Jim Avila

'World News' Broadcasts Playbook for Cheating on Your Mortgage

Missed a few payments on your mortgage? About to be kicked out of that house you probably couldn't have afforded in the first place?

Don't worry - ABC's "World News with Charles Gibson" has advice for you.

The April 3 "World News" featured a Staten Island family that managed to purchase a $335,000 home, but with only an annual income of $30,000.

"Karen and David Shearon, working people who made less than $30,000 a year at the time, refused to be intimidated and fought foreclosure - claiming the mortgage broker promised them a fixed-rate, low-interest loan on their $335,000 house, despite their income," ABC correspondent Jim Avila said.

ABCNews.com: Sex Offender Faces Life in Prison for Being Homeless

Yes - ABCNews.com actually did title its article "Sex Offender Faces Life in Prison for Being Homeless," giving a convicted sex offender the status of heroic martyr for facing a potenital life sentence under Georgia's sex offender registry laws.

Larry W. Moore, Jr. was convicted of the felony sex offense known as "indecent liberty with a child" in North Carolina in 1994. Moore later moved to Georgia, where he came within the jurisdiction of Georgia's sex offender registry laws. Moore failed to properly register and was convicted for a first violation in 2005. Moore has now been convicted of a second violation, and faces a penalty of life in prison under the Georgia statutes.

ABCNews.com Gives Uncontested Press to Self-Proclaimed Messiah

"Man Who Claims to Be Prophet Muhammad Alive and Well in Hoboken, Says It's Cool to Eat Pork"

Imagine that headline on ABCNews.com. And imagine the story included no Muslim imams or scholars to denounce the charlatan. Well, that's pretty much what ABC did today on an old story front-paged on its Web site today (see screencap on the right), only the religion in question was Christianity (and the fake Jesus in the story lives in Houston).

Here's the headline for the March 6, 2007, story by Jim Avila (yes, the dateline is correct, this story is over a month old):

Jesus Might Be Alive and Well in Houston
Jose de Jesus Drinks, Smokes and Claims to He's [sic] the Second Coming