Death threats against a County DA for not prosecuting local Occupy protesters ought to be newsworthy you'd think, especially since the FBI has been called in to investigate. I posted a diary about this last night after hearing a news report about it on WAMC. It gets worse; WAMC had a brief followup this morning in which the target, David Soares added the news that President Obama was also threatened as well, with specific imagery that was both graphically violent and racist. You'd think the local media would be all over it.
Nope - Nada, Zilch, Bupkis if you go to their websites. What's up with that?
(More)
This is getting weird. After hearing a brief report on the assassination threat this morning in the 6:00 AM news broadcast local segment, I decided to check the local broadcast media websites for more news. Nothing came up when I did a search on David Soares. This may change, but you'd think a story about death threats against both the local Albany NY County DA and the President related to the local Occupy Wall Street would have something. Check for yourself and see what you can find.
WAMC, Northeast Public Radio - where I heard the news story first.
WRGB TV, channel 6 - a CBS affiliate
WTEN TV CHANNEL 10 - with ABC
WNYT TV 13 - NBC
WMHT TV 17 - PBS and NPR
WXXA Channel 23 - FOX News
WGY radio AM & FM - FOX, and a carrier of all the Right Wing radio gasbags
The Times Union - local newspaper for the Capital Region of New York
The Daily Gazette - Schenectady newspaper
The Troy Record - Troy newspaper
I've gone to the websites of all of the above and searched for stories on David Soares. I can't find any mention of the death threats he has received over the local Occupy Wall Street protests, or that those threats also targeted the President. There's plenty about his refusal to prosecute Occupy Albany protestors, but nothing else as of 7:00 am. Nothing about pictures of bullet riddled monkey corpses or violent threats. Even WAMC which has been broadcasting the story - in brief segments - has nothing. Maybe they have it on the air or in print - but why not on the web.
When so many media outlets seem to agree that something is not newsworthy.... that's newsworthy all by itself.
If you've got time today, check for yourself and maybe ask them what's up with that? It will be interesting to see what if anything turns up.
5:26 AM PT: Update - After a quick look at comments, let me pose a question. What do you think the media reaction would be if Occupy Albany or any OWS group was charged with making violent death threats against Romney, Gingrich, Wall Street Bankers, etc etc? Think it would get any attention?
8:59 AM PT: Finally - WAMC has a brief mention about the story on their website - but you have to listen to the interview to hear how chilling it is; the summary barely hints at it. Give it a listen - it's about 4 minutes.
http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/...
From Comments:
I have alerted all of the tv stations listed
For the last half hour I have been talking to all of the TV stations in the Albany area. WAMC is emailed me the link to the interview with Soares. http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/...
It is now up on their web site. When I spoke to the news contacts at the TV stations most had no information about the story. WNYT indicated they had contacted Soares' office about it but had not received anything back yet. They will be running a story later today.
My wife was one of 48 who were arrested on the 19th of November. Her court appearance was the 29th and the charges were dismissed as Soares indicated would happen. I am waiting to see if Cuomo appoints a special prosecutor, as has been discussed, since Soares has not chosen to prosecute peaceful protestors. If that happens I will then most likely be arrested.
Occupy Albany has been a model of non-violent protest. Although my wife and I are not tenting there we regularly participate in actions, as well as have been volunteering and providing a variety of types of support. They have a good legal team assisting them. Their efforts to make sure the park is safe and clean and peaceful are organized and continual. (It needs some help right now.) The local police have been cooperative although if there is a problem they do not respond quickly anymore. (On occasion some anti Occupy people have gotten out of hand but any violence has been avoided.) Even the State Troopers who are involved in the arrests are polite and respectful. On the 19th when there were 48 arrests there was at least 8 troopers lining the area where the 4 were making the arrests. They were never mean or rude. If you were getting too close they asked you to step back. If they needed to get through they said "excuse me please."
We are not sure how we are going to make it through the winter. There is talk of getting a couple of high quality winter tents with at least 10 sleeping places and people signing up for those places so that a continual presence can be maintained. Each week there are various actions addressing one or more of the 1000+ issues Occupy has. There are seminars on various topics. There is a General Assembly on a daily basis. ( If you are in the Albany area and would like to attend they are M-F at 5PM and weekends 3:30PM. Also go to http://occupyalbany.org and click on the calendar tab to see a list of all events and meetings.)
Support is needed for all Occupy places/movements. We cannot let this movement be marginalized. Any kind of support is valuable. Your time, your $ and/or your message to doubters about the core of the concerns are all a help.
by jmcaldaro on Thu Dec 01, 2011 at 08:43:08 AM PST