#bmorebloc

[fergusonresponse]

BALTIMORE, MD

SAT MAY 30

10:00 AM FEDERAL HILL PARK O’Malley’s Unwelcoming Party

12:00 PM WAR MEMORIAL PLAZA #SayTheirName Memorial Service for Victims of Police Terror

[ontheroadtoenlightenment]

The latest Tweets from Baltimore BLOC (@BmoreBloc). | ✙ GrassRoots #BmoreBloc Building ✙ | ○ a grassroots collective of friends, families & neighborhoods united to rebuild communities & organize for kujichagulia. #Camp83, Baltimore

[baltimorebloc]

The City Paper is reporting that @FoxBaltimore has fired the reporter and camera person involved in the Incendiary and irresponsible editing of a video of Tawanda Jones.

  While we celebrate the vigilance of the Family of Tyrone West  and their allies in bringing this unethical practice to light, we do not believe that this started on December 21 nor do we think it ends today.

  We ask that @FoxBaltimore and Sinclair Broadcasting Group provide more information. Without it every single Newsroom decision made on the station and in the SBG network is suspect. It is our belief that this is not a one off error in judgement, but that it reflects a general pro law enforcement bias in all local news coverage. While the firing of the reporter, Melissa Roedder, seems reasonable at first glance we ask that more information be provided. More information will allow other media an opportunity to evaluate and discuss the implications of the decision making which led to the airing of this clip. Based on the information that has been provided we do not know why Greg Mcnair, the Cameraman, was fired. Furthermore reports of dissent in the newsroom suggest to us that there is reason to be suspicious of this firing. We ask for people inside the newsroom to reach out to the Baltimore Bloc. If published reports that News Director, Mike Tomko, pushed the story are true, why was he only suspended for 1 day while the reporter and cameraman were fired? If published reports are true we believe Tomko should be fired. If they are not Fox 45 and SBG should publicly refute them.

The Baltimore Bloc, our allies, and supporters will remain vigilant in the face of a local media willing to dangerously distort facts in order to impart pro-law enforcement bias. This literally put lives at risk, and we will not give local media governed by the Federal Communications Commision a free pass when they engage in such behavior.

We ask Fox Baltimore to answer the following questions:

  1)Who pushed the story, who assigned it, who found it?

  2)Who edited the clip, who approved it?

  3)Did law enforcement sources provide the original clip? If not where was it found?

  4)Why were Roeder and McNair fired but Tomko suspended?

  5)What other stories that Tomko has pushed are you investigating?

  Relevant Links Here

City Paper 12/31/3014

http://www.citypaper.com/blogs/the-news-hole/bcp-the-fox-45-crew-behind-the-bogus-kill-a-cop-story-has-been-let-go-20141231,0,2353761.story

  Ftv live story 12/30/2014

http://ftvlive.com/todays-news/2014/12/30/breaking-b-more-news-crew-fired-after-lets-kill-a-cop-story

  Video Aired

http://youtu.be/ibeZCkHwb-I

  Actual Video

http://youtu.be/qZfbrItDvrU

  Tumblr of Bmore Bloc 12/22/2014

http://baltimorebloc.tumblr.com/post/105879598769/press-release-12-22-14

  Fox 45 Apology 12/22/2014 http://foxbaltimore.com/news/features/top-stories/stories/fox45-apologizes-error-newscast-34622.shtml?app_data=%7B%22pi%22%3A%2258371_1419287606_2067907684%22%2C%22pt%22%3A%22twitter%22%7D#.VJimUl4DaA

  City paper 12/22/2014

http://www.citypaper.com/blogs/the-news-hole/bcp-fox-45-apologizes-for-their-segment-with-tawanda-jones-but-they-failed-to-really-own-up-to-what-they-20141222,0,4018221.story

  Baltimore Sun 12/22/2014

http://www.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/tv/z-on-tv-blog/bal-wbff-apologizes-misleading-edit-videotape-of-protest-chant-20141222-story.htm

[baltimorebloc]

RE: Press release 12/22/14 -See last video post (2/2)

That is, until Baltimore's local FOX affiliate got their hands on this video. Here's their interpretation of it:

We can't stop!

We won't stop!

So kill a cop!

By cutting away from the video mid-chant, FOX's segment paints protestors as explicitly calling for the murder of police. They've depicted a non-violent protest about accountability for police brutality as a bloodthirsty mob.

[baltimorebloc]

RE: Press release 12/22/14 -first video post (1/2)

What you are hearing there is a protester in Washington, D.C. shout the following chant:

We can't stop!

We won't stop!

'til killer cops are in cell blocks!

Not a particularly provocative chant, all things considered: protesters are announcing their intention to continue organizing until murderous police officers are put in jail. Fair enough!

[baltimorebloc]

Press Release 12/22/14

Last night, Fox45 ran a story during their 10 p.m. broadcast about anti-police-brutality demonstrations. During the story they showed a C-SPAN clip of last weekend’s mass demonstration in Washington, DC, which featured Tawanda Jones, the sister of Tyrone West, who was murdered by Baltimore City police last July. In the video, Tawanda is leading a chant that is well-known to local activists and attendees at the West family’s “West Wednesday” demonstrations: “We won’t stop/we can’t stop/’til killer cops/are in cell blocks.”

Fox45 chose to edit the video to cut out the last bit of the chant (“are in cell blocks”), and described the video as follows: “At this rally in Washington, DC, participants chanted, ‘We can’t stop, we won’t stop, so kill a cop.” They then cut away to footage from the aftermath of the murders of two New York police officers, saying, “The anti-police sentiment reached a turning point this weekend in New York, when two officers were gunned down in cold blood.”

This editing and the anchor's words deliberately link not only the anti-brutality movement in general, but specific local activists to the murders of police, thereby endangering the safety and lives of those activists. Tawanda Jones and the West family have led over 70 demonstrations since last summer, and every single one has been peaceful. The West family has repeatedly called for non-violence in the movement and for an end to all types of violence, including the violence by Baltimore police that took their beloved Tyrone from them. They have never condoned or called for violence against police officers.

Baltimore Bloc has participated in every West Wednesday and has close ties to the West family. We know them to be peaceful, honorable, and consistent in their message of non-violence. Fox45 has targeted them for slander, and has placed them in grave danger by accusing them of encouraging the murders of law enforcement officers. The media is putting ratings above the safety of the community and fanning the anti-democratic and anti-Black flames lit by the statements from elected officials and union spokespeople over the last several days. This is irresponsible and violent, and we demand an on-air retraction and apology from Fox45, and for Fox to conduct live, unedited interview with Tawanda Jones so she can speak for herself. We also ask for support from the rest of the local media in decrying this unethical and dishonest propaganda disguised as journalism.