Background Behind Yusuf Bey IV

You can't kill a story

McGill Roundtable Introduction

"You can't kill a story by killing a journalist"

On Wednesday, March 24, The Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication welcomed five reporters of the celebrated Chauncey Bailey Project to the McGill Medal Round Table Discussion.

For 75 minutes, Grady’s Drewry room was silent as reporters Bob Butler, Mary Fricker, Thomas Peele, and Josh Richman, along with editor Martin Reynolds, spoke to current and past McGill fellows of their experiences as members of this hard-hitting, unlikely-matched investigative news team that was seeking justice for one of their own. The Chauncey Bailey Project is a collaborative news investigation of the murder of Oakland Post reporter, Chauncey Bailey, on August 2, 2007, in Oakland, California. The goal of the Project, as the five journalists constantly stressed, was to not just report on their peer and friend’s murder, but to finish the work he had started.

“You can’t kill a story by killing a journalist” was the mantra repeated over and over during the discussion, and it is instantly obvious that these reporters really mean what they say. As the conversation progressed, the reporters explained how they had jumped into this project showing relatively no fear or hesitation—as Bob Butler said, their fearless resulted from just being too busy to have the time to sit back and really consider the dangerous situations they were in. Be it a remarkable level of journalistic dedication or a slightly naïve eagerness to tell the story, this attitude undoubtedly seems to have been the thing that spurred their efforts on. If they had not been so free and fearless in their reporting, it is likely that they would not have been able to take the risks needed to capture the story and expose the terrible crimes of the Bey clan.

The four reporters of The Chauncey Bailey Project were invited as the honored guests to the McGill Medal Round Table Discussion to impart wisdom about journalistic courage. The group received the 2010 McGill Medal for Journalistic Courage in a ceremony later that evening. The award is awarded annually to “working U.S. journalists whose careers have exemplified journalistic courage.”

'You Can't Kill a Story by Killing a Journalist,' Two-Year Award-Winning Reporting Project Demonstrates

John Greenman (l), Carter Professor of Journalism, talks with slain journalist Chauncey Bailey's sister, Lorelei Waqia. Greenman oversees the McGill Medal for Journalistic Courage, which was awarded Wednesday to a team of four journalists who produced The Chauncey Bailey Project.

By Melanie Turner

On Aug. 2, 2007, Chauncey Bailey was shot down while walking home from his job at the Oakland Post, in Oakland, California. A little over two years later, four of the reporters that finished the story he had been writing sat around the conference table describing their experiences with the Chauncey Bailey Project in the Drewry Reading Room of UGA’s Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication. The Project received the McGill Medal for Journalist Courage on March 23 from the McGill Fellows. These journalists were selected because of their involvement with research that exposed the corruption in the Oakland Police Department and the Your Black Muslim Bakery, the organization connected with Bailey’s murder.

The project started a couple weeks after Bailey’s death with the help of about three-dozen volunteer reporters, editors and community members who’s goal it was to finish what Bailey started and to prove the project’s mantra, “You can’t kill a story by killing a Journalist”. The dozens of volunteers spent about two years in all, pouring through police reports, public documents and talking to sources. During this time, they wrote over a 100 stories about the murder, Bailey’s assassin and the police department’s failure to pursue the case. The four reporters, Thomas Peele, Josh Richman, Mary Fricker and Bob Butler, stressed that the key to their reporting was their use of public documents. Through these documents, they found mountains of evidence and verified information from sources. The documents, mostly untouched by local police detectives, revealed multiple types of fraud, the use of child labor and polygamy.

The four also emphasized that courage is necessary to reporting, not just for instances like the Chauncey Bailey Project, but for pursuing any difficult lead in a story. Mike Oliver, another project member, summed up their opinion. “A good journalist is one that won’t be intimidated, that won’t take no when they believe that the information should be made public.” They discussed how, without courage, they would not have been able to pursue leads with members of Your Black Muslim Bakery, and police department. This courage opened the doors for the Bakery and its members to be convicted of their crimes and the Oakland Police Department to reform their homicide department.

Although they never expected their work to last more than eight months, the journalists also never expected to discover the numerous stories they did. They took the years of dedication and the long hours the project required in stride and believe that it was the only way to honor Bailey’s life and work. “We simply did what we had to do after a friend and colleague was slain for his work. If a story dies along with the journalist, the journalist died in vain; letting that happen was never an option.” Richman said according to the Chauncey Bailey Project website. The journalists succeeded at just that, the memory of Bailey’s courage never died, it lives still today in the stories and hearts he impacted.

The McGill Medal Bios

Josh Richman is a father of one from Queens, N.Y. As an active journalist of 18 years he currently works for the The Oakland Tribune/Bay Area News Group in California. Richman received his Bachelor of Arts in Journalism from University of Missouri while also studying a minor in political science. He began work for the Oakland Tribune in 1997. He has achieved many accomplishments throughout his journalistic career, but considers the Chauncey Bailey Project the biggest story he has covered. Richman’s most memorable work includes stories arising from terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. He also recognizes a story he covered on Oakland Police Department’s reaction to antiwar protestors in 2003, which won awards.

Like Richman, Bob Butler also recognizes the Chauncey Bailey Project as the highlight of his career. Although the project has received The McGill Medal for Journalistic Courage, among other awards, Butler makes it clear that his satisfaction comes from the fact that criminals were indicted in the case. Butler has been in broadcast reporting for 31 years. As a native of Chelsea, Mass. Butler describes himself as a navy brat who finally settled in the Bay area of San Francisco when he landed a job with KCBS. He received his Bachelor of Arts in Journalism from San Francisco State and continues to work independently in the field.