News Blackout in San Francisco

The Hall of Fame (and Shame) of local reporting on this story.

When we first started this web site on June 5th, 1997, we assumed the local newspapers, the Chronicle and Examiner, would pick up on this obvious story eventually.

Imagine our surprise when they not only dropped the story, but also seemed to be going out of their way to aid in what appears to be an official cover up by engaging in spectacularly inept reporting.

Lest you think we are exagerating the extreme difficulty we have had in getting the local media to discharge their public responsibility by covering this story, here's a story from the Wired News Service dated July 14, 1997 about our efforts which at the time of this article were already over one month old.

Senior editors of both the Chronicle and the Examiner were called. Read their disingenuous responses to Wired's inquiries and then examine this page to see the level of coverage they were giving this story before external events forced their reluctant hands.

Note also our Exhibits page, both for the volume of material we presented them with as well as the various dates this information was first made available to the public.

Local coverage

Note: "Lots of stories" and good reporting are not necessarily the same thing.

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