.
Post conviction activities
After entering the prison system, Ward has created a blog, under his radio moniker The Lion of the Left at http://lionoftheleft.blogspot.com/Religion
On March 16, 1996, Ward discussed the confrontational tactics of the group ACT-UP at a mosqueMosque
A mosque is a place of worship for followers of Islam. The word is likely to have entered the English language through French , from Portuguese , from Spanish , and from Berber , ultimately originating in — . The Arabic word masjid literally means a place of prostration...
, describing the group as a "collection of non-partisan individuals committed to direct action to end AIDS
AIDS
Acquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus...
." He stated that "homosexuals had a good cause to make (against the Catholic Church)," and claimed that the church encouraged homophobia
Homophobia
Homophobia is a term used to refer to a range of negative attitudes and feelings towards lesbian, gay and in some cases bisexual, transgender people and behavior, although these are usually covered under other terms such as biphobia and transphobia. Definitions refer to irrational fear, with the...
and homophobic actions. The church denied this, stating that they did not encourage homophobia or resistance against homosexuals, but merely taught that homosexual sex, because it is outside a marriage between a man and a woman, was immoral.
On December 9, 1996, Ward stated that Christianity was "morally superior" to Judaism
Judaism
Judaism ) is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people...
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. He later compared fundamentalist Orthodox Judaism
Orthodox Judaism
Orthodox Judaism , is the approach to Judaism which adheres to the traditional interpretation and application of the laws and ethics of the Torah as legislated in the Talmudic texts by the Sanhedrin and subsequently developed and applied by the later authorities known as the Gaonim, Rishonim, and...
with Nazism
Nazism
Nazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...
on September 12, 2001 but offered an apology the following day.
Iraq war
On September 30, 2002, Ward appeared on CNNCNN
Cable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...
with Wolf Blitzer
Wolf Blitzer
Wolf Isaac Blitzer is an American journalist who has been a CNN reporter since 1990. Blitzer is currently the host of the newscast The Situation Room and was the host of the Sunday talk show Late Edition until it was discontinued on January 11, 2009...
and discussed possible military action against Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
. He commented about Saddam Hussein
Saddam Hussein
Saddam Hussein Abd al-Majid al-Tikriti was the fifth President of Iraq, serving in this capacity from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003...
: "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."
Causes
Among the causes and groups Ward supported were the Center for American ProgressCenter for American Progress
The Center for American Progress is a progressive public policy research and advocacy organization. Its website states that the organization is "dedicated to improving the lives of Americans through progressive ideas and action." It has its headquarters in Washington D.C.Its President and Chief...
, Common Dreams, the Woodhull Institute for Ethical Leadership, and Democracy Now.
He also led a pledge drive for Thanksgiving Charities every year, which supported four charities in the San Francisco Bay Area: 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 began in the late 1980s and raised over $4 million in the following decades. Ward was also an active participant in the KGO leukemia cure-a-thon, which has raised over $13 million for research into leukemia and lymphoma causes.
Recognition
Ward received the Scripps Howard Award for Excellence in JournalismScripps Howard Foundation
The Scripps Howard Foundation is the corporate foundation of the E. W. Scripps Company, an American media conglomerate which owns newspapers, television stations, cable television networks, and other media outlets...
for his investigative journalism
Investigative journalism
Investigative journalism is a form of journalism in which reporters deeply investigate a single topic of interest, often involving crime, political corruption, or corporate wrongdoing. An investigative journalist may spend months or years researching and preparing a report. Investigative journalism...
in a 10-part series, Heaven Help Us, which explored allegations of financial and sexual misconduct of the Archdiocese of San Francisco. He has also won numerous national awards, such as an Associated Press
Associated Press
The Associated Press is an American news agency. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists...
award for coverage of the Los Angeles riots of 1992.
External links
- Profile of Bernie Ward at About.comAbout.comAbout.com is an online source for original information and advice. It is written in English, and is aimed primarily at North Americans. It is owned by The New York Times Company....
- Indictment in the Bernie Ward case at KGO-TVKGO-TVKGO-TV, channel 7, is an owned-and-operated television station of the Walt Disney Company-owned American Broadcasting Company, based in San Francisco, California...
- Report on the Bernie Ward case