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WFLA Anchor Apologizes For Arrest On DUI Charge

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By MIKE WELLS, The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 22, 2007

TAMPA - Longtime WFLA-TV anchor Bob Hite apologized during a news broadcast to viewers, family and friends for Wednesday's arrest on a charge of driving under the influence.

One week before his retirement, Hite was arrested after police saw him driving erratically.

Hite, apologizing during a newscast Wednesday evening, thanked Tampa police officers and said, "They have done me a great service."

Hite said his responsibility as a journalist is to identify problems in the community and help correct them.

"And to you viewers, for letting you down, I am deeply sorry," he said.

Officers stopped Hite's 2005 Toyota sedan just after 1:30 a.m. at West Cleveland Street and South Willow Avenue after seeing him weaving westbound for several blocks, according to a police report.

Police gave Hite, 60, a field sobriety test, which they say he failed. He also submitted to a breath analysis, which showed he had a blood-alcohol level of 0.127, according to jail records. Florida law presumes a driver is impaired at a level of 0.08 or greater.

Officers said Hite smelled of alcohol and had bloodshot eyes and an "unsteady appearance," the report said.

Hite is retiring Wednesday after 30 years at WFLA-TV, News Channel 8.

News director Don North said Hite left the News Center building at 200 S. Parker St. at about 12:30 or 1 a.m. after his final broadcast of the day.

He was released from Orient Road Jail before 9 a.m. after posting $500 bail.

On the way out, he told a photographer for The Tampa Tribune how he felt.

"Just that I feel like the ultimate hypocrite," Hite said. "I'm supposed to be part of the solution, not part of the problem. And last night I was part of the problem."

Later, he said that would be his only statement outside his news shows. He did not say where he had been drinking before the arrest.

Hite's wife, Bonnie, moved before him to their home in Colorado, so Hite called News Channel 8's assignment desk and spoke to anchor Bill Ratliff for help posting the $500 bail, Ratliff said.

After his release from jail, Hite returned to the station and spoke with North.

"The way I feel is that people who work in a public position like this know what's going to happen," North said. "We can't report on them and not report on ourselves."

The gravity of the arrest can't be ignored, North said.

"Bob's a popular, interesting good guy to have around here," he said. "And people like him. I expect those who have worked here a long time with Bob will feel sorry for him and will be supportive."

News Channel 8's 6 p.m. and 11 p.m. news shows have ranked No. 1 in the market for the past 12 years, with Hite and Gayle Sierens as anchors. The two have been co-anchors since 1985.

News Channel 8, the Tribune and TBO.com are owned by Media General of Richmond, Va.

In an earlier interview with the Tribune, Hite said he will return to the Tampa Bay area often to sail, dive and fish in the waters that drew him here in 1977. He hopes to do freelance work for WFLA-TV and devote more time to his production company, Kinship Productions.

Twenty days ago, Hite's estranged son, Tyler, 28, was arrested on a domestic battery charge, and Hite walked into North's office to tell him about it.

North said Hite asked for no special favors in reporting on his son's arrest. The news director decided the station would not broadcast a story about the arrest because Tyler Hite is an adult and had not had a relationship with his father for several years, North said.

It is the station's practice to report TBO.com's top three viewer-read stories each day, however, and the article about Hite's son fell in that range, North said. The decision was changed, and the anchor reported on his son's arrest, apologizing to the audience for having to bring them such news.

Hite's arrest Wednesday drew more viewers and comments to TBO.com than any other local news story, too, which is to be expected, said media ethics specialist Bob Steele of the Poynter Institute in St. Petersburg.

"Television news anchors are generally very high-profile in the community," Steele said. "They are the face, voice and image of a local television station. They are there in times of crisis and celebration.

"They become, in many ways, more connected to the public than any other journalist in the industry," Steele said.

Television stations intensely market anchors, particularly prime-time anchors such as Hite, as a trustworthy brand image, he said.

"One of the reasons Bob Hite and Gayle Sierens have succeeded so well is because of the credibility factor," Steele said.

Journalists report on the issue of DUI intensely, so if a journalist violates that law, scrutiny should be expected, Steele said.

"When something happens to one of our own, we should have no fear or favor in reporting the story," Steele said.

Tribune photographer Julie Busch contributed to this report. Reporter Mike Wells can be reached at (813) 259-7839 or mwells@tampatrib.com.

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