Clay Haswell Speaks (or not) on Associated Press Priorities in San Francisco
by gkd/sf-imc � Tuesday November 26, 2002 at 12:28 PM
LINKS!
http://sf.indymedia.org/news/2002/11/1545491.php
The Associated Press contacted SF Indymedia to find out about this kid who
killed a cop in Red Bluff. But I had some questions of my own about the
blood on AP's hands.
A man suspected of fatally shooting a police officer in Red Bluff last
week has apparently published some form of explanation at San Francisco
Indymedia. According to the post from "Andrew McCrae" on SF-IMC, he shot
the police officer in protest of "war abroad and a police state at home."
The article goes on to suggest that he should receive immunity for his
crimes because he first incorporated himself as "Proud and Insolent Youth
Incorporated," and corporations always get away with murder.
Colleen Valles of the Associated Press sent SF Indymedia an email this
morning, asking for further information about the post. As an SF-IMC
volunteer, I returned her call and explained that SF-IMC is an anonymous
open publishing website, and that we can't verify or validate any information.
I also told her that I wanted to "trade" questions. If AP gets to ask us
about this, we should get to ask them about something in return.
Unfortunately, the Associated Press wasn't as forthcoming as we were.
Colleen couldn't comment because she isn't a spokesperson for AP, so she
sent me to Clay Haswell, who is Bureau Chief of the San Francisco Bureau of
the Associated Press. Using the logic of the "Proud and Insolent Youth"
incorporation, I asked Mr. Haswell why it seems like murders, abductions
and other crimes are enthusiastically reported by the Associated Press --
except when a corporation is behind it. Mr. Haswell's only response? "The
Associated Press reports on events all over the world."
Since this is not really an answer to my question, I decided to go into
specifics. For instance, the Associated Press Managing Editors receives
funding from the Ford Foundation to operate their "Credibility
Roundtables." And there certainly are Associated Press resources spent on
covering the Ford Foundation -- for example, a privacy study they funded.
But nowhere can I find any Associated Press resources dedicated to
uncovering exactly what the Ford Foundation's role was during the "Dirty
War" in Argentina and throughout South America. Nor can I find any articles
by the Associated Press about what Ford Foundation's role is today in
funding media projects. Mr. Haswell had no answer besides he thought it was
up for debate whether the "Managing Editors" could really be considered
part of the Associated Press.
Concerned that this example was too obscure, I decided to ask about San
Francisco-based Bechtel. The Associated Press has come under fire because
the AP correspondent in Bolivia, Peter McFarren, has routinely regurgitated
the Bechtel line on water privatization uprisings in Bolivia (that they are
the work of "narcotraffickers," not Bolivian people who want to control
their own natural resources). In fact, Mr. McFarren simultaneously reported
on the water uprisings while lobbying the Bolivian Congress for a $78
million water export project. Now, this is a San Francisco story about
clear corporate criminality as well as a clear conflict-of-interest for the
AP -- and yet Mr. Haswell could only continue to repeat that the "AP has
reporters all over the world."
I kept trying to ask specifics, but Mr. Haswell kept backpedaling away from
specifics. I even gave him an easy one -- the Associated Press's complicity
in the embarrassing corporate media propagandizing when the first coup
attempt against Hugo Chavez happened recently in Venezuela. I thought that
certainly a Bureau Chief of a major metropolitan area would have an inkling
of an opinion on this now-famous corporate media blunder. But still, no
answer -- only that the "AP reports on events all over the world."
Finally, we are left with no answers, vague denials, and dismissals. Mr.
Haswell is either a Bureau Chief that knows almost nothing about important
current events, or he is a Bureau Chief that covers up the mis-doings of
his own corporate master.
When will the corporate media start reporting on the murders and crimes of
corporations just as much as they report on the crimes of individuals? The
answer is probably never, which is why there are now hundreds of
independent media centers around the world, co-ordinating coverage from
thousands of independent media producers.
http://sf.indymedia.org/news/2002/11/1545491.php
