The New West article and Leo Ryan's visit to Jonestown with a delegation of family members and reporters were pivotal moments in the media coverage of the Peoples Temple.
The media was manipulated by Jim Jones and The People's Temple. Once Marshall Kilduff published his article, more and more journalists felt enabled to investigate and write about the Peoples Temple.
The media took a "big hit" when Leo Ryan's delegation was gunned down at the Kaituma airstrip. The delegation came together because family members were concerned by the New West article and subsequent media coverage of Peoples Temple.
The Next West article pushed Jones to isolate himself in Guyana as soon as possible. He kept the news between Jonestown and San Francisco as sketchy as possible. Journalists investigating Peoples Temple and Jonestown had to do so based off interviews with church and Jonestown defectors.
Tim Reiterman wrote the most well-researched, in-depth book about Jim Jones, The Peoples Temple and Jonestown called "Raven." He says many newsrooms talked about the Peoples Temple during the time leading up to Kilduff's story, but most articles were watered down because of Jones' threats.
The media could have done things differently in covering Peoploes Temple and Jonestown, but ultimately, Jim Jones was the man to blame for everything.
The media helped people to understand how and why such an atrocious event occurred with their analytical pieces that followed the Jonestown tragedy.
Some journalists tried to turn out quickie books and docudramas about Jonestown. They were not well-researched and
sensationalized the event.
In the past couple years, documentaries about The People's Temple and Jonestown have created a new wave of interest
among younger generations who did not live through the event.
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Post-Jonestown Media Coverage
"Raven" passages. Tim Reiterman reflects on the media coverage after Jonestown, when he had been shot and critically injured and three of his fellow journalists were killed.
"It was a normal slow, Saturday afternoon at the San Francisco Examiner. Weekend editor Dexter Waugh had just hung up the phone when another one rang. Assistant city editor Fran Dauth was typing a memo while waiting for a story from Tim Reiterman in Guyana. There was plenty of time to make the last deadline for Sunday's paper. Waught motioned Dauth to the phone...
There had been a shooting at the airstrip near Jonestown, he said. Ryan and others, possibly nine or ten. were dead...
Reporters from all over the country immediately began calling for information. A long–– agonizingly long–– night of waiting had started...
Unlike some other big stories, this one was no fun. Everyone hoped against hope that neight Reiterman nor Greg Robinson would be listed among the dead or injured.
There was still no news about Reiterman or Robinson. Around 3:00a.m., word came that the last unidentified victim had been wearing three cameras. The real chill set in..."
Page 549
"Amid an initial whirlwind of checkbook journalism, many publishers bought and commissioned books on the tragedy. Jonestown was not a fleeting news event; public opinion polls ranked it only behind Pearl Harbor and the John Kennedy assassination in terms of public recognition. Magazines, newspapers and tabloids scrambled for stories, some offering money to survivors for exclusive rights. There were instant books by the San Francisco Chronicle and the Washington Post. A number of ex-members began drafting manuscripts...
Immediately after Jonestown, the bidding by publishers probably was most intense for a nearly completed book by Jeannie Mills, formerly Deanna Mertle, one of the major sources for earlier exposés and co-founder of the Human Freedom Center in Berkeley... Then, fifteen months after the tragedy, she and her husband Al were shot to death, execution-style, in their Berkeley home.
Other media sought to capitalize on the Temple tragedy, sometimes with incredibly poor taste, distortions and blatant exploitation. The Jonestown affair was immortalized in several calypso records, including one with the refrain," Why Shot Jimmy Jones?" A film made in Mexico and called Guyana, Cult of the Damned drew the scorn of critics and was repulsive to anyone familiar with church history. CBS followed with a highly rated two-part "documdrama" depicting Jones as a good man victimized and corrupted by others, mainly by women and a black man named Father Divine. Unfortunately, such partially fictionalized and sensationalized accounts reinforced myths about the Temple and created new ones, and they retarded public understanding of Peoples Temple."
Page 575
“Then in July 1977, Jim’s predictions came true. Rosalie Wright, the editor of New West magazine, called our headquarters to read Jim the articles set for their August 1 publication. As was our procedure, I picked up the extra line in Jim’s room and proceeded to tape the conversation...
Rosalie’s voice was flat and unemotional.
‘Our cover line is ‘Inside Politically Potent Peoples Temple’ and on the Table of Content page our lead-in reads as follows: ‘Inside Peoples Temple’... ‘The story begins on page thirty with the following: ‘Jim Jones is one of the state’s most politically potent leaders. But who is he? And what’s going on behind his church’s locked doors?’’
‘Beginning two months ago, when it became known that New West was researching an article on Peoples Temple, the magazine, its editors, and advertisers were subjected to a bizarre letter and telephone campaign. At its height, our editorial offices in San Francisco and Los Angeles were each receiving as many as fifty phone calls and seventy letters a day.’
Jim scratched out another note in bold lettering and held it up to the delight of all of us in the room.
guess we didn’t scare them enough.”
-by DEBORAH LAYTON, Seductive Poison. Pages 111-113
“Some of us remember catching the first snatches of the story breaking on the radio. Then the television replays of the tractor pulling the flatbed flowly out onto the airstrip. The camera going wildly out of focus as the gunfire rakes the area. The film ending as cameraman Bob Brown dies. And the now famous aerial footage of the hundreds of bodies, like colorful flowers, spread across the countryside of Guyana.”
-by CYNTHIA KISSER, Cult Awareness Network News, Jonestown edition 1987.
“Few events have etched tehmselves into the minds of Americans as did the mass murder-suicides at Jonestown, Guyana. A year later, polls showed that only the bombing of Pearl Harbor and the assassination of President John F. Kennedy were remembered by more Americans one year after they occurred.
Tens of millions of people looked with near disbelief at the pictures of row upon row of bodies that were published in newspapers and run on television news shows the world over. They were appalled as each newscast gave a new body count: at least 300, then 450, then 650, finally 913 bodies bloating in the jungle heat.
...
Ex-members turned to local news organizations for help, but some editors and reporters did not believe their stories. Those who did were harassed into dropping their investigations by members of the Temple or pressured to do so by local businessmen and politicians whom Jones had asked to intervene on his behalf.
Finally in July 1977 New West magazine published a report that was based on the stories of ex-members that exposed much of the child and sexual abuse and other misconduct in which Jones was engaged.”
-by STEVE STANEK, Cult Awareness Network News, Jonestown edition 1987.
Interview: Tim Reiterman
1) How was the coverage of Jonestown, before and after the mass-murder suicide, significant to media history?
The coverage of Jonestown prior to November 18th 1978 was in essence an unfolding news story where you had supporters of People Temple saying that it was the Promised Land and you had the critics of Peoples Temple saying that it was like a work camp. News media were left with a clouded picture of what life was like in Jonestown. During the visit, there were a lot of impressive aspects of Jonestown that were apparent. Urban people created a settlement in a very remote jungle. Got it up in running with dormitories, planting of grow crops. Fruit trees. Physical features impressive.
The job of those of us reporters who were there was to get a sense of whether that was representative of how they lived. Jones said that they had the freedom to leave whenever they wished. Even while we were there, our experiences cast some doubt on the statements of Jonestown by supporters. Conditions were crowded, given the large number of people. The New West piece came out and the SF Examiner prepared series of articles about the Temple.
The coverage of the Jonestown tragedy itself became worldwide news as opposed to relatively localized coverage. The coverage that persisted repeated myths about the People’s Temple. A lot of it is focused on the personality of Jones. It’s been simplified to one interpretation. Robotics to mass suicide. It was a lot more complicated than that. The Temple was a product of its times... people searching for alternative religions.
There’s a more timeless aspect of People’s Temple... part of human spirit to find a piece of belonging.
Myths carried forward... jokes made about the “Koolaid”.. One was that Jones was a good man gone bad. He was an “admirable civil rights leader.” There were seeds of madness there early on. People said Jones sprang out of a California phenomenon. Really, The Temple came out of America’s heartland. Jones was sanctioned by a mainstream demonination.
Another is that Jones was entirely responsible for what happened. He didn’t act alone. Elected officals looked the other way. Perhaps it was in their political interest to do so. Media didn’t take on Jones -- two things. One is most immediately there were two periods. News media showed interest in getting beyond in early 1970s in Indianapolis Star news. SF Examiner did stories on Jones and his claims to be a prophet. In the case of the stories in the SF Examiner, some were published after the Temple picketed The Examiner... The Temple threatened legal action, intimidated one of the editors and the management... attorneys backed away. Marshall Kilduff was covering housing authority and wanted to do a story. The editor at The Chronicle did not embrace his story. A Chronicle reporter did a story that was watered down.
In 1978 there were some Chronicle staff members attending the Temple. Kilduff had to seek another outlet. Usually your work is required to be in your own paper... especially on a beat. He took the story to New West... teamed up with Phil Tracey.
Mass suicide-- media continue to describe it wheras in my view... it was mass murder. Calculated the end of movement final order to kill chilren first... first everyone’s death warrant. In recent years I have seen more media start to describe it as mass murder-suicide. That’s not universal It’s starting to take root in more recent documentaries. Made it clearer over 900 some odd people did not, in a true sense, willing take their lives.
2) If you had to do an addendum to Raven what would it be?
I don’t know. I think I would add the things I said earlier about the myths. Because it’s one thing to remember, it’s another to understand the important forces that you want to put to rest the myths. Understand the forces that drove the Temple to its end. Clearly one of the forces in a superficial sense... Jones was trying to escape the scrutiny of the news media on one level. He and his members went to Jonestown. On another level, he was trying to escape people knowing about the reality... what was going on. The Congressional fact finding mission heightened that and in the final analysis he decided he would not allow the people who left with Leo Ryan to do so.
He feared they were going to expose what was going on. Then there was the shooting... attempt to keep reporters... congressional representatives away... he used a tape to help march his followers to mass suicide.
The news media was central to what happened in a sense. Our duty was to sort out what was going on. Jones feared that he was going to be exposed... had no real way out.
3) In a 2003 article, You say this was a moment like Kennedy’s assassignation in which everyone froze and remembers where they were when they learned the news. So many times my dad gives cult talks or presents about Jonestown, few people know about the event. I always looked for something about Jonestown in my history textbooks and Latin American history college texts and find nothing. There was so much coverage before and after the mass-murder suicide. Why don’t we see Jonestown in textbooks and do you think we should?
Well there have been academic studies in some books. There have been books and studies alike. I would guess that it’s a function of how recently it occurred. Gallap poll... that’s the source of my assertion. The fact of the matter is that certain events fade into the past. They don’t get remembered for certain reasons. Unpleasant... people don’t care. I have students now early 20s to 30s, some of them know the background because of Jonestown’s place in popular culture but they don’t really know anything about it. A lot of people thought Guyana was in Africa.
It was a singularly important, tragic event. It was American tragedy that occurred on foreign soil. Memorialized in images in government reports and other things. It’s not something the average person thinks of. Resurgence of the last two years. Interest in Jonestown... in large part due to well-received play around the country. PBS documentary... short list for academy award... competed with History Channel... aired, reaired. That’s a sign that there’s renewed interest... whole new generation.
There’s still hunger to understand how such a thing could occur. That’s our job in news media to help people understand why and how things happen. That’s why it’s important. It’s one thing to tell the story. These were basically ordinary people who found themselves in a situation from which they could not escape. They joined the Temple for the best of reasons. They surrendered in many ways.
The coverage of Jonestown prior to November 18th 1978 was in essence an unfolding news story where you had supporters of People Temple saying that it was the Promised Land and you had the critics of Peoples Temple saying that it was like a work camp. News media were left with a clouded picture of what life was like in Jonestown. During the visit, there were a lot of impressive aspects of Jonestown that were apparent. Urban people created a settlement in a very remote jungle. Got it up in running with dormitories, planting of grow crops. Fruit trees. Physical features impressive.
The job of those of us reporters who were there was to get a sense of whether that was representative of how they lived. Jones said that they had the freedom to leave whenever they wished. Even while we were there, our experiences cast some doubt on the statements of Jonestown by supporters. Conditions were crowded, given the large number of people. The New West piece came out and the SF Examiner prepared series of articles about the Temple.
The coverage of the Jonestown tragedy itself became worldwide news as opposed to relatively localized coverage. The coverage that persisted repeated myths about the People’s Temple. A lot of it is focused on the personality of Jones. It’s been simplified to one interpretation. Robotics to mass suicide. It was a lot more complicated than that. The Temple was a product of its times... people searching for alternative religions.
There’s a more timeless aspect of People’s Temple... part of human spirit to find a piece of belonging.
Myths carried forward... jokes made about the “Koolaid”.. One was that Jones was a good man gone bad. He was an “admirable civil rights leader.” There were seeds of madness there early on. People said Jones sprang out of a California phenomenon. Really, The Temple came out of America’s heartland. Jones was sanctioned by a mainstream demonination.
Another is that Jones was entirely responsible for what happened. He didn’t act alone. Elected officals looked the other way. Perhaps it was in their political interest to do so. Media didn’t take on Jones -- two things. One is most immediately there were two periods. News media showed interest in getting beyond in early 1970s in Indianapolis Star news. SF Examiner did stories on Jones and his claims to be a prophet. In the case of the stories in the SF Examiner, some were published after the Temple picketed The Examiner... The Temple threatened legal action, intimidated one of the editors and the management... attorneys backed away. Marshall Kilduff was covering housing authority and wanted to do a story. The editor at The Chronicle did not embrace his story. A Chronicle reporter did a story that was watered down.
In 1978 there were some Chronicle staff members attending the Temple. Kilduff had to seek another outlet. Usually your work is required to be in your own paper... especially on a beat. He took the story to New West... teamed up with Phil Tracey.
Mass suicide-- media continue to describe it wheras in my view... it was mass murder. Calculated the end of movement final order to kill chilren first... first everyone’s death warrant. In recent years I have seen more media start to describe it as mass murder-suicide. That’s not universal It’s starting to take root in more recent documentaries. Made it clearer over 900 some odd people did not, in a true sense, willing take their lives.
2) If you had to do an addendum to Raven what would it be?
I don’t know. I think I would add the things I said earlier about the myths. Because it’s one thing to remember, it’s another to understand the important forces that you want to put to rest the myths. Understand the forces that drove the Temple to its end. Clearly one of the forces in a superficial sense... Jones was trying to escape the scrutiny of the news media on one level. He and his members went to Jonestown. On another level, he was trying to escape people knowing about the reality... what was going on. The Congressional fact finding mission heightened that and in the final analysis he decided he would not allow the people who left with Leo Ryan to do so.
He feared they were going to expose what was going on. Then there was the shooting... attempt to keep reporters... congressional representatives away... he used a tape to help march his followers to mass suicide.
The news media was central to what happened in a sense. Our duty was to sort out what was going on. Jones feared that he was going to be exposed... had no real way out.
3) In a 2003 article, You say this was a moment like Kennedy’s assassignation in which everyone froze and remembers where they were when they learned the news. So many times my dad gives cult talks or presents about Jonestown, few people know about the event. I always looked for something about Jonestown in my history textbooks and Latin American history college texts and find nothing. There was so much coverage before and after the mass-murder suicide. Why don’t we see Jonestown in textbooks and do you think we should?
Well there have been academic studies in some books. There have been books and studies alike. I would guess that it’s a function of how recently it occurred. Gallap poll... that’s the source of my assertion. The fact of the matter is that certain events fade into the past. They don’t get remembered for certain reasons. Unpleasant... people don’t care. I have students now early 20s to 30s, some of them know the background because of Jonestown’s place in popular culture but they don’t really know anything about it. A lot of people thought Guyana was in Africa.
It was a singularly important, tragic event. It was American tragedy that occurred on foreign soil. Memorialized in images in government reports and other things. It’s not something the average person thinks of. Resurgence of the last two years. Interest in Jonestown... in large part due to well-received play around the country. PBS documentary... short list for academy award... competed with History Channel... aired, reaired. That’s a sign that there’s renewed interest... whole new generation.
There’s still hunger to understand how such a thing could occur. That’s our job in news media to help people understand why and how things happen. That’s why it’s important. It’s one thing to tell the story. These were basically ordinary people who found themselves in a situation from which they could not escape. They joined the Temple for the best of reasons. They surrendered in many ways.
Interview: Graham Kislingbury
My dad, Graham Kislingbury, lost his sister Sharon to the Jonestown mass murder-suicide. Sharon joined the Peoples Temple in the mid-1970s and eventually moved to Jonestown, Guyana in the spring of 1978. During that time, my dad and his family followed whatever news they could grasp about the Peoples Temple out of concern for Sharon. My dad has extensive knowledge about the Peoples Temple and its news coverage because of this personal connection. He and his family did their best to correspond with Sharon after she suddenly moved to South America and his dad, a PR practitioner, used his networking skills to glean any information he could about Jones and the Peoples Temple.
After the mass-suicide, my dad collected every story he could find about the Peoples Temple and its members’ deaths. He met lots of reporters who covered the Peoples Temple and learned everything he could about the group and its media coverage so that he could give cult talks wherever people would listen to him.
My dad is the online editor of my hometown newspaper. During his career, he has written articles about Sharon and the Peoples Temple several times.
• When did Sharon get involved with the Peoples Temple? It was in 1975, when she was 19. She had gone to College of the Redwoods from 1974-1975. She stopped going after the first year. Her friends from Burlingame, like Kim Brewster, got her involved. Tim Carter, too. He became one of Jim Jones’ lieutenants. Everybody was concerned about Sharon. She’d come home and have contact with the family but we had questions about the group. They seemed to be doing good things but it was too good to be true. They did “cancer healings.” It was slight of hand. I was up in Oregon so I didn’t see her that often. In 1976, there were a couple times I saw her. She had never totally put us out of the picture but this (Peoples Temple) became her life.
• What had you heard about the Peoples Temple and Jim Jones in the media at the time Sharon got involved? I hadn’t heard of it–– I was a bit separated because I was living in Oregon. She (Sharon) thought it was better than Glide Memorial Methodist, a popular church at the time. There was nothing in the papers, especially outside of the Bay Area. Sharon talked about how fabulous the church was. We (my parents, sister and I) never went to a service. I didn’t want to. I didn’t believe it. Sharon wanted me to come but just never wanted to get sucked into that.
• Did your family look to the media for understanding once Sharon became increasingly active in the Temple? Were you concerned? What did you find? Of course. But I don’t remember much of it until the summer of 1977. I relied on what I was hearing through word of mouth in the Burlingame community. Sharon would piss me off whenever she talked about the Temple. It wasn’t until the summer of 1977 when I was getting concerned. Well, really concerned. The stories were not negative until 1977. The New West article... I remember being really troubled after that... thinking she was in a really dangerous group. It was the first investigative report. Jones did a lot of manipulation to everyone... including the media. No one knew the extent. They (Peoples Temple) did good things. They donated $50,000 to the basic mission finance of Disciples of Christ. But there was also nasty stuff going on. Then, Jones goes to Guyana. He’s left others to deal with the media.
November 18th. That’s when we we’re all paying attention. I came back from a play. My parents called to say Leo Ryan had been shot and was dead. Everybody was very freaked out. We just waited. That was a Saturday night. My dad held out hope she (Sharon) had run into the jungle. The body count kept growing. There were only so many passports and more and more bodies. I went down to California that Tuesday. We woke up and all watched CBS. There were aerial views from a helicopter. By Monday and Tuesday, all the major media were down there and swarming in. They rented whatever they needed to get there and got there. They used short wave radio and telephones to send in stories. There was a bar, a tavern, and Tim Reiterman (a San Francisco Chronicle reporter) and others got calls through from there.
• How was this coverage significant to media history? It’s the largest mass suicide that’s been covered and had significant follow-up coverage. The media took a big hit in this. There had been nothing like this. Bob Brown’s camera kept going even when he was shot and dead. Greg Robinson... SF photographer... an NBC interviewer... Leo Ryan, one of the defectors... they all died. Reiterman took pictures of the aftermath. Before, unless it was provided by the Temple, there was no media coverage. Then came Time and News Week with cover stories after the suicide. New West, too. “Diary of a Madman” or something. John Horgan wrote about the San Mateo connection. In San Francisco it was everywhere. There were funerals going on for weeks. 409 people were unidentified and buried in Oakland. It was almost surreal. But you couldn’t not watch it. You wanted to know what was happening. You wanted to see what the rest of the world was seeing... And then, it was forgotten. You won’t see it in the history books. I think it’s like the Holocaust, on a much smaller level–– it needs to be told. We need to know about the people who use fraud, exploitation and abuse to gain their ends.
• How were the Peoples Temple members described in media coverage before and after the mass suicide? After Jonestown, there was a lot of worry in San Francisco that there would be hit squads. There was nothing like that. It was very sad to see these people (remaining Temple members). I went to the Temple and saw people who just stood outside the gates. They were just lost. They had to deal with everything, including taunts from relatives. They had to take it all. There was nothing after the 18th. It disbanded. It ceased to exist.
• What did you think of the media coverage after the mass murder-suicide? They did a pretty good job. Time and Newsweek had pretty good analysis pieces. The early books were questionable. Tim Reiterman (Raven)–– I don’t think there’s been anything better written. Starting with the Peoples Temple, they took a more critical eye at the Unification Church and post-Vietnam groups that seemed to flourish in that era when people were looking for meaning in their lives. There was just more media coverage of this stuff after Jonestown. Jonestown was kind of the model cult –– except that most cults at the time were mostly white this one was mostly black.
• As a journalist, what have you written about Sharon, the Peoples Temple and more recent cults? Over Christmas of 1978 I wrote a column on the editorial page. I wrote several things in Cottage Grove and two in Albany. “Letters From Jonestown” was the biggest. I wrote one thing once about a cult talk and a hearing in Salem. I wrote some personal stuff that I don’t think I ‘d write now. I wrote about Pat Ryan (Leo Ryan’s daughter) in 1986. Her sister got involved in another cult, Rash Neesh, in the 1980s.
Mom and I visited Rash Neesh in Eastern Oregon out of curiosity after Jonestown and I wrote some personal reflection on that. Then, in 2001 I wrote about Young Life–– their Wildhorse Canyon camp is headquartered where Rash Neesh used to be. I compared it (Wildhorse Canyon) to my experiences there in 1984 when it was a cult.
This year is the 30th anniversary. I want to write a Disciples World article and reflect on Jonestown. Jones was an ordained Disciple of Christ minister and Jonestown had huge repercussions for the denomination.
During the rest of our interview, my dad and I discussed how Sharon got hooked into the Peoples Temple. My dad described how Sharon’s behavior changed after she joined. He reflected on how gullible she was as a young person and described other young people he knew who got involved with the cult. We went on to talk about Sharon’s correspondence with the family and the radio system set up between Jonestown and the San Francisco Temple. My grandpa and grandma talked to Sharon over the radio on her 22nd and last birthday in October of 1978. The radio frequencies made most correspondence private but Jones often broadcast his sermons and random ramblings.
Our interview focused a lot on how the New West exposé altered the course of media coverage of the Peoples Temple. That’s when all the family members started to freak out about their loved ones. There was little media coverage coming from Jonestown but lots of scandals arouse when Temple defectors opened up to reporters in San Francisco. My dad talked a lot about Leo Ryan’s delegation of media representatives, government officials and concerned family members. Lots of Bay Area family members of people in Jonestown, including my dad, were relieved that the media were going to investigate Jones the Temple’s happenings. They were crushed when Ryan and other delegation members were killed and beside themselves when Temple members took their lives by drinking cyanide-laced Flavor Aid.
My dad expressed his profound respect for fellow journalist, Tim Reiterman.
After the mass-suicide, my dad collected every story he could find about the Peoples Temple and its members’ deaths. He met lots of reporters who covered the Peoples Temple and learned everything he could about the group and its media coverage so that he could give cult talks wherever people would listen to him.
My dad is the online editor of my hometown newspaper. During his career, he has written articles about Sharon and the Peoples Temple several times.
• When did Sharon get involved with the Peoples Temple? It was in 1975, when she was 19. She had gone to College of the Redwoods from 1974-1975. She stopped going after the first year. Her friends from Burlingame, like Kim Brewster, got her involved. Tim Carter, too. He became one of Jim Jones’ lieutenants. Everybody was concerned about Sharon. She’d come home and have contact with the family but we had questions about the group. They seemed to be doing good things but it was too good to be true. They did “cancer healings.” It was slight of hand. I was up in Oregon so I didn’t see her that often. In 1976, there were a couple times I saw her. She had never totally put us out of the picture but this (Peoples Temple) became her life.
• What had you heard about the Peoples Temple and Jim Jones in the media at the time Sharon got involved? I hadn’t heard of it–– I was a bit separated because I was living in Oregon. She (Sharon) thought it was better than Glide Memorial Methodist, a popular church at the time. There was nothing in the papers, especially outside of the Bay Area. Sharon talked about how fabulous the church was. We (my parents, sister and I) never went to a service. I didn’t want to. I didn’t believe it. Sharon wanted me to come but just never wanted to get sucked into that.
• Did your family look to the media for understanding once Sharon became increasingly active in the Temple? Were you concerned? What did you find? Of course. But I don’t remember much of it until the summer of 1977. I relied on what I was hearing through word of mouth in the Burlingame community. Sharon would piss me off whenever she talked about the Temple. It wasn’t until the summer of 1977 when I was getting concerned. Well, really concerned. The stories were not negative until 1977. The New West article... I remember being really troubled after that... thinking she was in a really dangerous group. It was the first investigative report. Jones did a lot of manipulation to everyone... including the media. No one knew the extent. They (Peoples Temple) did good things. They donated $50,000 to the basic mission finance of Disciples of Christ. But there was also nasty stuff going on. Then, Jones goes to Guyana. He’s left others to deal with the media.
November 18th. That’s when we we’re all paying attention. I came back from a play. My parents called to say Leo Ryan had been shot and was dead. Everybody was very freaked out. We just waited. That was a Saturday night. My dad held out hope she (Sharon) had run into the jungle. The body count kept growing. There were only so many passports and more and more bodies. I went down to California that Tuesday. We woke up and all watched CBS. There were aerial views from a helicopter. By Monday and Tuesday, all the major media were down there and swarming in. They rented whatever they needed to get there and got there. They used short wave radio and telephones to send in stories. There was a bar, a tavern, and Tim Reiterman (a San Francisco Chronicle reporter) and others got calls through from there.
• How was this coverage significant to media history? It’s the largest mass suicide that’s been covered and had significant follow-up coverage. The media took a big hit in this. There had been nothing like this. Bob Brown’s camera kept going even when he was shot and dead. Greg Robinson... SF photographer... an NBC interviewer... Leo Ryan, one of the defectors... they all died. Reiterman took pictures of the aftermath. Before, unless it was provided by the Temple, there was no media coverage. Then came Time and News Week with cover stories after the suicide. New West, too. “Diary of a Madman” or something. John Horgan wrote about the San Mateo connection. In San Francisco it was everywhere. There were funerals going on for weeks. 409 people were unidentified and buried in Oakland. It was almost surreal. But you couldn’t not watch it. You wanted to know what was happening. You wanted to see what the rest of the world was seeing... And then, it was forgotten. You won’t see it in the history books. I think it’s like the Holocaust, on a much smaller level–– it needs to be told. We need to know about the people who use fraud, exploitation and abuse to gain their ends.
• How were the Peoples Temple members described in media coverage before and after the mass suicide? After Jonestown, there was a lot of worry in San Francisco that there would be hit squads. There was nothing like that. It was very sad to see these people (remaining Temple members). I went to the Temple and saw people who just stood outside the gates. They were just lost. They had to deal with everything, including taunts from relatives. They had to take it all. There was nothing after the 18th. It disbanded. It ceased to exist.
• What did you think of the media coverage after the mass murder-suicide? They did a pretty good job. Time and Newsweek had pretty good analysis pieces. The early books were questionable. Tim Reiterman (Raven)–– I don’t think there’s been anything better written. Starting with the Peoples Temple, they took a more critical eye at the Unification Church and post-Vietnam groups that seemed to flourish in that era when people were looking for meaning in their lives. There was just more media coverage of this stuff after Jonestown. Jonestown was kind of the model cult –– except that most cults at the time were mostly white this one was mostly black.
• As a journalist, what have you written about Sharon, the Peoples Temple and more recent cults? Over Christmas of 1978 I wrote a column on the editorial page. I wrote several things in Cottage Grove and two in Albany. “Letters From Jonestown” was the biggest. I wrote one thing once about a cult talk and a hearing in Salem. I wrote some personal stuff that I don’t think I ‘d write now. I wrote about Pat Ryan (Leo Ryan’s daughter) in 1986. Her sister got involved in another cult, Rash Neesh, in the 1980s.
Mom and I visited Rash Neesh in Eastern Oregon out of curiosity after Jonestown and I wrote some personal reflection on that. Then, in 2001 I wrote about Young Life–– their Wildhorse Canyon camp is headquartered where Rash Neesh used to be. I compared it (Wildhorse Canyon) to my experiences there in 1984 when it was a cult.
This year is the 30th anniversary. I want to write a Disciples World article and reflect on Jonestown. Jones was an ordained Disciple of Christ minister and Jonestown had huge repercussions for the denomination.
During the rest of our interview, my dad and I discussed how Sharon got hooked into the Peoples Temple. My dad described how Sharon’s behavior changed after she joined. He reflected on how gullible she was as a young person and described other young people he knew who got involved with the cult. We went on to talk about Sharon’s correspondence with the family and the radio system set up between Jonestown and the San Francisco Temple. My grandpa and grandma talked to Sharon over the radio on her 22nd and last birthday in October of 1978. The radio frequencies made most correspondence private but Jones often broadcast his sermons and random ramblings.
Our interview focused a lot on how the New West exposé altered the course of media coverage of the Peoples Temple. That’s when all the family members started to freak out about their loved ones. There was little media coverage coming from Jonestown but lots of scandals arouse when Temple defectors opened up to reporters in San Francisco. My dad talked a lot about Leo Ryan’s delegation of media representatives, government officials and concerned family members. Lots of Bay Area family members of people in Jonestown, including my dad, were relieved that the media were going to investigate Jones the Temple’s happenings. They were crushed when Ryan and other delegation members were killed and beside themselves when Temple members took their lives by drinking cyanide-laced Flavor Aid.
My dad expressed his profound respect for fellow journalist, Tim Reiterman.
Remembrance November 18, 2006
By LISA ANDERSON
The significance of today's date has just hit me.
Every year, November 18th is a haunting reminder of my family's history.
I read a blog tribute by my Dad today, which spurred me to contemplate this day.
My aunt perished 28 years ago with more than 900 others in a mass suicide in Jonestown, Guyana. She was 22 years old and a member of The People's Temple–– the cult led by the Reverend Jim Jones.
I never got to meet my Aunt Sharon, but wish with all my might that I could have. Many people hold assumptions that cult members are vulnerable, crazy people easily swayed by outside influences. These individuals are often dehumanized and pigeon-holed.
Sharon was a young woman filled with humanitarian ideals and spirit. She was a creative and tenacious hippie and a lover of the earth.
She, along with nearly one thousand others, was led astray by a sick and deceitful man. She was brainwashed and driven away from her family by cult members. She was not crazy, weird, or abnormal. She joined Jones' movement for its social activism and ideals of racial and social equality.
She died, far before her time, after either drinking or being injected with cyanide-laced Flavor Aid.
Sharon was a daughter, a sister, a friend, an artist, a musician, a free-spirit, a student. A bleeding heart and beautiful soul. She could have been a partner, a mother, an aunt and so many more things, had she lived.
Cults prey on our insecurities with indoctrinating leadership. They can begin as positive and healthy organizations and turn toxic quickly. We should critically look into cult tactics and warning signs. There are many organizations, even on-campus groups, that have some cult characteristics.
The last picture my family has of Sharon was one she sent from Jonestown. In it I see a beautiful young woman with an incredible smile. Though her living predicament at this point would have been miserable, according to church defector's reports, I see her spirit shining through.
Sharon remains timeless in this picture–– a young woman not too much older than me, ready to change the world and fight for her ideals. An incredible human being.
And a life taken far too soon.
Tonight, my heart goes out to the families whose hearts were broken by the Jonestown tragedy nearly three decades ago. May the consequences of this historical event guide us to protect each other.
The significance of today's date has just hit me.
Every year, November 18th is a haunting reminder of my family's history.
I read a blog tribute by my Dad today, which spurred me to contemplate this day.
My aunt perished 28 years ago with more than 900 others in a mass suicide in Jonestown, Guyana. She was 22 years old and a member of The People's Temple–– the cult led by the Reverend Jim Jones.
I never got to meet my Aunt Sharon, but wish with all my might that I could have. Many people hold assumptions that cult members are vulnerable, crazy people easily swayed by outside influences. These individuals are often dehumanized and pigeon-holed.
Sharon was a young woman filled with humanitarian ideals and spirit. She was a creative and tenacious hippie and a lover of the earth.
She, along with nearly one thousand others, was led astray by a sick and deceitful man. She was brainwashed and driven away from her family by cult members. She was not crazy, weird, or abnormal. She joined Jones' movement for its social activism and ideals of racial and social equality.
She died, far before her time, after either drinking or being injected with cyanide-laced Flavor Aid.
Sharon was a daughter, a sister, a friend, an artist, a musician, a free-spirit, a student. A bleeding heart and beautiful soul. She could have been a partner, a mother, an aunt and so many more things, had she lived.
Cults prey on our insecurities with indoctrinating leadership. They can begin as positive and healthy organizations and turn toxic quickly. We should critically look into cult tactics and warning signs. There are many organizations, even on-campus groups, that have some cult characteristics.
The last picture my family has of Sharon was one she sent from Jonestown. In it I see a beautiful young woman with an incredible smile. Though her living predicament at this point would have been miserable, according to church defector's reports, I see her spirit shining through.
Sharon remains timeless in this picture–– a young woman not too much older than me, ready to change the world and fight for her ideals. An incredible human being.
And a life taken far too soon.
Tonight, my heart goes out to the families whose hearts were broken by the Jonestown tragedy nearly three decades ago. May the consequences of this historical event guide us to protect each other.
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Primary and Secondary Sources, Interviews
Primary Sources
[1] Horgan, John. “Tragedy’s Deep Bite Into the Peninsula.” The San Mateo Times. 8 December 1978.
[2] Kasindorf, Jeanie. “How Jim Jones Seduced San Francisco.” New West Magazine. 18 December 1978.
[3] Kilduff, Marshall and Phil Tracy. “Inside the People’s Temple.” New West Magazine. 1 August 1977.
[4] Kislingbury, Graham. Personal Interview. February 15, 2008.
[5] Kislingbury, Sharon. March- October 1978. Graham Kislingbury collection–– Letters from Jonestown. Albany, Oregon.
[6] Layton, Deborah. “Affidavit of Deborah Layton Blakey: Re the Threat and Possibility of Mass Suicide by Members of the People's Temple” 15 June 1978.
[7] Mills, Jeannie. “Six Years With God.” August 1975.
[8] “Nightmare in Jonestown: A religious colony in Guyana turns into a cult of death” Time. 4 December 1978.
[10] Reiterman, Tim. Personal Interview. March 3, 2008.
[11] Tracy, Phil. “The Making of a Madman.” New West Magazine. 18 December 1978.
Secondary Sources
[1] Kislingbury, Graham. “Letter from Jonestown: Remembering Sharon: A brother reflects on Jonestown.” Albany Democrat-Herald. 15 November 1998.
[2] Layton, Deborah. Seductive Poison: A Jonestown Survivor’s Story of Life and Death in the People’s Temple. San Francisco: Anchor, 1999.
[3] Reiterman, Tim. Raven: The Untold Story of the Rev. Jim Jones and his People. San Francisco: Dutton Adult, 1982.
[4] Scarff, Garry L. “A light at the end of the tunnel.” Cult Awareness Network News. Jonestown edition 1987.
[1] Horgan, John. “Tragedy’s Deep Bite Into the Peninsula.” The San Mateo Times. 8 December 1978.
[2] Kasindorf, Jeanie. “How Jim Jones Seduced San Francisco.” New West Magazine. 18 December 1978.
[3] Kilduff, Marshall and Phil Tracy. “Inside the People’s Temple.” New West Magazine. 1 August 1977.
[4] Kislingbury, Graham. Personal Interview. February 15, 2008.
[5] Kislingbury, Sharon. March- October 1978. Graham Kislingbury collection–– Letters from Jonestown. Albany, Oregon.
[6] Layton, Deborah. “Affidavit of Deborah Layton Blakey: Re the Threat and Possibility of Mass Suicide by Members of the People's Temple” 15 June 1978.
[7] Mills, Jeannie. “Six Years With God.” August 1975.
[8] “Nightmare in Jonestown: A religious colony in Guyana turns into a cult of death” Time. 4 December 1978.
[10] Reiterman, Tim. Personal Interview. March 3, 2008.
[11] Tracy, Phil. “The Making of a Madman.” New West Magazine. 18 December 1978.
Secondary Sources
[1] Kislingbury, Graham. “Letter from Jonestown: Remembering Sharon: A brother reflects on Jonestown.” Albany Democrat-Herald. 15 November 1998.
[2] Layton, Deborah. Seductive Poison: A Jonestown Survivor’s Story of Life and Death in the People’s Temple. San Francisco: Anchor, 1999.
[3] Reiterman, Tim. Raven: The Untold Story of the Rev. Jim Jones and his People. San Francisco: Dutton Adult, 1982.
[4] Scarff, Garry L. “A light at the end of the tunnel.” Cult Awareness Network News. Jonestown edition 1987.
Research Methods
I began my research by delving into my family's books, personal letters, clippings of newspaper stories and other primary and secondary documents that related to the Peoples Temple. I originally planned to compare the media coverage of the Peoples Temple before and after it relocated to Jonestown, Guyana, but realized there was little media coverage until the New West exposé.
Marshall Kilduff's exposé became the central primary document in my research.
I read numerous primary document articles that ran after the mass murder-suicide in late 1978. Many of them acknowledge that the media was manipulated by Jones and question what the media could have done differently. I also read analysis pieces, some of which were written more than five years after Jonestown.
My secondary sources include a book written by a church defector, Deborah Layton, who wrote an affidavit after fleeing Jonestown and recounts her experiences in a haunting memoir filled with details of the Temple's history. I also read "Raven" by Tim Reiterman, the San Francisco Chronicle journalist who was shot down with the Ryan delegation.
The New West exposé from the summer of 1977 and Tim Reiterman's "Raven" provided the best material for my analysis of the Peoples Temple media coverage.
I interviewed my dad–– who has extensive knowledge about the cult and followed the news he could get about Jonestown religiously. I also interviewed Tim Reiterman about his retrospective ideas about the Peoples Temple media coverage and his book. Another interesting communication history aspect I spoke with my interviewees about was why the Jonestown tragedy got so much media coverage but doesn't show up in textbooks.
I was fascinated to contrast Sharon's letters to her parents that raved about Jonestown with defector's accounts of abuse within the Temple.
•••
As former Temple member Garry Scarff wrote of his initial Peoples Temple defection for a Cult Awareness Network News publication in 1987,
"The aides forced me out of the room and downstairs. I resisted to no avail. They took me to a room and shoved me on the floor and discussed how I should be punished.
They were enjoying this. One of them produced a gun and taunted me with it, pointing it at me and clicking the trigger. I was scared and crying. They were laughing and calling me names. They decided to 'box me.'
One of the aides started punching me with his fists. The aide with the gun told me that after they were through, they were going to shoot me in the crotch to cure me of my homosexuality. They were really laughing now."
•••
Marshall Kilduff's exposé became the central primary document in my research.
I read numerous primary document articles that ran after the mass murder-suicide in late 1978. Many of them acknowledge that the media was manipulated by Jones and question what the media could have done differently. I also read analysis pieces, some of which were written more than five years after Jonestown.
My secondary sources include a book written by a church defector, Deborah Layton, who wrote an affidavit after fleeing Jonestown and recounts her experiences in a haunting memoir filled with details of the Temple's history. I also read "Raven" by Tim Reiterman, the San Francisco Chronicle journalist who was shot down with the Ryan delegation.
The New West exposé from the summer of 1977 and Tim Reiterman's "Raven" provided the best material for my analysis of the Peoples Temple media coverage.
I interviewed my dad–– who has extensive knowledge about the cult and followed the news he could get about Jonestown religiously. I also interviewed Tim Reiterman about his retrospective ideas about the Peoples Temple media coverage and his book. Another interesting communication history aspect I spoke with my interviewees about was why the Jonestown tragedy got so much media coverage but doesn't show up in textbooks.
I was fascinated to contrast Sharon's letters to her parents that raved about Jonestown with defector's accounts of abuse within the Temple.
•••
As former Temple member Garry Scarff wrote of his initial Peoples Temple defection for a Cult Awareness Network News publication in 1987,
"The aides forced me out of the room and downstairs. I resisted to no avail. They took me to a room and shoved me on the floor and discussed how I should be punished.
They were enjoying this. One of them produced a gun and taunted me with it, pointing it at me and clicking the trigger. I was scared and crying. They were laughing and calling me names. They decided to 'box me.'
One of the aides started punching me with his fists. The aide with the gun told me that after they were through, they were going to shoot me in the crotch to cure me of my homosexuality. They were really laughing now."
•••
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