From: [c d t] at [sw.stratus.com] (C. D. Tavares)
Newsgroups: comp.org.eff.talk,talk.politics.guns
Subject: Re: Waco Reawakened
Date: 21 May 93 22:14:54 GMT

[langel r j] at [phibred.com] (Rick J. Langel) writes:
> You have some good points, and it's time for me to do a little reading.
> However, I can't believe that the Davidians were completely without
> fault, either.
That's not precisely the point.  See below.

> >during Desert Storm.  And why did the press report without challenge every
> >lie told by the government even when it was obvious to the casual observer
> >that the government was lying?  Frankly I've seen better reporting from
> 
> It seems to me that a better story (and one that would get more
> coverage) would be to expose the government's lies, instead of taking
> everything they say and printing it.  I haven't heard any major press
> coverage like that, or am I just not looking in the right spot? 

Well, my opinion is that there are two reasons for this.

First, there are a bunch of journalists who think, as you did above, that
taking the government to task for illegal activity is somehow siding with
David Koresh.  Given that these same media outlets spent much electron
flux and ink painting Koresh as a wild-eyed monster who rapes babies with
the barrels of AK-47's, they feel a mite uneasy in this position.  Even
if they don't feel that they are "siding" with Koresh, they would have to
eat serious crow about their previous "duped" coverage.

Second, some reporters DID try to get independent info, resulting in at
least two reported scenes like this:

 Photographers for Chronicle, AP arrested
 Paul McKay, Houston Chronicle

 WACO - Two news photographers were arrested and their film was confiscated by
 state troopers Wednesday near the scene of the Branch Davidian cult compound
 where they were trying to get a better vantage point.

 Kerwin Plevka of the Houston Chronicle and Rick Bowmer of the Associated
 Press were arrested by a state trooper and held at gunpoint face-down on
 the ground until other officers arrived.

 They were charged with "interfering with the duties of a peace officer," a
 misdemeanor, and booked into McLennan County Jail.

 The two photographers were released hours later under $1,200 bond.

 Plevka said that they were trying to get a better spot from which to photo-
 graph the burned cult compound and thought they were much farther away.

 When they walked out of some woods, they appeared to be a half-mile to a
 mile away, Plevka said.

 Federal authorities have kept the news media at least two miles away from
 the site where more than 85 religious cultists perished in a fire Monday
 that the FBI says was set by cult members.

 The fire was the conclusion of a 51-day standoff with federal agents after
 a bloody gunbattle with cult members, which killed four agents and at least
 six residents of the compound.

 Both Tony Pederson, managing editor of the Houston Chronicle, and John
 Lumpkin, Dallas bureau chief for the Associated Press, protested the arrest
 and the confiscation of the photographers' film.

 "I have protested to the office of Gov. Ann Richards in the strongest terms
 possible the handling of this matter," Pederson said.

 "In a situation already marred by tragic loss of life and questionable
 actions, this seems to be a rather sorry follow-up.  One has to wonder
 seriously if the Bill of Rights has been suspended in McLennan County."

 A spokesman for Richards, Chuck McDonald, announced the arrests at the
 beginning of a news briefing and said the situation could have tragic con-
 sequences.

 Lumpkin said he would join Pederson in protesting to the governor's office.

 "There was no legitimate law enforcement purpose served by this action,"
 Lumpkin said.

 "The best and most rational response would have been to escort them from
 the unmarked area with a warning," action taken earlier with a television
 reporter.

 Plevka, 42, has been a photographer with the Houston Chronicle since 1988.
 Bowmer, 37, has been the Associated Press photographer based in Houston
 since July, 1992.

Does this sound like the actions of a government investigators' team with
nothing to hide?

> But the blame did not lie at his feet.  Janet Reno has already accepted
> responsibility for the plan.

"The buck drops here..."

(Followups to t.p.g.)
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