IP: You decide who to believe djf: more on Oden

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

> Date: Mon, 05 Nov 2001 13:53:08 -0500
> To: Farber () cis upenn edu
> From: Kelley <kwalker2 () gte net>
> Subject: more on Oden
>
> Dave,
>
> An editor from the Chico Examiner investigated the Oden case a little further.
>
> kelley
>
> [from PEN-L - the original article is still on the Counterpunch site]
>
> Date: Mon, 5 Nov 2001 10:07:49 -0800 (PST)
> From: Tim Bousquet <chicoexaminer () yahoo com>
> Tim Bousquet
> Editor
> Chico Examiner
>
>
> UGGGH!!!
>
> This is article is irresponsible-- I too received it
> about twenty times now through various email lists and
> individual emails, and was outraged by it, so did some
> elementary research. The article first appeared on
> Indy Media, here is my post to that web site:
>
> I contacted Jeff Russel, who is with airport security
> at Bangor International Airport, and asked him about
> this article. Here is his response:
>
> "Tim:
>
> "Thank you for writing. Ms. Oden's version of events,
> while certainly exciting, are far removed from
> reality. We are unaware of any role Ms. Oden's status
> as a Green may have played. The passenger in question
> was asked to undergo additional screening (i.e. a hand
> wand examination) because the manner in which she
> purchased the ticket triggered a concern under the new
> Federal screening guidelines post September, 11. She
> refused to cooperate. It is illegal for an airline to
> fly an unscreened passenger. Accordingly, the airline
> denied her boarding. She never got near a plane. She
> never went through security. No screen, no fly--it is
> as simple as that. The situation was entirely of her
> own making. What's sad is that she refuses to admit to
> and take responsibility for her own inappropriate
> behavior, looking only for somebody else to blame for
> her own inability to cooperate with reasonable
> expectations under the circumstances. 99.9% of people
> selected are very understanding and cooperative and
> the process only takes an extra minute.
>
> "Again, thanks for writing to express your concerns
> and we appreciate your efforts to objectively view the
> circumstances."
>
> Luis Lingg (the author of the article) really has done
> a dis-service to Indy Media, which can be a wonderful
> resource. A fundamental tenet of responsible
> journalism holds that at least an attempt to contact
> the subject of an article should be made. It took me
> less than thirty seconds' worth of a Google search to
> find Bangor Airport's contact info, and thirty more
> seconds to fire off an e-mail asking about the
> allegations. They responded about ten minutes later. I
> don't think it's asking too much for somebody writing
> an article with such allegations to at least make the
> same effort.
>
> As good as Indy Media can be, the two stories that
> stay in my mind are this one and the story that CNN
> film footage of Palestinians celebrating in the
> streets after the World Trade Center attacks was in
> reality old footage from some previous year. The
> Palestinian story was as false as the Bangor Airport
> story, and had the same flaw: the author did not even
> attempt to contact any one at CNN for comment.
>
> This is Journalism 101, and until submitters to Indy
> Media start abiding by basic ethical standards, the
> entire Indy effort will be discredited.
>
> In the meanwhile, we readers will have to act as
> editors, responding to mistakes when we find them.
>
> **
> There has been some discussion on the site to the
> effect of the cops are lying, or whatever, but from my
> vantage point, the very fact that nobody sought to ask
> the cops in the first place discredits the article,
> regardless. And the fact that the Green Party is
> continuing to distribute this article, without doing
> any followup, without asking the feds about any
> alleged political hit list, without trying to find any
> eyewitnesses of the incident, and so forth-- well, the
> whole thing is just propaganda, and the truth be
> damned.
>
> I don't know-- maybe the incident occurred exactly as
> Odin says it did, but certainly nobody has made any
> indepedent attempt to objectively report on this.
>
> And, now that I'm emailing this response to everyone
> who sends it to me, I have little doubt that not one
> of the people who sent the piece to me in the first
> place will forward this response to the people they
> got it from. It's a sad day for Progressives when they
> have to resort to this sort of behavior.
>
> Tim Bousquet
> Editor
> Chico Examiner
>
> --
> Kelley Walker
> Interpact, Inc.
> http://www.interpactinc.com/


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