By CB Hackworth
cbhackworth@southernfreepress.com
"Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in!"
Al Pacino, as Michael Corleone, cries what may be his most memorable line in any of the Godfather movies with considerable rage and frustration. And, you know, I totally get it.
I feel the same way about investigative reporting.
Nevertheless, sweating like a pig, and unable to reach any of my media friends by cellphone, I made a split-second decision to join the growing and often disturbing ranks of citizen journalism, or -- to use a term that literally would kill journalism professor George Greiff if not for the fact he's already dead -- it seems I've became an infowarrior.
It happened on Friday, July 1, at exactly 2:39 p.m.
I've never understood why people with badges do nutso things like this at all, but especially when they know they're being videotaped, which the deputy who owns Recorders Court certainly knew. There was nothing covert about it.
As infowarriors go, I'm somewhat retro. I don't have an iPhone or an Android or a Blackberry or anything else that takes decent video or sends it straight up to the internet. My cellphone is an old Razr, and not nearly as cool as it was when I got it. I do own a little Flip camera, which happened to be in the car, up the street in the parking lot, so I walked all the way up there, got it, and came back.
Jon Shirek, one of the reporters with whom I worked at WXIA-TV for many years, aired some of this footage in reports on Friday night at 10 and 11, and his story is featured on the 11Alive website, with a number of very interesting comments from viewers at the end of the article.
"Meet Deputy Sawyer" hasn't exactly gone viral on YouTube, but it is getting noticed. I hear the Atlanta Journal-Constitution is looking into the story, and popular Atlanta Magazine blogger Rich Eldredge had this to say:
My favorite comment was a simple one from our beloved Nathalie Dupree, who is always sublime:
My old pal Jerry Griffin, in particular, went all out. We've come a long way, but, long ago, Jerry and I shared not only an office but also our very first award for investigative reporting. It was bestowed upon us by the Associated Press, for a piece we wrote on voting irregularities in student elections at Georgia State University. Jerry was editor of The Signal and I was associate editor.
Meanwhile, links like this one at beforeitsnews.com and other "alternative" sites are showing up.
George Ure, who, I'm told, has quite a following at urbansurvival.com and his premium website peoplenomics.com, had a lot to say, writing that the video:
"might give you some appreciation for what happens when government forgets that it is owned by and operates for the pleasure and benefit of its citizens. It's what happens when a local government office closes without due explanations to its citizens.
"A check of the DeKalb County website doesn't offer an explanation for the early closure, but frankly, we don't care about the reason. What's important in the video is the attitudes of the players. The public seemed only slightly put out and its doubtful whether anyone will make a big stink about the purported events. And, almost certainly, the county will back up the officers who were protecting their building.
"Key: The main thing to notice was that the office suddenly was no longer the public's building. Ownership was demonstrated to be firmly in the hands of the police/PTB/W minions and once again 99% possession was everything. Who argued with armed police?
"No one. Fine example of how fascism comes to town. All wrapped up just so in authority which demands blind obedience which gets us back to not stepping on the tail of the Beast too much."
Alrighty then.
No comments:
Post a Comment