Thursday, October 23, 2025

"The Inside Story" Turns 50!

From Rolling Stone magazine’s list of its biggest scoops:

Bizarre Patty Hearst Kidnapping Details Revealed

Journalists Howard Kohn and David Weir scored one of the biggest scoops of the 1970s when they broke the story of how kidnapping victim Patty Hearst was transformed from a 19-year-old heiress into Tania, a self-described “urban guerilla,” and gun-toting member of the Symbionese Liberation Army. Kohn and Weir spent four months tracing her journey across America and conducting interviews. In an unprecedented move, the two-part story began on the cover of Rolling Stone.

***

So it was 50 years ago today that our story was published and it changed our lives forever, making us superstars for a minute but investigative reporters forever.

We were interviewed for “The Today Show” on NBC as the story broke, leading to a rowdy press conference in Rolling Stone’s office at 625 Third Street in San Francisco.

And here we are in front of that office in a photo taken by Diana Kohn recently.

We even had a song written about us (and performed) by the great Ben Fong-Torres:

Doorbell rang out in the Berkeley night
Into the apartment house they burst
Knocked down 
Steven Weed with hardly a fight
And made their getaway with Patty Hearst!

Here comes the story of the Rolling Stone
Of David Weir and of Howard Kohn
They found the trail of Patty Hearst
And they wrote about it first.

HEADLINES:

 

No comments: