In April 1977, Lowell Bergman and I were discussing how to form an investigative journalism organization in the wake of the demise of our informal muckraking unit inside Rolling Stone.
At the magazine's headquarters down at 625 Third Street in Soma, we'd pulled together a half dozen or so reporters to pursue investigative stories, which had resulted in some good stories but also a ton of trouble.
Along with a bunch of awards, we had proven an ability to attract death threats and huge libel suits, among other forms of attention. We had both been unceremoniously dumped by Jann Wenner just before Christmas 1976 when he announced he would be taking the magazine to the east coast.
Our idea was to form a non-profit to carry on that type of work and Lowell brought an ally into the mix -- Dan Noyes, who he'd met in the "Arizona Project." That was a group investigation into the murder of journalist Don Bolles, which in turn led to the creation of another non-profit group, Investigative Reporters and Editors (IRE).
The three of us -- Bergman, Noyes and myself -- co-founded the Center for Investigative Reporting (CIR) later in 1977. A large group of friends helped us launch the organization and we settled into an office in downtown Oakland.
But back in April, we were still discussing what such an organization should be, what it should do, what its essential identity should be.
Today, 44 years later, CIR and IRE have long been staples of the journalism world and we are old men, working individually on our memoirs. In that context, Lowell recently unearthed an old type-written letter he had sent to Dan that April. Dan and I had not yet met and Lowell wanted to introduce him to my thoughts on the subject.
"I talked with Weir --as expected he is enthusiastic. Interestingly, David presented the following perspective: (the group should have) two major groups of activity: publications and community involvement."
This old letter is a prime example of why I spend so much energy beseeching people to preserve their journals, letters, notes and files whenever possible. Until Lowell sent a copy of it to me recently, I had absolutely no memory of having said those things.
But clearly I was envisioning not only a journalism organization but one that would attempt to root that work in the communities where we worked.
The Bay Area was our base. It was a region with deep contradictions -- idealism, activism and hope with violence, cynicism, and deeply entrenched reactionary media organizations, notably the old Hearst daily, the San Francisco Examiner.
We couldn't know it at the time, but that same newspaper would be transformed by a talented group of our peers, including the heir to the Hearst publishing empire, Will Hearst, into a great newspaper in its final decades.
We participated in that transformation. We also found our way into relationships with dozens of other media groups -- CBS News, NBC News, ABC News, 60 Minutes, 20/10, Mother Jones, New West, New York, NHK, BBC, etc., here and around the world.
There were many ups and downs in the early years, including press conferences announcing libel suits and more death threats, but ultimately CIR survived and thrived. How that came to be is the story the three of us have to tell now.
Old documents like the letter Lowell found will help.
***
The news:
* U.S. Finds No Evidence of Alien Technology in Flying Objects, but Can’t Rule It Out, Either -- A new report concedes that much about the observed phenomena remains difficult to explain, including their acceleration, as well as ability to change direction and submerge. (NYT)
* The Peril of Not Vaccinating the World -- Absent a concerted global commitment to vaccine equity, the virus will continue to evolve, and humanity may be consigned to a never-ending pandemic. (New Yorker)
* A scientist adventurer and China’s ‘Bat Woman’ are under scrutiny as coronavirus lab-leak theory gets another look (WP)
* CDC director urges teens to get vaccinated (WP)
* Stimulus Checks Substantially Reduced Hardship, Study Shows -- Researchers found that sharp declines in food shortages, financial instability and anxiety coincided with the two most recent rounds of payments. (NYT)
* Ballot reviews consume Trump as he touts falsehood of stolen election -- The former president has rebuffed calls from some advisers to drop the matter, instead fixating on an ongoing Republican-commissioned audit in Arizona and plotting how to secure election reviews in other states. (WP)
* Florida woman Audrey Ann Southard-Rumsey, who is accused of pushing down a police sergeant with a flagpole and threatening to hunt down House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) during the Capitol riot, has been arrested. Southard-Rumsey was captured in video clips yelling at police: “Last friend, last bullet. What’s it going to be?” [HuffPost]
* Jan. 6 riot caused $1.5 million in damage to Capitol. U.S. prosecutors want defendants to pay. (WP)
* Justice Dept. secretly obtained New York Times reporters’ phone records during Trump administration (WP)
* A “communications platform” former President Donald Trump launched in early May as a means to reach his followers is shutting down after usage tanked. A Trump adviser told The Washington Post that the former president was upset that people were mocking his blog instead of reading it. [HuffPost]
* QAnon Has a Disturbing Takeover Plot to ‘Eliminate’ Elected Officials (Vice)
* Donald Trump is getting worse -- He is "more obsessed than ever with the 2020 election." (CNN)
* Talk of Trump 2024 run builds as legal pressure intensifies (AP)
* A 20-Foot Sea Wall? Miami Faces the Hard Choices of Climate Change. -- A proposal to construct barriers for storm surge protection has forced South Floridians to reckon with the many environmental challenges they face. (NYT)
* Heritage dispute engulfs site chosen for Amazon’s new African HQ (Reuters)
* The Castle fire, which burned in Sequoia National Park last year, destroyed one tenth of the world’s mature giant Sequoias. (Visalia Times-Delta)
* Shrinking giants: North Atlantic right whales getting tinier (AP)
* Farmers Are Feeling The Pain As Drought Spreads In The Northwest (NPR)
* A third climate activist member was elected to the board of Exxon Mobil, raising the stakes for the company amid criticism it has done little to address the growing threat of climate change. Exxon had largely been able to push its own choices to fill out the company’s 12-member board, and the outcome reflects a defeat for its leaders. [HuffPost]
* Fires Sink Iran’s Largest Warship and Ravage Big Refinery -- The double fire raised suspicions that Iran was once again a sabotage target, as diplomacy to resurrect the nuclear deal advanced. (NYT)
* Armed Low-Cost Drones, Made by Turkey, Reshape Battlefields and Geopolitics (WSJ)
* President Biden announced during his visit to Tulsa, Okla., that he had asked Vice President Harris to lead the Democratic Party’s efforts to protect and expand voting rights. (AP)
* Can Biden’s conciliatory side survive the GOP’s assault on democracy? (WP)
* NASA Is Returning To Venus -- The space agency's new administrator, Bill Nelson, announced two robotic missions to the solar system's hottest planet. “It will be as if we have rediscovered the planet," said NASA scientist Tom Wagner. [AP]
* Paxton Smith, a Texas high schooler tasked with delivering the valedictorian address at her graduation ceremony, ditched her school-approved speech and delivered a takedown of her state’s new abortion ban. “I refuse to give up this platform to promote complacency and peace, when there is a war on my body and a war on my rights,” said Smith. [HuffPost]
* Rural counties in Northern California and the greater Sacramento area have some of the lowest vaccination rates in the state, causing virus cases in some places to rise. (Los Angeles Times)
* Biden announces international COVID-19 vaccine sharing plan (AP)
* Nature Filmmaker Accused Of Staging Scene Where Bird Uses Tiny Fork To Twirl Worm Up Like Spaghett (The Onion)
"What Did We Know?"
It seems so long ago
That in the name of loyalty
We started on our own.
Answering the call of a house we once called home,
We knew that we were right.
What did we know?
But somehow we found ourselves fanning the flames.
Those who cautioned and abandoned us, they were the same.
I saw them turn away.
If only we'd waited, if only we knew
Nothing in this world could make up for what we'd lose,
The price we had to pay.
We gambled an unknown price.
I don't know where I'm going, but I cannot stay here.
The lights have gone out and it's over.
Maybe our regrets are best left unsung.
Wishing won't absolve us of all that we have won.
And what scares me more than anything...
-30-
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