Detroit Reporter Gets ‘What-For’ for Comments on Detroit Water Crisis [VIDEO]

There's a water crisis in Detroit.

Thousands upon thousands of residents are without water.  For some, it's because they can't afford their rising bill.  For others, it's "because they'd rather pay their cable bill," according to WDIV-TV reporter, Hank Winchester.  (Sidebar: Cliche TV reporter name much?)

In an interview with Winchester and Maureen Taylor, State Chair of Michigan Welfare Rights Organization, on MSNBC, Taylor is outraged when Winchester suggests that some people choose not to pay their water bill.

I don't particularly agree with Maureen that Winchester was out of line and I didn't get the impression that he was taking sides on the issue either, but, the interview did reveal some incredibly alarming stats that I didn't know.

While more than 12,000 people are now without water in Detroit, places like the Joe Louis Arena, Ford Field and city-owned Golf Courses still have running water despite massive delinquencies, some reaching into the hundreds of thousands of dollars.

The Detroit Free Press reports that commercial customers are now having their water shut off.

The United Nations has called water shut offs a human rights issue.  In the Freep article, Darryl Latimer, deputy director for Detroit Water and Sewerage Department, agrees water is a human right, but suggests that purified water delivered to your home may not be.

Watch the interview here and weigh in -- do you think Winchester was wrong or do you think people need to stop making excuses and pay up?  Full disclosure: The interview has been edited.