NewsChannel 5's Phil Williams is denying he's the mystery reporter who supposedly was bidding to buy sexually explicit pictures of McKensie Morrison from her jealous boyfriend. In a text message read aloud during Joel Watts' preliminary hearing on extortion charges this week, Watts tells Sen. Paul Stanley he's been offered $7,500 for the pictures. The message: "News 5 independent reporter currently at 7500 do the math now report at." Pith just spoke to Williams, who is whipping every other reporter in the state on this story, and he says he's not the guy. "Absolutely not. It's not me," he says, adding that his TV station doesn't practice checkbook journalism. "We do not pay for anything." In fact, Williams says he didn't even know about the story until about an hour before he went on the air with it Tuesday evening. Of Watts, he says, "I had no knowledge of this person until this story broke this week." Of course, it's possible there is no mystery bidder, and Watts was making that up to try to pressure Stanley to pay for the pictures. The eventual price was $10,000.
