March
17, 1999
(This
transcript has been slightly edited for clarity. Participant names
at bottom.)
Erin Sim, neighbor: The image I remember most vividly was
of the cops on the buses laughing and having a good time. They
had gathered at the hanger at the National Guard Armory and going
off to this event. It was obvious some members of the media had
been there to photograph them. I'm curious to hear from the media
how you were notified of this and if you made decisions not to
go do the coverage that Channel 4 did, or were you there as well?
Nancy Cassutt, WCCO-TV: Our station got a tip on the raid
that it was going to happen and it came in late Friday afternoon.
As tips come in to newsrooms we ask: "What is this about?
Where is it coming from? What are the circumstances? Is this something
we want to cover?" Obviously we've been covering this for
a while. We knew some of the scope but I'm not sure we knew exactly
the scope of it.
We often get tips and in the past we have gone along with police
on other stories, like when they bust a drug house or something
like that.
We
go along, in part, to document what they are doing. We want to
be the public's eyes and ears, of course, if we can be. In this
case, it was happening on a weekend, which is a problem for most
TV stations because staffing is lower than usual.
The discussion in the newsroom, of all the tips we've had over
the past 3-4-5 years, the discussion on how we're going to do
this lasted an hour and a half, which NEVER happens. It's usually
"Let's go out and do this..." This time it was "How
should we do this? Should we go to the site and tell people it's
going to happen? Should we tell our viewers? Or do we go ahead
and be there and get as much as we can?" We chose to go there,
be there, and document what happened.
Randi Kay, WCCO: None of us felt very comfortable about
being under (police) control. We asked: "Are we going to
do the story? How are we going to get it? Can we have our own
car?" I wanted to have our own car. I wanted the freedom
to do that, not to be under their thumb.
I was told, "You cross the yellow line, you WILL be arrested."
I thought, "Hey, I'm the manager of a newsroom and they're
telling me this before it has even happened." I was surprised
that they would say that. But fine, we all know that. We typically
don't cross police tape.
That night there were a couple of people there before (the police).
We had crossed that line and we were told to get back. We were
actually escorted in and out of the perimeter.
Tom Linder, KARE-TV: I don't think it's our job to be under
the thumb of anyone. We get exploited by a lot of groups because
we put things on the air. We try to balance what we put on the
air. If you looked at (our pieces), I think they are representative
of hearing both sides of the issues: the police and the protesters.
Either they love or hate us. If we get complaints from both sides,
we think we've done our job right. That's how it often shakes
out.
Everyone has a belief that you better tell it my way or no way...
there's a lot of "my ways" out there. We try to represent
a fair number of them.
Under thumb of police... we fight it all the time. In court, we
fight the police trying to come after our videotapes. We require
subpoenas. That's one part of the spectrum. The other part of
the spectrum is, we put mug shots on the air all the time, saying
the police are asking for the public's help in finding this person.
Is that cooperating with the police? Probably. Is that a role
that serves a greater public good? We think so. We make those
decisions.
So it's not any one time being under the thumb. It's trying to
be balanced, trying to be fair, trying to represent as many groups
as possible.
Dick Bancroft, photographer, Center for the Americas: I
recognize the attempt at balance and I, too, share that pursuit.
The thing that troubles me most is that the readers and listeners
of all our media in the Twin Cities are not aware that the media
in this particular action were restrained and were limited in
what they could do.
Now I'm no hero. I'm not interested in getting arrested and if
an officer had said to me when they found me inside (the perimeter)
that you either get arrested or you have to leave the area, I
would probably have left the area. But I would have told my editor
and my readership or my viewers that that, in fact, is what happened
to me. That did not appear in any of the media, to my knowledge.
In this present climate we need to have some integrity and honesty
and show the public. (Are we, the public) going to allow our officers,
our enforcement people to prevent us from knowing what happened
inside? That's what troubles me.
In an action on the same site on October 14, I photographed the
arrest of other protesters and there were no limits then. This
time the ball game changed.
We're living in a society that is developing a solution to problems
by assault. We've done it in Panama, we've done it in Iraq, in
Libya. We now have a president who admits that what we did for
10 years in Guatemala was shameful and wrong. And yet we're feeding
more military equipment to Colombia. The same thing is being repeated
and now we're doing it locally.
The media has a responsibility to the public to tell them how
they were limited.
Bernie Grace, KARE-TV: I was out of town when this incident
happened but I was there when a couple of demonstrators locked
themselves to a backhoe (in October). The news cameras were allowed
right there and we were allowed to see what was going on and maybe
the police were acting just a bit better that day because we were
right next to them. They put boards up between the chain saws
and the locks to try to get those undone.
I hear exactly what you're saying. I think the closer we are,
the better the news coverage. It's always nice to have an unmarked
car, too. We try all the time to get as close as possible.
I don't cross the yellow tape. I know I can be arrested. But there
are times when I've had to be a bit sneaky. I took a stand on
this one time when the "COPS" TV show was in town and
it was obvious they were going to do a very pro story on Minneapolis
Homicide. Minneapolis Homicide let them go over the yellow line
when locals had to stay behind the line. And that's were I said
"No, it doesn't work that way," and we crossed over
the line. You have to take that stand once in a while. And finally
"COPS" had to go back with us.
Benno Groeneveld, KFAI, Reuters: I'd like to point out
that cameras go into crack houses (with police), which is probably
more dangerous than going onto this site.
When I worked in New York I had a police card that said I was
allowed to pass police and fire lines, whatever form. There you
had the right to go in and they still stopped you once in a while
but you had the right that you could cross the lines. Maybe it
is time for something like that to come to the Twin Cities: a
police-issued press card.
Solstice, a protester: I have a tape of me and my partner
being pepper-sprayed. It went out via cell phone from the basement.
I was in a basement in a lockdown.Tear gas started coming from
somewhere in the room. I don't know how it got there, in a barricaded
room. Police pounded down the basement stairs and started ramming
something into the walls. It looked like it (the wall) was going
to give. We were in a lot of pain. Police were screaming. I've
never heard police so volatile in my whole life, and I've been
a nonviolent activist for years and encountered police many times
before. We were terrified. They were screaming: "Come out
now! come out now! And you had better have your hands up when
we tear down this wall.!" They indicated that their weapons
were drawn.
We came out carefully to find guns with laser scopes pinpointed
on us. We were explaining the whole time that we were nonviolent
and they were laughing at us. They didn't believe us and when
we were in custody, there was this air of relief that went over
everybody, as if they were not in danger any more. As if they
ever were!
They knew we were nonviolent, but when we came out they demanded
to know "Where are the booby traps" and "Where
are the weapons?" which was really terrifying. I believe
that we were in a situation where, if that wall had come down
in that dimly lit room, we could have been shot. They had their
weapons drawn.
I didn't encounter nearly as bad of treatment as many of my friends
who were pepper sprayed, both to get them out of lockdowns and
after they were already handcuffed, where the only reason for
doing this was torture. Of course, we cannot PROVE any of these
allegations because they controlled the media. That's precisely
why we can't prove these things.
(The media) are guilty of conspiracy to destroy evidence, conspiracy
to override the U.S. Constitution and our Bill of Rights.
Whenever mainstream media from this country go into hostile countries,
like Iraq, like North Korea, like Cuba, the main story is how
their movements were controlled and monitored. And here, not a
word from one mainstream news outlet about how their movements
were controlled and monitored.
I didn't see police in riot gear. I saw police in black masks.
They had sniper units there! The media didn't report this. Had
the media in Tiananmen Square been as controlled as they were
at the raid on the Minnehaha Free State, you can be sure that
the Chinese would have said that no one was brutalized and no
one was killed.
Lucy Dalglish, SPJ: I don't think the media have answered
Dick's point. Did the media have a responsibility to report the
fact that they were stifled at the site? Personally I think they
did. My question is, if you had to do it again, would you have
done the story differently?
Scott Libin, KSTP-TV: I think we DO have that responsibility
and I think we do err on the side of not sharing as much of that
insight as we could and should. We may assume that people know
about how much we're restrained.
Steve Brandt, Star Tribune: There have been three basic
questions raised so far: Why didn't we show up earlier? Why didn't
we cross police lines? Why didn't we report that we were held
back?
To address those out of order I'd like to give a bit of context.
I think context is often missing in these situations.
(The red mark stuff that Dick's talked about (in his complaint
against the police): he's apparently the only person who heard
that, because I never heard about it and no one else I spoke to
that evening heard about it. It's bogus, frankly. I think they
were handing you (Dick) a line.)
There are various types of reporters. There are guys like Bernie
who spend a lot of time around cops, who know the ground rules,
who know what they can deal with, who know how much they can push,
and who know how much they (the cops) will push back. And then
there are those of us who handle other beats, who typically run
like hell when we have the chance to work a weekend shift covering
cops. We're not as familiar with the ground rules. We don't leap
tall buildings with a single bound and we don't leap police lines.
I had a couple choices at the site. I didn't have time to go get
a court order. I had a choice of observing outside the ring or
forcing my way inside the ring. If I had forced my way inside
the ring there are a couple probable outcomes that I can foresee.
One is that I would be arrested and taken downtown, the other
is that I wouldn't have been formally arrested but would have
been taken off site and put on one of the police buses. In either
case, I don't think I would have been serving my readers very
well by not being there.
Maybe you think there would be better reporting from off site
than on site, but I disagree. I was there.
Now as to why I didn't show up earlier, I'd be glad to clarify
that, but we have to put that in context too, going back some
months.
We were told that there was going to be a hunger strike and it
was going to go until the issue was resolved: it was not a symbolic
hunger strike. Three weeks later another press release saying
the hunger strike is being called off. We were told there was
going to be mass civil disobedience around the day or the day
after the election. It never happened. We were told there were
going to be raids around that time as well. Then we were told
that the National Guard were going to come around December 9,
10 or 11. That didn't happen.
I got word from Bob (Greenberg) the night of December 18 that
they expected a raid the following morning. I said "Let me
know if something happens." I set my alarm for 4 o'clock,
I got up and he probably remembers I called him. He said "Nothing's
happened." I went back to bed but couldn't sleep, got in
my car and drove over there around 6 a.m. Nothing was going down.
The following night I went to sleep again. I admit I'd had a couple
glasses of wine at a Hanukkah party so I didn't hear the first
phone call which came from Bob and according to our answering
machine came at 3:30.... a second call came from an editor, I
slept through that one too. MnDOT was the third call; they called
about 4:30 and I got to the site shortly after 5.
I'd like to talk about why I didn't report why we weren't allowed
to cross police lines. I don't have a lot of experience with covering
police events but in the events I've had experience with, that's
common place. I think Bernie will agree that he's kept outside
police lines most of the time. I think it's easier to talk your
way in if you know the cops, if you have a better relationship,
like Bernie who deals with those folks a lot, who has the relationships.
I don't. I didn't report it, frankly, because it wasn't news to
me. We deal with that restriction all the time.
Beyond that I guess I'd like to say that I'd like you to read
our coverage in context of the last 10 years. I wrote my first
story about the protest in May '97. I've done about 30 articles
since then. I can assure you that there was no conspiracy to stay
away that night.
Nancy Conner, St. Paul Pioneer Press: Dave Hawley, our
reporter, had a similar experience. He wasn't invited to go with
the cops. He didn't know anything about other people being invited
to go. He had a similar experience to Steve's: numerous press
releases but nothing with certainty about a raid. He was home
sick that night and got a call somewhere in the middle of the
night from one of the protesters saying it was going to go down,
but he was sick and he just went back to bed and thought this
was probably another false alarm. We didn't not get any call from
MnDOT until early the next morning. Two other reporters then went
out to cover it but it was after the main part of the raid was
over so we didn't have any experience that I know of with yellow
tape and police lines. I can't say how people were kept away.
Michael Haney: I was one of those arrested on December
20. I'm evidence that there is a misconception because very few
people know that it's a Native American religious freedom issue
out there. It hasn't been talked about.
We've been in federal and state court and we're in mediation today.
We're holding a hearing tomorrow, which MnDOT asked me to disinvite
the press. (By the way, it's going to be in room 834 of the MnDOT
building.) They said I couldn't invite you, but I think it's incredible
that they can hold public meetings in public places with public
monies and not invite the press and bar public participation.
I'm from Oklahoma and I'm a Seminole and I chair the Repatriation
Committee for all the tribes of Oklahoma. Seven of those tribes
lived here for almost 10,000 years. That's why I'm up here, that's
why I'm working with the state legislature on a bill that Mr.
Skoglund is a great supporter of. Our bill provides equal protection
for grave sites and sacred sites.
If you look beyond the anarchist literature and some of the other
adjectives used to describe our issue, if you look beneath it,
you'll find the Indian people who have been here for a long time.
We'll take help wherever we can get it. It just happens to be
these young people from Earth First who have recently come to
ask to help us. There's been others throughout our history.
I'd like to ask that the press look beyond some of the other sensational
issues but look at why the young people keep saying that. Maybe
it's hard to understand why the trees are sacred to us, why the
water is sacred to us, why even a rock has meaning and integrity
to us.
It's such a vague question in the State of Minnesota that tomorrow,
for two days, we are going to tell the state -- I challenged the
State, if you want me to meet the criteria (for sacred sites),
you prove to me you know what sacred is -- four attorneys left
the room, two engineers were right behind them, one administrator
took off and they came back and admitted that they did not know
what the sacred was. So for the next two days Indian people are
coming from around the country to teach this State and your governor,
with his high IQ, about why we want that area protected, and it
goes beyond the houses and even beyond the construction of a highway.
That's not the issue. The issue is, do our sacred areas deserve
the same protection -- they burned Teepees! they burned sweat(lodges)!
If we burned one of your churches, we'd be in jail doing federal
time for a hate crime. That's the issue. We want the same respect
and the same standing as your people.
Leo Cashman, reporter, Southside Pride: I'm a member of
the alternative press and I've written quite a bit about the Hiawatha
controversy. I am, among other things, an environmental writer
for Southside Pride and PULSE of the Twin Cities.
I went to the site of the police raid about 4:15 that morning.
I cut back towards the river and thought I would come back on
the perimeter. There were an enormous number of police; about
as many police as there were trees on the east side perimeter
and only me out there walking in the snow. They had flashlights
and big sticks and as I approached the perimeter they approached
me and they wanted to know who I was and I was greeted as a suspect
and told that I couldn't be there. So of course I presented a
press pass, which I took care to bring along just for this occasion.
Three officers were talking to me and I was very polite and the
officer was very dubious about my press pass and looked at the
back of it for a red mark and said "There's no red mark on
here. This isn't worth anything. This is not worth anything."
Then she got a little more philosophical and said, "You know,
we don't really regard you as part of the media. When we say media,
we mean big TV, the big newspapers, that's the media." As
far as this officer, this public servant, was concerned, I wasn't
the media.
Then they proceeded to see if there was a warrant out for my arrest.
They wanted to see my identification but I wasn't allowed to reach
for my wallet. They frisked me and took it out of my pocket. and
looked all through my billfold and so on. And there is no warrant
out for my arrest and I very politely followed their orders and
went on a wild goose chase to where they told me I would be briefed.
I didn't find any media briefing so eventually, on my own, I worked
my way back to Riverview Road and observed the events for five
hours.
Several days later I was told that there was going to be testimony
from protesters on brutal treatment from the police and I went
to the State Office Building and heard what I thought was very
compelling and convincing testimony from people that I've always
found to be scrupulously honest. I got a very compelling story,
which I reported in great detail. Some have told me it was the
definitive story. I wrote it for PULSE and then for Southside
Pride. I didn't write about how I was treated because I had so
many details that were so powerful and compelling.
The think that what amazes me more than anything is that while
this reroute has been such a big story for so long...the environmental
issues, the Native American issues, the Earth First issues, Dick
(Bancroft's case)... there was so little interest or coverage
of the brutality verging on torture. Isn't this an important new
development in a major ongoing story? I thought it was an extremely
important development that said a lot about what is happening
to our society. The failure of most media to be interested, to
be there ... this was an easy story to get, and little me, who
works part-time and gets paid peanuts to write the story, wrote
the definitive story about this police brutality for a large number
of people.
Claude Peck, Star Tribune: We did cover the press conference
at the State Office Building and photographed it. We were criticized
two weeks later for not going to a community speak out and I did
have a conversation with someone. I asked her what was going to
be new at the speakout event and she said basically not much new,
the same people. That it was another event to speak out on (what
had happened) and I made the decision then not to cover the second
one.
Randi Kay, WCCO: We were not inside the houses that night
so we don't know exactly what happened inside the houses, but
we did listen to several of the protesters that morning at 4 in
the morning, right as it was happening, and we aired all of those
comments in three different reports that Sunday. We did ask the
police and we pushed the police on whether they used pepper spray
and whether or not there was any brutality and they did not respond
and we made it very clear in our reports that they refused not
respond.
No, we weren't at any of these other meetings. I'm not sure we
were even aware of these other meetings, but certainly that day,
as it was happening, we gave you your time.
Lou Harvin, KTCA-TV: Our staff is so small at Channel 2
that we don't even have weekend crews so we weren't there that
weekend. However, I'm going to try to speak philosophically. Sometimes
those of you who are protesting do your jobs too well. What I
mean by that is, you call Channel 4, Channel 5, Channel 9, Channel
11... you call everybody 7 times a day! You tell us you've got
something, this is emotional, you've got to come out here. You
get to a point when there are charges of police brutality and
each station is questioning: "Who's on the phone? Oh it's
those protesters again. What do they want this time? Oh, the cops
beat the snot out of them." Well, now you're (the protesters)
wrestling with (the attitude): "Boy are they at us again?"
In a way you do your PR job so well, stations become afraid of
that. They back off.
The point about the police and why it wasn't brought up that the
police didn't allow us in: the reality is, they don't have to
let us in. There have been rulings around the country AGAINST
stations going into situations. In New York, courts ruled that
cops cannot just hold suspects for the media to shoot as they
are parading them into jail. We're losing battles on a daily basis
on our end. There have been rulings against people going in on
a raid. If you're in your house and there's a raid and we're right
behind -- "We're TV news" -- well, people have sued
television stations for entering their house without their permission.
"Cops can come in if they want to, but I didn't let the media
in." So we're fighting those battles and television stations
have lost. It scares us too.
Ken Bradley, protester: I was there the evening of the
raid. One of the questions I have, and I know I've spoken to Steve
Brandt many times, there are so many things the Star Tribune has
not covered.
Your tone is that you first of all think that our side is automatically
wrong. You have a preconceived notion of it. When we bring up
things, like, why wasn't Dick Bancroft covered more in the Star
Tribune, you say "We did cover it" ... in a two-sentence
paragraph. When I bring up examples of the evening of the raid
-- I was there and the police were there without ID's on, we didn't
know who these police were -- you just act as though that's nothing,
as if it's not important.
Your job as a journalist, sometimes, is to stand up for the public
when the police aren't doing there job right.
There are so many issues involved in this... that the police have
not acted right, politicians have not acted right, and you refuse
to cover that angle of it and I'm not exactly sure why.
Steve Brandt, Star Tribune: I have covered it. (He shows
page after page of notes and stories, pages tumbling down to the
floor.)
Ken Bradley, protester: Did the Star Tribune run an announcement
about this meeting?
Steve Brandt, Star Tribune: No...
Ken Bradley, protester: Of course not, because the Star
Tribune will not run announcements relating to this issue. You
never have.
Steve Brandt, Star Tribune: That's bull----. In Saturday's
paper there was an announcement about the oak photo and there
was a picture taken on Sunday.
Ken Bradley, protester: It comes to me from several conversations
with you that you have a bias on this issue and that you think
that many of us in the community are a bunch of crackpots. That
is what your belief is. We're not. We care about this park. We
are upset that a federal law is being broken... that the statute
of limitations ran out and that's the reason the government is
getting away with break ing a law, ruining the first state park
in the State of Minnesota, the first state park in all of the
U.S. And people are upset about this! And it's not just Earth
First. It's people in this community from all walks of life. Instead
you like to sensationalize the radical end of it but you don't
like to talk about the facts and there are many of them I've never
seen printed in your paper.
For example: the politicians for years have said there are no
trees that are going to be lost except for scrub trees along an
abandoned rail bed. This is what politicians have said for years
but no one has gone to the politicians, now that we know that
MnDOT has said themselves that 137 trees of significance will
be lost (Bob Greenberg says 1500), no one has said "Why have
you lied to the public? Why have you sent out letters that are
misleading? And why do you continue to do this with taxpayers
money?"
Steve Brandt, Star Tribune: I refer you to the story I
did in the spring of '97 in which I outlined exactly the route
and I pointed out that the grove at 54th Street was going to be
knocked down, the trees on the east side of Hiawatha were going
to be knocked down....
While I may be giving you a hard time and being skeptical (I'm
paid to be skeptical), I'm also doing the same thing to MnDOT
and you're not around for that. I went after them on the gas line
issue....
Ken Bradley, protester: I've never seen documentation of
that or heard anyone say "Where is MnDOT's documentation
of the gas line." How come the media hasn't stopped to say
"Where is the documentation?"
Steve Brandt, Star Tribune: Here are my notes I took on
October 21 on that issue.
Ken Bradley, protester: Here are your notes, but where
is the documentation? When I went to college, I was told, document,
document, document. MnDOT has no documentation of these gas lines
yet they continually use it. But where is the documentation. I've
been on that site and never saw any gas line.
Steve Brandt, Star Tribune: I was skeptical of the presence
of the gas lines. Bob may recall that I asked him for permission
to go on-site to take a look to see if the houses were hooked
up, and I didn't get that permission, just as I didn't get permission
to go inside to see what preparations had been made for the raid
in terms of lock downs. I made that request.
I was skeptical of claims of gas lines up until the point when
I talked to Greg and Deb Kratz, who had parents living in the
last house to be evacuated. When Greg told me they saw the gas
lines, and I perceived Greg to be sympathetic to the protests,
that's when I began to give credence to it.
If I could read from a memo that Bob Greenberg sent to us today:
The police said that there was an illegal gas hookup that forced
them to come in for public safety reasons. They have never produced
any evidence of this. The truth of the matter is that about a
month and a half before the raid there was a gas line from Carol
Kratz's house run to to the house just south. This gas line was
done by a professional and disconnected less than 20 hours later
by a professional.
He goes on to say that it was because there wasn't consensus about
whether it should be hooked up and that it would give the police
an excuse to raid if it wasn't disconnected.
I think I asked you, Bob, several times in October and November,
whether there were gas lines and I was told no.
That information that I got today was not reported earlier in
the Star Tribune but the observations of the Kratz's was, on December
22.
Hardware store employee: I talked to Carol several weeks
ago about that, after the article appeared... "There's something
wrong about this picture. They're talking about gas lines but
they're having big bonfires and burning things!" She said
that as they were moving things out of their house. her son-in-
law noticed some pipe in her driveway and he posited that it might
be a gas hook-up and they both thought nothing of it subsequently
and she was very surprised that anything even came about out of
it.
At 4:35 the morning of the raid I was called -- there's a phone
tree and one of the women in the neighborhood was keeping me posted
-- she called and said "It's happening right now!" I
couldn't go, I have a family and a young son. I immediately called
Channel 5 and I said, "The raid is happening!" (I had
called them earlier in the evening to tell them it might happen.)
They responded by saying: "REALLY, because I just talked
to my photographer and he said nothing was going down yet."
I said: "He must be deaf and blind because I can hear the
helicopter over my house right now." And he said: "Well,
I will give him another call." I called Channel 11, thinking
that they were way too late for any action and Channel 11 said
they didn't know anything was going on and they would probably
send somebody out.
Jim Elliott, KSTP-TV: The night that this happened I was
there by 1:30 in the morning and I waited around and I watched
what was going on. I had people approach me from the encampment
wondering what I was doing. I don't always talk to the person
at Channel 5 to tell them what's going on. I just waited... I
don't know if you watched my piece but the first image I had was
of the state patrol helicopter. I was there. I resent people saying
I wasn't there, I wasn't doing my job, I was with the police.
I do my job the way I believe it's best done.
That night I thought: "Gee I'm not going to go into the encampment
because if the police come in here I'm going to get trapped in
the encampment." You think about those things when you're
out in the street. I try to put myself in the best position to
get the best visuals I can get. It's not going to satisfy everybody.
I do what I think is right at the time and I make my decision
in the field based on my 25 years of experience doing this.
I figured out on my own that it was going to go down, then when
I saw NSP trucks on the south side of the airport and I saw other
signs, I said: "This is going to happen tonight. I'm going
to position myself where I can move." Unfortunately I got
caught by the state patrol right away and I was told to move and
I was held back the same as everyone else here. "Cross the
yellow line, you're going to jail."
Jill Walker, Sierra Club: I've been involved in Stop the
Reroute for 2-1/2 years. I think it's important to look at the
climate and history and pattern of coverage of the issue to understand
what happened at the raid, and while I appreciate Steve Brandt,
your pile of notes, and obviously when there's an issue of importance
we appreciate the coverage, some of the frustrations are about
the depth of coverage.
A few examples: there's been a serious lack on the part of most
major media to truly investigate what our politicians and MnDOT
are telling the public. Repeatedly we've heard that this highway
project is the results of extensive public input and community
process. We have a 120 alternatives often cited but they are the
result of a chart on a single page that goes 10 across and 12
down. That's not serious exhaustive input. We also have a task
force that has six or fewer people listed as neighborhood residents.
That is not an inclusive process. We understand that the route
itself was determined before the task force ever met. They did
not decide the route. You would be hard pressed to discover that
they discussed anything at all south of 54th Street.
We're also being told continually (that light rail transit funding
is dependent upon the Highway 55 reroute), and the Star Tribune
is extremely guilty of this in an incredibly biased editorial
whose headline reads "Protesters Jeopardizes LRT" dated
November.... This is categorically false and not one major media
outlet has bothered to investigate the relationship between LRT
funding and the rerouting of Highway 55. They are two totally
separate funding sources. The transitway, for all practical purposes
if the reroute is stopped, could still go forward. It follows
the present Hiawatha alignment, not the rerouted corridor.
I think this question of the denial of trees being lost comes
into play. It's not until November that MnDOT actually acknowledges
that any trees are going to be lost.
There are things that our elected officials are telling the public
that should be reported and investigated. That's the problem.
Not in the fact that there is or isn't coverage. It's the type
of coverage. There has been a very serious campaign to push the
reroute forward by elected officials of the city and the state
and by MnDOT officials and that is the real story here and nobody,
except Leo Cashman, is truly covering it.
Tim Moore: Park & River Alliance: We're the organization
who has the lawsuit in the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals to stop
the reroute. I would like to challenge the media here to truly
look at the larger issue. It's been going on for so long and Steve
Brandt has covered it exhaustively. I have sent things myself
to Kay, Shelby. I don't get phone calls back. I don't get responses.
I've grown accustomed to that. My question is, how do we effectively
communicate, as ordinary citizens, with the media moguls in this
town? I've been fortunate enough to have a few editorials printed...
but a lot of people out there have not been heard. As Jill just
pointed out, the layers of this onion are not being peeled back
by the investigative reporters who are supposed to be doing this
job.
Scott Libin, KSTP-TV: (To the hardware store employee)
I regret the response you got when you called. If you ever call
our newsroom and get blown off that way, something is wrong. You
should never get blown off. If it happens, something is wrong.
(To Tim Moore) In fact, I think you're on to something. I think
you need to create relationships with individual journalists.
You need to build your credibility with them, because as several
people here have said, this is an issue on which people lobby
us with passion.
There are a lot of stories out there and we have to make choices.
I think consistency and credibility are the keys. I think if you
call and you follow up... you will have to have some patience
with us... I think that's a start.
Tom Lindner, KARE-TV: It often is talked about -- the big
media ignoring large groups of people. Try to nurture a relationship
on a one-to- one basis.
I wish we had enough reporters to go to every community every
day. We don't. The average day we have six reporters on the street.
One way, in additional to phone calls, in addition to e-mails,
is to try to nurture a one-to-one relationship. Call Bernie Grace,
and say "Let's go out to coffee." Instead of saying,
"The big, ugly media is ignoring my story," boil it
down to one little, ugly media.
Chris Spotted Eagle: The City Pages, Dave Shimke wrote
in "Cops Are Human":
(KMSP reporter Tom) Lyden's fraternal familiarity with those who
carry guns and those who wield spiral notebooks is revealing,
Alone among his counterparts he doesn't mince words when referring
to Star Tribune reporter Joy Powell's recent feature about Minneapolis
homicide detective Jim DeConcini. "Some of this beat is [incestious],"
he says. "You do some good stories to gain access to others,
when you have to rip the department a new one. And that's what's
going on with the DeConcini story."
(further down) "Cops love to evaluate the media. They love
to comment on specific reporters. They know, as do the journalists,
that the two professions depend on each other more intimately
than either would care to admit.
(further down) "The danger in all of this, of course, is
that reporters who rely upon police sources can become susceptible
to the cop's point of view -- in journalism parlance, too easy
to spin."
it goes on...
Donald Grunbeck, (Pizza man): I used to bring up pizza.
I shot a video at 4 in the morning. What I'd like to know from
the news media is, why, when we have pictures of assault weapons
in the hands of police storming on our streets, that was never
brought out. I've got tape right here that will show you police
officers with M16's at the raid that night. Nobody ever talked
about the fact that they were there with assault weapons coming
at us.
Neil Neddermeyer, News Council member and former police detective:
This is tough. I realize that I'm the only one here who's ever
been with the government, and that offends me, frankly. They should
be here. If I remember right, you people elect them.
I want to make two points: one with police procedure and one with
politics. In my thirty years as a detective working with various
crimes -- in a lot of cases, homicides. In situations where we
have a "crime scene" that has already happened, where
a body is laying out in the middle of the woods, it is very appropriate
for police to rope that area off and not allow anyone in because
anyone that crosses that line may, in fact, be compromising the
investigation and destroying evidence.
That was not the case here. In my opinion the police may have
acted inappropriately and used those rights they have (and I believe
they should have those rights) to keep the media away from the
scene. In this particular instance they used it merely to keep
the media away from any problems that may have looked bad from
the outside.
In their defense, yes, I did hear about this particular raid and
was asked to participate. Those officicers did indicate that there
was some issue with gas problems and with gas explosions. I'm
not saying that was true, I'm saying what they thought might be
true and that's what they said. And that's what stopped them from
allowing the general public and the media from getting closer
than they allowed them to do.
The second point I'd like to make concerns politics. The city
of Minneapolis had a seed in this, so did the county because Hennepin
County patrols Fort Snelling, and so did the Minnesota Criminal
Apprehension people. What happened was, it seemed to me, that
as soon as the head of one department heard that another department
was bringing in a 100 people that he didn't want to look any less
powerful so he brought 100 and a third person brought 100 and
it became... I use the term ridiculous, but that was my opinion
at the time.
Now I'm not going to say the police did wrong, or did right, in
anything that they entered into.. I wasn't there. I am indicating
that these things tend to get out of hand on the side of caution
and the cops tend to try to make sure no one gets hurt.... I want
to point out, in their defense, that nobody was hurt.
Lynn Levine, protester: My name is Lynn Levine. I'm 53
years old. I'm a retired school psychologist. I worked here as
a social worker two years ago and I'm one of a group of people
outside the law that was there that night.
My friend Henry, here, had sores on his eyes. I've known Henry
for years. He's the gentlest man I know. He was hurt He did nothing
except to ask to be able to witness for a friend of his. He was
wearing a witness band.
I was standing next to Mike Haney. I was one of the white women
who was standing next to the Native American man who was arrested.
I was asked to walk across the street.
We all have our own little thing that sticks in our craw. For
me it was listening to the mayor talk about the children on the
site. I'm a social worker and I'm good and I call child protection
a lot and those children on that site were happy, healthy, loved
children. And the only frightening thing that happened that night,
and I stood there and begged with the police not to go into the
bus where the little girl was, which was off-site, and they insisted
upon going in and terrorizing that child and it was the only time
that child was frightened.
The other children left because Child Protection harassed and
frightened their mothers. I listened to our mayor, who I voted
for, saying that she was just concerned about the welfare of the
children ... that's the one thing that twists my stomach.
Unidentified Man: There's an element of the story that
brings us into a larger national context that I have not seen
in the coverage and that is this: there is a substantive change
in police procedure and tactics around the country that's been
happening for many years and what it amounts to is a gradual militarization
of police.
I've had a chance to speak with Solstice and Henry and a number
of people who were there that night and there were indeed paramilitary
groups with assault weapons present.
To the members of the press here, I'd like to say, as you see
this kind of stories unfold in the future, where this kind of
activity is happening, it's worth asking: what does this mean
for civil rights in this country when you start to see this kind
of activity occur and civilian police are using military tactics
against U.S. citizens, be they lawbreaking or not?
Gary Gilson, News Council: We did invite top officials
from MnDOT, the Minneapolis Police and the state Safety Department
to come here and they declined. The subject of the public and
the government is one you will have to pursue through an avenue
other than the News Council.
John Holstead: I'd like to draw a distinction between two
different news events. On the one hand is the U scandal with the
athletes, and we could add to that our president and a certain
blue dress which has received an incredible amount of coverage
to the point where we are all nauseated.
On the other hand we had an incident that happened in December
which is unprecedented in the state of Minnesota. What happened
is effectively marshal law where they went in and declared a free
state for the military, who could do whatever they wished to do
and either the Constitution was suspended and law did not exist
and Arnie Carlson didn't tell us or we did have a Constitution
and we do have a Constitution and we do have laws and those laws
were violated.
There are First Amendment people here who are a lot more knowledgeable
than I am but I've read it. It's very simple. The Constitution
is very simple and it's very clear. You have the right to freedom
of religion and the practice thereof. You have the right to peaceably
assemble, to petition your government, whether its voting or going
out in a peaceful protest. (This (protest) was on public land.)
You have a right to freedom of speech and you have freedom of
the press.
All of those freedoms upon which we, as a nation, pride ourselves
were violated and I'd like to say to the people of the press that
this is still a scoop because it has not been covered. I invite
you to meet with the people who have made these allegations. I
was across the street. I did see one of them pepper sprayed. I
did see a herd of police and I didn't see any badges. I did see
two badges in the film we saw. I didn't see any that night. It
was frightening to me and I think we need to start asking some
questions.
Do we really have a democracy? Is there really a First Amendment?
If there is, you need to defend it, you in the press, or there
isn't going to be one.
Trish Donaldson: I've lived in the neighborhood off and
on for 25 years. I've been protesting. This is the first time
I've done it since the Vietnam war. I'd like to address this to
the Star Tribune. MnDOT made up a leaflet called "The Hiawatha
Corridor Update." It was an insert; 59,000 copies were put
into that paper at taxpayer expense. Josh Davis, of the Green
Party, wrote a rebuttal to that and submitted it the the St. Paul
Pioneer Press and to the Star Tribune. It was printed in the Pioneer
Press (but not in the Minneapolis paper). I compliment the Pioneer
Press in this instance.
(The Pioneer Press) had a picture that I saw nowhere else of the
Dakotas on horseback making their trip from Mankato to the Hiawatha
Free State and I compliment them, but I wonder why that very piece
would not have been printed in the Star Tribune?
Lisa Hoff, Star Tribune: I don't have an answer to you
about that particular piece (by Josh Davis) but I have looked
at every editorial page since August and counted the number of
letters we've had and longer pieces (Counterpoints) and I wanted
to tell you while I don't have that piece right in front of me...
the Star Tribune has published 23 pieces from opponents of the
Highway 55 reroute and 6 pieces from proponents. I've had calls
from people saying, "Why didn't you publish my particular
piece" and I've also had calls from people saying, "This
is really lopsided. How come all you're doing is publishing pieces
from opponents." And I say, "My job isn't necessarily
to run tit for tat." We don't run one piece and always have
a point by point rebuttal. For one thing, those are boring for
people to read. They have to have the first piece in front of
them when they read it to understand the second piece.
There are many other pressures on editors at all times. You in
the room who care about this issue, there are other people who
care about other issues. The Star Tribune received 20,000 letters
to the editor last year. Everybody who wrote is passionate about
their issue. You were unfortunate enough to have this raid come
right after the president was being impeached in the house, right
after a national and local election.
(interruption) I'm telling you about the pieces we're evaluating,
what we're receiving and we got many, many pieces on that particular
issue. We ran eight very long pieces and all the other short ones.
What we ran, which was a preponderance of mail from opponents,
was a reflection of what we got.
Steve Brandt, Star Tribune: This lady asked about the photo.
I wish we'd had that photo. I tried to get it. I called our assignment
desk and told them, "They're gonna finish the ride at this
site," but on Sundays we're short-staffed and you're lucky
to get a photographer.
Tasya Rosenfield, KFAI: KFAI has done extensive coverage.
We get barraged by protesters and Bob Greenberg calls constantly
to let us know about all the things surrounding this event from
early in August. We've given you consistent coverage since September,
through the raid, and since then. I did talk to Bob McFarlin and
the police after the raid and there was consistent coverage after
the raid covering all the angles.
I got a call from Bob Greenberg a few weeks before the raid took
place requesting that the media meet with the protesters and the
police to talk about the procedures that the protesters would
be using in their lockdown positions if a raid were to take place.
Bob called me and asked: "Will you be at this meeting."
I said I don't know if I can be at this meeting to tell the police
that I need to be at this raid, but I would send somebody. As
it turned out, the meeting was not open. The police and MnDOT
would not open this meeting to reporters.
I think that's an important thing to consider for the rest of
the news media. I know the major news media were called for that
and one cameraman was there. The protesters were trying to say:
"Here are the procedures that we are going to use. We want
the police to know about these specifics and for the police to
understand that we are trying to do a nonviolent act and this
is how it's going to go down." That was not brought up (in
the media).
Gary Gilson, News Council: As we wind down the discussion,
what we've heard most clearly is that members of the public would
like the news media to question authority more often and more
consistently.
Participants
NEWSPAPERS
Star Tribune: Steve Brandt; Claude Peck; Lisa Hoff
Pioneer Press: Dave Hawley; Nancy Conner
SPJ: Dave Aeikens, St. Cloud Times; Lucy Dalglish;
Minnesota Daily: Erin Ghere; Robin Huiras;
City Pages: David Shimke
The Circle: Sue Rich
Women's Press: Mollie Hoben
Southside Pride: Leo Cashman
Grand Gazette : Dale Mischke; Dave Page; Iric Nathanson
Southwest Journal: Mark Anderson
Seward Profile: Chris Steller
St. CLoud Times: Pia Lopez
TELEVISION
KARE-TV: Tom Lindner; Bernie Grace
KSTP-TV: Scott Libin; John Elliott; Katy Boo
KTCA-TV: Lou Harvin
WCCO-TV: Nancy Cassutt; Randi Kaye
RADIO
KFAI: Tasya Rosenfeld; Jesse Hardiman; Benno Groeneveld
KNOW: Mary Losure
MNN: Brian Grace
OTHER
Kathy Thurber, City Council member
Wes Skoglund, State Representative
Dean Zimmerman, Parks Board
Dick Bancroft, Center for the Americas
Minnesota News Council Members: Bob Shaw; Pia Lopez ; Willie Johnson;
Jon Schroeder; Zoua Vang; Monika Bauerlein; Neil Neddermeyer;
Mollie Hoben (former member)