Occupy Oakland Responds to The Shadow

We have received the following response from Occupy Oakland in response to our earlier posting of the false accusations made against ABC7 news anchor Kristen Sze and NBC Bay Area anchor Janelle Wang.  We now post their response in full:

From the occupy Oakland media team:
We are sorry about the false accusations. We have the episode on tape, and have decided to leave the issue alone, and not release the tape. Apologies to those who were falsely accused. Everything moves very fast here. Yes, the anchor you mention was asian [sic], and we did faulty research on the woman, and came up with two wrong people in a row. Totally lame on our behalf. We are very sorry for that. Not being professional journalists and being under the threat of constant PTSD-inducing attacks i think were the main culprit of our blunder.

I have never seen a professional news representative act in such an unprofessional way. We have decided there are more important issues at hand, and to not release the tape of the incident. The scene down there was very tense. A reporter did in fact assault someone however. She spun on her heels after accidentally knocking over candles, turned towards a man who had said somthing [sic] i did not hear, and went over to him and pushed him rather hard, and then ran across the street to flee from people chasing her down. We did not make it up. We just absolutely screwed up the ID of the person, bringing up an issue of racial profiling that I personally consider irrelevant and over reactive. Which we too may be guilty of in this case. (over reaction) Lets all drop it I say.

The Shadow's response to this statement:

We are satisfied with this and know that you have been in contact with both Kristen and Janelle through Twitter.  In terms of this being an issue of racial profiling -- that was a charge that we never specifically stated, only a theory.

We also appreciate your not releasing the video of this incident, we agree that you have bigger worries right now and there is no need to fan the flames on this.

The Shadow thanks you for this response and we will not comment further on this incident.

Good night and good luck.

An Apology is Due from OccupyOakland to Two Reporters

We started this blog a few years ago to provide news and commentary in the style and tradition of Edward R. Murrow.  We have tried to keep to Mr. Murrow's ideas of journalistic integrity and fairness.  And we celebrate any blogger or journalist who also adhere to these ideals.

As many of you are aware, last Thursday there was a fatal shooting near the OccupyOakland encampment in downtown Oakland (we will comment on this and on OccupyOakland in another post).  A candlelight vigil was held later in the evening for the victim.

However, there was allegedly an incident where a network reporter knocked over some candles during the vigil.  And here is where the trouble begins.

Someone with the Twitter account @OccupyOakland (note I say Twitter account and not hashtag) tweeted the following:

Tonight Kristen Sze of Channel 7 ABC news kicked over a bunch of vigil candles and then assaulted a person lighting them.  Just Saying #OO

As you can imagine, tweets were coming all over the place stating that there should be a boycott of ABC7 and that Sze should be punished.  The problem with this accusation?  Sze was not there -- she was home asleep (Sze anchors the early morning news on ABC7 and is on the air at 4:30 a.m.).  Sze tweeted that she went to bed at 8:00 p.m. (about the time that the vigil started).

There was a major outcry from many people, including The Shadow, asking them to retract this statement.

Now enter Janelle Wang, former ABC7 reporter and now NBC Bay Area news anchor.  Wang defended Sze tweeting that "She never works nights.  She sleeps at 7:30pm and goes into work at 3am"

So what does @OccupyOakland do.  They issue the following tweet hours later:

Correction - it was Janelle Wang who pushed the protester last night after kicking over candles.  #OccupyOakland #OWS Sorry Kristen Sze.

The problem with this new accusation -- Wang was not there either.  Wang's response to the accusation:

I support you @occupyoakland but please get your info straight. It wasn't me either. I also don't work nights.

 So now @OccupyOakland falsely accuses two news anchors (again, note I say NEWS ANCHORS and not FIELD REPORTERS) of disrupting this vigil.  And we wonder why.

Kristen Sze
(Photo courtesy ABC7)

Janelle Wang
(Photo courtesy NBC Bay Area)

Could it be the fact that both women are Asian as the deciding factor in making this accusation?  So who will the next Asian person be?

The Shadow has spoken to several reputable sources and we believe we know the identity of the reporter involved and that this entire incident was accidental.  However, because this is only speculation and for her safety, we will not release her name in this blog.

Bottom line here -- Occupy Oakland owes both Sze and Wang a public apology.  Also, because of these false accusations and the reaction that it caused on Twitter for both Sze and Wang, The Shadow will no longer rely on tweets from Occupy Oakland as a news source.  They have now lost all credibility with us.

The Shadow will give @OcuppyOakland a chance to respond to this post.  People are welcome to respond in the comments section below or you can email us directly at this link.  We will respond to all comments.

Freedom of the press is an important right in the United States.  But it is also the duty of anyone who reports news or gives commentary, and that includes The Shadow, to make sure that it is accurate.  We hope that this never happens again.

Good night and good luck.