What the New York Times failed to Mention: The Journalists

On Newshour last night, Gwen Ifill finished her show with a story from New Orleans, but surprisingly, it had nothing to do with oil. It was about police shootings from nearly five years ago, which begs one to ask, why is NewsHour spending precious on-air minutes describing what the NOPD did five years ago? Earlier in the day, the New York Times had run a similar story, this time by Campbell Robertson,  as a front page news item. Roberston reported that six more police officers were charged with murder. Unfortunately, Robertson failed to mention an integral part of the story. In GOOD’s most recent issue, I wrote an article describing how AC Thompson’s, among others’, investigative reporting, led to just enough sunlight for this case to draw federal attention. Here is an excerpt:

In the summer of 2007, the award-winning reporter A. C. Thompson heard about white vigilantes who allegedly murdered black New Orleanians in the days after Katrina. Thompson, who did not live in New Orleans at the time, made a few phone calls to local sources, but could not substantiate the tip with any hard evidence. With help from friend and fellow writer, Rebecca Solnit, Thompson received funding from The Nation Institute and several other nonprofit organizations to research what had happened. Thompson knew he had to spend more time in the city, and for the next 18 months, he aggressively worked every angle. “In New Orleans, you can’t get information over the phone. You need to meet with people face-to-face,” Thompson told me, face-to-face in New Orleans.

As one conversation in New Orleans led to another, Thompson was able to connect with Donnell Herrington, who claimed he was the victim of a police shooting. When Thompson spoke to him, he revealed that no police officer had ever shown up at his door, despite a testimonial of the shooting captured by Spike Lee’s When the Levees Broke. Numerous white vigilantes admitted to Thompson their role in the random shootings. After the story was first published in The Nation in December 2008, Warren Riley, the police chief, told reporters he was going to begin an Internal Affairs review of the alleged shootings—but little to no action was taken by the NOPD.

Teaming up, reporters from Frontline, The Times-Picayune, and ProPublica created a powerful interactive website featuring in-depth interviews and a way for the public to share tips and their own experiences with police brutality. The reporters were able to find six different victims of either police shootings or cover-ups. As attention mounted, the entire investigation was overtaken by the FBI.

AC Thompson

At the end of the NewsHour interview, Margaret Warner says, what many others have been thinking, including the countless citizens of New Orleans who have been victims of police abuse, “All right A.C Thompson, thank you so much. And keep up the good work.”

Read the rest of the story, here