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</font><font face="Verdana" size=2>Original Content at
<a href="http://www.opednews.com/articles/Omaha-World-Herald-manipul-by-Michael-Richardson-081218-10.html" eudora="autourl">
http://www.opednews.com/articles/Omaha-World-Herald-manipul-by-Michael-Richardson-081218-10.html<br>
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<b>December 18, 2008<br><br>
</font><font face="Verdana" size=4>Omaha World-Herald manipulated news
stories against Black Panthers in 'Omaha Two' case<br><br>
</b></font><font face="Verdana" size=2><i>By Michael Richardson<br><br>
</i>We will probably never know if the <i>Omaha World-Herald<b>
</i></b>manipulation of news stories about the August 17, 1970 bombing
murder of an Omaha policeman was of its own doing or if the newspaper had
been worked by COINTELPRO agents of the Federal Bureau of
Investigation. The FBI in the 60's and 70's conducted a massive
clandestine operation code-named COINTELPRO which illegally targeted
domestic political organizations and activists for dirty tricks and often
used news media to accomplish its nefarious deeds. <br><br>
The COINTELPRO tactics employed to manipulate news included anonymous
letters-to-the-editor, the release of confidential information to
selected reporters, withholding information from news organizations,
providing misinformation about COINTELPRO targets, and harassment of
publications deemed hostile. <br><br>
Three examples of news manipulation are evident in the
<i>World-Herald</i>'s 1970 reporting of the charges against Ed Poindexter
and Mondo we Langa (formerly David Rice) for the murder of patrolman
Larry Minard. Officer Minard was killed instantly when a
booby-trapped suitcase bomb exploded in his face while investigating a
false report of a woman screaming in a vacant house. Poindexter and
Langa were leaders of Omaha's Black Panther chapter called the Nebraska
Committee to Combat Fascism and targets of FBI director J. Edgar Hoover's
secret war on the Panthers. <br><br>
The summer of 1970 was an angry time in North Omaha. The year
earlier, 14-year old Vivian Strong was shot to death in the back by an
Omaha policeman who was later acquitted of a manslaughter charge.
The NCCF was the leading police critic of the shooting death of Strong
and daily confrontations between the police and members of the NCCF were
the norm. Riots and bombings rocked the Midwest and did not spare
Omaha. There were bombs exploded outside a police substation, at
Horace Mann Junior High, and outside a business in the year preceding the
fatal attack on Minard. The city was jittery and the
<i>World-Herald</i> followed the events closely. <br><br>
The newspaper was careful to follow all dynamite stories in the
news. That summer a paper sack with dynamite was found in Bellevue,
an Omaha suburb, and the <i>World-Herald</i> gave a running account of
the investigation. However, in late July a car with three men and
41 sticks of stolen dynamite was seized by police after an earlier
dynamite buy of 10 sticks from the three men, but the newspaper did not
publish a single word about the arrests. <br><br>
The omission could not have been ignorance of the dynamite bust.
The paper not only daily examined official police log reports but
reporters also regularly enjoyed inside access to the 4th floor criminal
investigation bureau room at police headquarters according to a
<i>World-Herald</i> article written shortly after the fatal bombing. The
paper apparently kept quiet about the newsworthy arrest at the request of
police. This is not an uncommon journalistic practice but usually
results in the pledge of future cooperation and often a scoop.
Reporters buy into secrecy to obtain more details and inside information
not otherwise available. In this case, however, the
<i>World-Herald</i> kept the secret forever. <br><br>
The newspaper self-censored this news story again three weeks later when
Larry Minard was murdered. The paper ignored police Captain Murdock
Platner's testimony to a congressional committee speculating the dynamite
seized in July was the same dynamite used in the Minard killing.
The <i>World-Herald</i> kept quiet during the murder trial when the
history of the dynamite used in the bomb was at issue. The paper
continued the news blackout on the stolen dynamite arrests when charges
were quietly dropped against the trio who had been peddling stolen
dynamite, just days after the Minard trial ended. The <i>Omaha
World-Herald</i> continues ignoring this dynamite arrest and has failed
to report on the episode despite its key relevance to the case. <br><br>
The second example of news manipulation is maybe just a sad comment on
the times instead of COINTELPRO mischief but the blatant bias of the
newspaper cannot be ignored. Suspects in the Minard case arrested
by police were repeatedly labeled by the <i>World-Herald</i> as
"militants" and there is a clear racial identification theme in
the paper's stories about the case. Contrasting the many
"Negro" references were gratuitous remarks about the
police. Officer John Tess, one of the seven officers injured in the
blast, was "blond, handsome" and his girlfriend
"pretty". <br><br>
The third example of news manipulation is directly tied to an issue now
pending before the Nebraska Supreme Court in Poindexter's bid for a new
trial--the FBI role in examining the emergency call tape recording that
lured Minard to his death. "Voiceprint in Bombing to FBI
Lab" declared the article headline in the <i>World-Herald</i> and
quoted acting-Chief of Police Walter J. Devere saying the tape recording
of the 911 call luring police to the ambush would be a good investigative
tool. The killer's deep voice was captured on tape and a vocal
analysis could have helped identify the unknown caller. <br><br>
The <i>World Herald</i> showcased the "Voiceprint" story at the
top of the front page just below the banner on August 18th.
However, the next day at FBI headquarters, J. Edgar Hoover gave a secret
order to the head of the FBI Crime Laboratory, Ivan Willard Conrad, to
withhold a formal report on the tape recording thus thwarting any effort
to identify the killer by voice comparison. Conrad noted Hoover's
command by scrawling on a confidential COINTELPRO memo recommending
withholding a formal report, "Dir advised telephonically & said
OK to do." <br><br>
The Omaha newspaper never followed up their lead story on the FBI's
testing of the 911 recording and subsequent articles about the case
dropped the subject. Hoover's secret command to compromise the
investigation did not come to light until years later after Mondo we
Langa obtained portions of his FBI file under a Freedom of Information
request. <br><br>
<i>Omaha World-Herald </i>readers continue to be unaware of the
COINTELPRO involvement in the 'Omaha Two' case and the arrest and
subsequent release of the three men caught in possession of dynamite just
three weeks before Minard's killing. <br><br>
Ed Poindexter and Mondo we Langa, targets of Hoover's COINTELPRO
directives, were convicted of Mindard's death despite their denial of any
role in the killing. Both men are imprisoned at the
maximum-security Nebraska State Penitentiary and continue to proclaim
their innocence. Poindexter has a new trial request pending before
the Nebraska Supreme Court over the withheld 911 call evidence and
conflicting police testimony about dynamite allegedly used in the
bomb. No date for a decision has been announced. <br><br>
***<br><br>
<i>Permission granted to reprint</i> <br><br>
<br><br>
<br>
Authors Bio: Michael Richardson is a freelance writer based in Boston.
Richardson writes about politics, law, nutrition, ethics, and music.
Richardson is also a political consultant. <br><br>
<br><br>
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