I totally agree with this. Did anyone else see 20/20 that night. It
was a complete farce i was so pissed. -JamesD
> ------------------------------
>
> Date: Fri, 11 Dec 1998 19:45:27 -0800 (PST)
> From: Tom Burghardt <[log in to unmask]>
> Subject: (en) [AFIB] Corporate Media Declares War on Mumia Abu-Jamal
>
> ________________________________________________
> A - I N F O S N E W S S E R V I C E
> http://www.ainfos.ca/
> ________________________________________________
>
> |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
> |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
> ||| |||
> ||| A N T I F A |||
> ||| |||
> ||| I N F O - B U L L E T I N |||
> ||| _____ |||
> ||| |||
> ||| * News * Analysis * Research * Action * |||
> ||| |||
> |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
> |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
>
> *****
>
> ||/\|/\|/\|/\|/\|/\|/\|/\|/\|/\|/\|/\|/\|/\|/\|/\|/\|/\|/\||/\||
> || * -- SPECIAL -- * December 11, 1998 * -- EDITION -- * ||
> ||\/|\/|\/|\/|\/|\/|\/|\/|\/|\/|\/|\/|\/|\/|\/|\/|\/|\/|\/||\/||
>
> * SPECIAL EDITION *
>
> * * *
> _________________________________________________________________
>
> CORPORATE MEDIA DECLARES WAR ON MUMIA ABU-JAMAL
> _________________________________________________________________
>
> CONTENTS
> ------
>
> 1. (AFNS) AFRIKAN FRONTLINE NEWS SERVICE: Mainstream Media
> Offensive Launched Against Mumia Abu-Jamal by
> ABC
>
> 2. (R&R!) REFUSE & RESIST!: Some Pointed Questions for Sam
> Donaldson
>
> * * *
>
> * AFRIKAN FRONTLINE NEWS SERVICE *
> Web: http://www.afrikan.net
> E-mail: [log in to unmask]
> - Wednesday, 9 December 1998 -
>
> -----
> _________________________________________________________________
>
> MAINSTREAM MEDIA OFFENSIVE AGAINST MUMIA ABU-JAMAL
> LAUNCHED BY ABC
> _________________________________________________________________
>
> By Sis. Marpessa, Afrikan Frontline Network
>
> * * *
>
> ABC's Sam Donaldson's report on his "4 month investigation"
> into the case of Mumia Abu-Jamal reeked of sleaze as he labeled
> Mumia alternately as "vicious, cold-blooded cop killer",
> "America's last political prisoner," and ""Hollywood's
> unlikeliest hero."
>
> The 20/20 "newsman" took special aim at the worldwide Mumia
> movement and all of the participants in it, including those with
> celebrity status (ex., Ed Asner and Mike Farrell were summarily
> dismissed by Donaldson as simple anti-death penalty activists who
> knew nothing about the case).
>
> From the outset it was clear that this program was geared to
> prevent Mumia Abu-Jamal from getting a new trial and to cement
> public opinion against him. For example, while interviewing
> Mumia's attorney, Leonard Weinglass, Donaldson depicted Mumia as
> "vicious" for "disrupting court". Weinglass' rebuttal that Mumia
> was fighting for his right to his choice of legal representation
> and that he was forced out of the court during jury selection
> were met with looks of stunned disbelief from Donaldson.
>
> Donaldson repeatedly smirked at Weinglass in an infuriating
> way. Donaldson smugly questioned him using the very words of the
> D.A.'s office and Judge Sabo's rulings. 20/20 never mentioned the
> gross misconduct of Judge Sabo during the trial and 1995 summer
> hearings. 20/20 never mentioned the charges of witness
> intimidation in the case of Billy Cook, the bribery and
> subsequent recanting of testimony of Veronica Jones, and the
> myriad of errors in the 1981 trial. Donaldson never interviewed
> Mumia Abu-Jamal, even via telephone.
>
> When Donaldson interviewed Joe McGill, Mumia persecutor in
> the 1981 sham of a trial, however, the tone of the interview was
> dramatically different. McGill was taken to be *the* authority
> and Donaldson openly supported all that McGill described. Gary
> Bell (Faulkner's former partner) told of what Donaldson described
> as the "final nail in the coffin", the phony confession, and
> lamented with Bell that "the shock of the shooting suppressed his
> memory" for two full months before coming forward with that
> information (conveniently timed when Mumia filed a lawsuit
> against the police).
>
> Philly Mayor Ed Rendell (D.A. during Mumia's trial)
> proclaimed that Mumia supporters were "duped" and that this
> movement was the saddest thing he had ever seen. Rendell couldn't
> explain the worldwide support Mumia has gotten and stated that
> S.F. mayor Willie Brown (who refused to be interviewed, according
> to Donaldson) made a terrible mistake in proclaiming a "Mumia
> Abu-Jamal Day". Obviously, no one outside of Philadelphia knew
> the facts of the case, he and Donaldson concluded.
>
> Donaldson proclaimed that this was a "critical stage" for
> activists for Mumia in light of the PA Supreme Court denial,
> describing these activists as "believing the establishment is
> warped" (he teased that Joe McGill felt that it was Mumia's
> supporters who were warped). Donaldson said these supporters were
> "taken by the charisma" of Mumia. Tens of thousands of people
> *internationally*, including freedom fighters, students, Nobel
> Prize winners, parents, historians, the president of South
> Africa, researchers, scholars and people from all walks of life,
> were trashed by Donaldson as simply not knowing anything about
> the case (which is a recurring FOP theme that 20/20 fully
> capitalized on). Only Donaldson himself was privileged to know
> the truth, along with the Philly police, DA, mayor, and Maureen
> Faulkner.
>
> Donaldson ended each snippet with whatever would demonize
> Mumia to the American public the most effectively. They aired a
> photo of Mumia as a young Panther (which they emphasized by
> showing footage of a George Wallace gathering and stating that
> Mumia "claimed" he suffered a police beating at a George Wallace
> Philly rally and thus joined the BPP). Whenever a snippet of
> Mumia himself was shown, though, it was only with quotes such as
> "revolution is my religion." Later they played Bob Marley's
> classic Redemption Song while showing footage of Mumia supporters
> in slow motion, portraying them as simpletons, flower children,
> and fanatics. Donaldson claimed that this case is a "lesson in
> the power of propaganda."
>
> 20/20 got to the "heart of the evidence" by doing Joe
> McGill's version of a re-enactment of the scene where the
> attempted murder of Mumia occurred and the frame-up of the murder
> of Faulkner began, including where the witnesses were, according
> to the D.A.'s office. Later ABC showed footage of Faulkner's
> funeral.
>
> Maureen Faulkner told of how she was shocked to hear Mumia
> Abu-Jamal doing a commentary over the radio one day and was
> physically shaking. Since then she has been fighting back against
> the growing movement for Mumia to insure the execution taskes
> place. Her web site was featured and she was very forceful in her
> hatred for Mumia and his supporters. She later claimed that she
> was harrassed by Mumia supporters and fears for her life, which
> is why she moved so far from Philadelphia.
>
> During a portion of the interview Maureen Faulkner stated
> that you "keep telling a lie and it becomes the truth." But in
> the case of the story viewers were fed by 20/20 tonight, the
> fabrications retold in this imitation "investigation" will
> continue to be squashed by those who believe in freedom for Mumia
> Abu-Jamal.
>
> Donaldson told how he had heard from hundreds of supporters
> as soon as word got out that the story would be aired. Let's make
> sure that he hears from THOUSANDS now that it has.
>
> ABC-TV
> 77 W. 66th Street
> New York, NY 10023
> Phone: 202-222-7090 (Sam Donaldson)
> 212-456-4000 (Roone Arledge, ABC News chair)
> 212-456-7777 (ABC News general number)
>
> 20/20
> 147 Columbus Avenue
> New York, NY 10023
> Phone: 212-456-2020
> Fax: 212-456-6533
> e-mail: [log in to unmask]
>
> Leonard Weinglass will give a full legal update on Mumia's
> case at the 12/12/98 Activist's Conference in Philadelphia
> on Saturday so that *everyone* will have an opportunity to
> get the full rebuttal to the misinformation put out by Sam
> Donaldson. Check www.mumia.org for more info.
>
> *****
>
> * REFUSE & RESIST! *
> 305 Madison Ave. Suite 1166
> New York, NY 10165
> Tel: 212-713-5657
> Fax: 212-822-8535
> E-mail: [log in to unmask]
> Web: http://www.calyx.net/~refuse/
> - Friday, 11 December 1998 -
>
> -----
> _________________________________________________________________
>
> SOME POINTED QUESTIONS FOR SAM DONALDSON
> _________________________________________________________________
>
> By C. Clark Kissinger, [log in to unmask]
> - Thursday, 10 December 1998 -
>
> * * *
>
> Ed Asner got it exactly right: "I just know that the trial
> stunk." That is the heart of the issue, and the one issue that
> Sam Donaldson and ABC's 20/20 broadcast on Mumia Abu-Jamal
> avoided like the plague in their December 9 broadcast. Jamal was
> framed up in the royal tradition of the Philadelphia police and
> prosecutors. Witnesses were coerced to change their testimony,
> evidence was withheld from the defense, and police officers lied
> under oath. The result is that a talented journalist and critic
> of the Philadelphia police has sat on death row for 17 years,
> falsely accused of murder.
>
> This is a case where the judge has sentenced more people to
> death than any other sitting judge in the United States. The jury
> was empanelled only after eleven qualified African-Americans were
> removed by peremptory challenges from the prosecution. The
> defense attorney testified that he didn't interview a single
> witness in preparation for the 1982 trial. And the Fraternal
> Order of Police (FOP) has orchestrated a national campaign
> calling for Jamal's execution.
>
> The story of Mumia Abu-Jamal is case study in prosecutorial
> and police misconduct. Yet the purpose of the 20/20 program was
> to portray Mumia's dedicated defense team as duplicitous, to
> paint his increasingly prominent supporters as dupes, and to
> signal that anyone who dares to speak out against the ever
> expanding use of the death penalty is going to come under heavy
> attack.
>
> I accuse Sam Donaldson of championing the police campaign
> for Jamal's execution, and I put these questions to him to answer
> if he can:
>
> 1. Do you think that critics of the government should be
> sentenced to death on the grounds of their political beliefs?
>
> I ask this question because the prosecution used quotes from
> Jamal from a decade earlier, when he was a member of the Black
> Panther Party, as an argument to the jury for sentencing him to
> death. This type of argumentation was later outlawed by the U.S.
> Supreme Court. Then in response to his publishing a very
> political book in 1995, Jamal was thrown into punitive
> confinement and cut off from the world. If a similar political
> dissident had been punished for writing a book from prison in
> certain other countries, Madeleine Albright would have denounced
> this on the floor of the United Nations as a human rights
> violation. When it happens at home there is stunning silence. Yet
> many people are mindful of what has happened to other political
> dissidents in this country ranging from the assassination of
> Martin Luther King Jr. to the 27-year false imprisonment of
> former Black Panther leader Geronimo ji jaga (Pratt), and do not
> want to see that tradition continued.
>
> 2. Do you think that accused people are entitled to a legal
> defense?
>
> I ask this question because your attitude toward Jamal's
> defense attorney was totally adversarial. You did not invite him
> to present his side of the story. Instead, you challenged his
> statements and used only selective snippets out of a two-hour
> interview with him. This was in marked contrast to your chummy
> visits to the scene of the shooting with prosecutors and police.
> Thanks to the work of Leonard Weinglass and the rest of the
> defense team, we now know why the key witnesses Veronica Jones,
> Cynthia White, and Robert Chobert testified as they did in 1982.
> Jones, who now testifies in support of Jamal, was threatened with
> the loss of her children if she did not support the police story.
> Both Chobert and White received very special treatment, including
> exemptions from criminal prosecutions. By contrast, when Veronica
> Jones testified in Jamal's support in 1996, she was arrested in
> the courtroom when she stepped off the witness stand.
>
> The 1982 jury never heard the testimony of William
> Singletary at all. Singletary is the only witness besides Cythia
> White (who has been "disappeared") who actually saw the shooting,
> and he says Jamal didn't do it. Singletary testified in 1995 how
> police in 1982 would not release him until he signed a statement
> that they had dictated. Prosecutors also withheld the fact that
> defense witness Dessie Hightower had been given a lie detector
> test. And it was not until 1995 that the defense learned that the
> deceased officer had on his person the driver's license
> application of a third man, showing that another person was
> involved in the incident. Nor did the 1982 jury know that the
> written coroner's report stated that Faulkner was shot with a .44
> cal weapon. Isn't it the responsibility of defense attorneys to
> bring this sort of information to light?
>
> 3. Do you really find it credible that a group of trained police
> officers would hear a public confession of guilt for the slaying
> of a fellow officer, and none of them would report it to anyone
> for two months?
>
> I raise this question because none of the police officers
> who subsequently came forward to swear Jamal had confessed told
> this to anyone prior to a strategy meeting with the District
> Attorney two months after the incident, and after Jamal had filed
> police brutality charges. One would think that such a dramatic
> confession before so many witnesses would have been front page
> news the next morning. Also, you state that the hospital guard
> Priscilla Durham reported the confession to her supervisor the
> next day. How do you know that? Ms. Durham did not make this
> claim until two months after the incident, and there is no
> documentary evidence of this. And if her claim is true, why
> didn't the supervisor make it public or report it to police at
> the time? The fact remains that the only contemporaneous record
> is the report by Officer Wakshul who wrote that Jamal made no
> statement, and this was confirmed by medical personnel in the
> emergency room.
>
> 4. Are you comfortable with the fact that prosecutors used
> peremptory challenges to knock almost all the African-Americans
> off Jamal's jury, a practice that was later declared
> unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court?
>
> I raise this question because this procedure has been so
> entrenched in Philadelphia that the District Attorney's office
> even produced a training video for new assistant DA's on how to
> do it - this after the Supreme Court decision mentioned. Today
> there are 222 people on Pennsylvania's death row, the fourth
> largest death row in the nation. Of these, 62% are African-
> Americans in a state that is only 10% Black. The city of
> Philadelphia alone has more people on death row than 26 states,
> of whom 83% are Black. The systematic exclusion of Blacks from
> juries in Philadelphia prohibits those who bear the brunt of
> police and prosecutorial misconduct in Philadelphia from
> participating in the process that has condemned so many to death.
>
> 5. Do you think that the Pennsylvania Supreme Court that has
> denied Mumia's appeal is capable of ruling fairly on this case?
>
> I ask this question because you have raised the issue of
> bias on the part of Jamal's supporters, but not on the part of
> his judges and accusers. Yet the Pennsylvania Supreme Court is a
> cop court. Five of the seven justices of the court were endorsed
> for election by the Fraternal Order of Police, the group that has
> orchestrated the campaign for Jamal's execution. Further, we know
> that Chief Justice John P. Flaherty received the Justice Award,
> presented by the Sheriff's Association of Pennsylvania; Justice
> Ralph J. Cappy (who wrote the decision in Jamal's case) was
> selected as Man of the Year by Pennsylvania State Police and Man
> of the Year by Pennsylvania Fraternal Order of Police; Justice
> Ronald D. Castille (a former Philadelphia District Attorney)
> received the Distinguished Public Service Award from the
> Pennsylvania County and State Detectives Association, the Layman
> Award of the Pennsylvania Chiefs of Police Association, Man of
> the Year from Fraternal Order of Police Lodge No. 5 (in
> Philadelphia), and the Profiles in Courage Award from the Marine
> Corps Law Enforcement Foundation; and Justice Sandra Schultz
> Newman was honored by Police Chiefs Association of Southeastern
> Pennsylvania. "For dedicated leadership and outstanding
> contributions to the community and law enforcement."
>
> 6. What do you think is the proper deterrent to prosecutorial
> misconduct, if not a new trial or out right dismissal of the
> charges?
>
> As you may know, in the last twenty years, over 70 death row
> inmates nationally have been released because they have been
> proven innocent after having been sentenced to death for crimes
> they did not commit. A majority of these miscarriages of justice
> resulted from prosecutorial misconduct. And I am sure you are
> aware of the current scandals in Philadelphia where dozens of
> people have been exonerated after being convicted on false
> testimony and evidence planted by the police. Take the case of
> your friend, prosecutor McGill. He masterminded the murder
> conviction of a man named Matthew Connors, claiming that Connors
> did it with his shotgun, which McGill waived about the court
> room. Connors was released after 12 years in prison when the
> coroner's report came to light, establishing that the victim had
> been stabbed, not shot.
>
> 7. Why did you not interview the Fraternal Order of Police
> directly?
>
> In its national campaign to thwart Jamal's appeal for
> justice, the Fraternal Order of Police has used everything from
> major newspaper ads to airplanes towing banners. They have set up
> "Justice for P/O Daniel Falkner, Inc." and maintain a large web
> site. They have tried to censor Jamal at every turn, preventing
> his voice from being heard on NPR and attempting to ban his
> books. Yet the image they hide behind is that of Officer
> Faulkner's widow, working alone at her home computer against the
> powerful forces of Hollywood. Nothing could be further from the
> truth. The campaign to "fry 'em first, ask questions later" comes
> from the highest offices in the land. The "Effective Death
> Penalty Act of 1996" which guts the right of habeas corpus was
> the pet project of President Clinton, and Maureen Faulkner has
> been seated on stage in Washington with President Clinton and
> Attorney General Janet Reno. At the same time, Jamal has been
> locked in a solitary cell for 22 hours a day for 17 years for a
> crime he has always denied committing and as the result of
> incredibly biased judicial proceedings. He has been denied any
> physical contact with his family and loved ones. He has
> grandchildren that he has never been allowed to touch. I am not
> sure why you feel that Ms. Faulkner should be "emotionally
> privileged" in this discussion, as though no one else has
> suffered unjustly.
>
> 8. Will 20/20 make available the transcripts of its interviews in
> order that we can judge the fairness and accuracy of the editing?
>
> I raise this question because a great deal of editorial
> discretion goes into the preparation of any television
> production. Hours of interviews must be boiled down into but a
> few moments on camera, and the editing process is guided by a
> story line - in this case, one of seeking to vindicate the
> prosecution. Seeking permission to interview Jamal on camera,
> your co-worker Phuong Nguyen wrote to the head of the
> Pennsylvania Prisons saying that most of the material available
> to the public was biased in favor of Jamal, and that "We are
> currently working in conjunction with Maureen Faulkner and the
> Philadelphia Fraternal Order of the Police." As expected, that
> interview request was denied. But then when Jamal's civil suit to
> force the prison to grant the interview received a favorable
> reception in Federal District Court on December 7, ABC rushed to
> air the material it had on December 9, ensuring that Jamal would
> not be interviewed as part of the program. Instead you
> substituted old video of Jamal, some of which was used by ABC
> even though permission to do so was expressly denied because
> Mumia did not want to undercut the workers locked out at ABC.
>
> * * *
>
> All of the issues raised in the 20/20 program about
> witnesses, ballistics, and the "confession," were dealt with
> earlier this year in a detailed response to ABC's San Francisco
> affiliate KGO-TV, that did a pilot for the 20/20 segment (see
> "The KGO-TV Re-port: A Case Study in Irresponsible Journalism,"
> by C. Clark Kissinger and Leonard Weinglass, which contains exact
> references to trial testimony).
>
> Sam Donaldson has now assured us that his report was based
> on four months of investigation. Thus it should not be difficult
> for him to respond to these questions, some of which can be
> answered in a single sentence.
>
> People wishing to read Mr. Donaldson's response should
> contact him in care of 20/20, 147 Columbus Avenue, New York, NY
> 10023. Phone 212-456-2020, Fax 212-456-6533, e-mail:
> [log in to unmask]
>
> * * *
>
> JOIN THE CAMPAIGN TO FREE MUMIA ABU-JAMAL!
>
> Funds are urgently needed for legal defense! Make a
> contribution to the Bill of Rights Foundation (earmarked
> "Mumia Abu-Jamal Legal Defense") and mail it to:
>
> Committee to Save Mumia Abu-Jamal
> 163 Amsterdam Avenue No. 115
> New York, NY 10023-5001
>
> For more information on how you can become involved in the
> struggle to Free Mumia!, check out the following groups and
> get involved!
>
> International Concerned Family and Friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal
> P.O. Box 19709
> Philadelphia, PA 19143
> Tel: (215) 476-8812 or (215) 476-9405
> Fax: (215) 476-7551
> E-mail: [log in to unmask]
> Web: http://www.mumia.org
>
> The Mobilization to Free Mumia Abu-Jamal
> 3425 Ceasar Chavez
> San Francisco, CA 94110
> Tel: (415) 821-0459
> Fax: (415) 821-0166
>
> Partisan Defense Committee
> P.O. Box 99, Canal Street Station
> New York, NY 10013-0099
> Tel: 212-406-4252
> E-mail: [log in to unmask]
>
> Refuse & Resist!
> 305 Madison Ave. Suite 1166
> New York, NY 10165
> Tel: 212-713-5657
> Fax: 212-822-8535
> E-mail: [log in to unmask]
> Web: http://www.calyx.net/~refuse
>
>
> * * *
>
> ANTIFA INFO-BULLETIN (AFIB)
> 750 La Playa # 730
> San Francisco, California 94121
> E-Mail: [log in to unmask]
>
> *
>
> On PeaceNet visit ANTIFA INFO-BULLETIN on pol.right.antifa
> Via the Web --> http://burn.ucsd.edu/~aff/afib.html
> Archive --> http://burn.ucsd.edu/~aff/afib-bulletins.html
>
> *
>
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>
> Order our journal, ANTIFA FORUM, cutting-edge anti-fascist
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>
> +:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+
> +: * A N T I F A I N F O - B U L L E T I N * +:
> :+ :+
> +: * RESISTING FASCISM * BY ALL MEANS NECESSARY! * +:
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>
> ++++ stop the execution of Mumia Abu-Jamal ++++
> ++++ if you agree copy these 3 sentences in your own sig ++++
> ++++ see: http://www.xs4all.nl/~tank/spg-l/sigaction.htm ++++
>
>
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