Why did WFTV have health reporter do political interview?

The real question here is, why is a health reporter doing a political interview?

Barbara West - WFTV News Story - WFTV Orlando
Barbara West. For the past 16 years, I have served as health reporter and anchor for WFTV's news at noon and 5:30.

So why didn't they use any of these, who, according to their web site, are political reporters?

Laura Dorey
major: Political Science and Communications Studies
Anchor, Reporter, Executive Producer

Michael Rafi
major: Political Science and Communications Studies
Reporter, Political Correspondent.

Joanna Childers
major: Political Science and Communication Studies
Anchor and Reporter
http://www.furman.edu/orgs/fu2tv/wftv/staff.htm

So why would WFTV have their health reporter interview Biden? Have they allowed her to do other political interviews besides the one she did with McCain? Is there a history of them having their health reporter cover politics? She sure is getting a lot of fame out of this.

Journalism or partisanship: Did Barbara West interview with Joe Biden cross the line?
Hal Boedeker Sentinel Staff Writer
6:54 PM EDT, October 27, 2008
Nothing Barbara West has done in her 22 years at WFTV-Channel 9 has generated the attention of her interview last week with Sen. Joe Biden, Barack Obama's running mate. The contentious chat has become an Internet sensation -- 1.2 million hits on YouTube over the weekend and more than 500,000 on WFTV.com -- and generated controversy about how journalists question their subjects.

"The thing that stuns me is that this has become about me," said anchor West, 60. She appeared Monday night on The O'Reilly Factor on Fox News Channel and Larry King Live on CNN and plans to be on three more national shows today.

"It's not a good thing. I am not trying to seek the limelight in any way," she said. "I did not do the interview to make headlines, but to get answers that people in the street want to know. When I'm doing fund-raisers, I see vast numbers of people. My questions were reflective of what they're asking about."
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