Background: Peoples Temple Media Coverage Significance

Initial Research Question: How did the media coverage of the Peoples Temple cult change after its leader and many of its members moved from San Francisco to Guyana to create a community called Jonestown?

Final Research Question: How did the New West Magazine exposé, "Inside the Peoples Temple," change the media coverage of the bay area cult that relocated to Jonestown, Guyana in the late 1970s?

Jim Jones was a charismatic preacher who created a large religious following in Indiana and California during the 1960s and 1970s that became known as the Peoples Temple. The group, that we now consider a cult, later committed mass murder-suicide in South America.

Jones had a good reputation in the Bay Area where his congregation was initially likened to the famous Glide Memorial Methodist Church and government officials praised his work by appointing him to public committees. His congregation included many black members and attracted young idealists and humanitarians who sought meaning in their lives during the post-Vietnam era.

But, in the 1970s, Jones faced tax evasion allegations, sex and abuse scandals and increased public scrutiny.

Despite the media's conversations about Jones and questions about his church, the Peoples Temple was a force that held considerable political power in San Francisco with its large congregation. Jones and his Temple members manipulated the local government and media with threats.

As a result, local journalists struggled to investigate and report on The Peoples Temple. Most early articles about the group were watered down.

In 1977, a New West Magazine exposé raised critical thought among Americans, especially in the Bay Area, about the Peoples Temple, its leader and its practices. It took the courage and persistence of Bay Area journalist Marshall Kilduff to investigate the Peoples Temple, patiently interview terrified church defectors, pitch his story to numerous publications that turned him down, and finally get an in-depth article published.

The article, “Inside Peoples Temple,” with an additional section, “Why Jim Jones Should Be Investigated,” wrecked havoc on the Peoples Temple reputation, which had been good, generally, and Jones preemptively shuttled his congregation down to “Jonestown,” Guyana where he and some Temple members were preparing “paradise on earth” in the isolated jungle.

The exposé dramatically altered the media's coverage of the People's Temple–– enabling journalists to write more critically of it–– and contributed to Jones' growing fear of the media.

Beyond affecting Jones and the Temple, the exposé concerned the families and friends of Temple members, especially when their loved ones moved to Jonestown without giving notice.

Jonestown, Guyana was far from paradise. Food was scarce, labor was intensive and the living quarters were crammed. Jones carefully monitored the information sent from Guyana to the United States and vice versa; news from Jonestown was scarce.

Gradually, after the New West exposé and Jones' move to South America with nearly 1,000 Temple members, more and more church defectors spoke with the media and government. They claimed allegations of human rights violations and concerns that the lives of Temple members could be in danger under Jones' leadership. Among these defectors was Deborah Layton, one of Jones' top aides who wrote an affadavit.

Media coverage of the People's Temple then became more critical and concerned, although many family members and friends of those Temple members who relocated to Jonestown claim that they struggled to find enough information in the news. The loved ones fretted as they carefully followed whatever news they could gather in San Francisco. Some family members began the Concerned Relatives group that lobbied for the government to investigate Jonestown.

Beside the New West exposé, another pivotal moment in the media coverage of the Peoples Temple came in mid November of 1978, when Congressman Leo Ryan and a delegation including government officials, concerned family members and media representatives flew to Guyana to investigate allegations of human rights violations against Jones and his top aides.

Tensions were high while Ryan and his delegation visited. It was the first time the United States government and media had a glimpse of Jonestown and Jones found their presence invasive and threatening. During the visit, 14 Temple members pleaded with Ryan to flee Jonestown with his group. Jones granted their requests but felt betrayed by what he considered their “defection.”

During their trip back to the Kaituma airstrip where they were to fly to Georgetown, Guyana and then the U.S., Ryan and five others–– NBC reporter Don Harris, cameraman Bob Brown, San Francisco Examiner photographer Greg Robinson and Temple defector Patricia Parks–– were killed and nine were injured by Temple loyalists who followed and shot at them.

Within hours, Jones directed the Peoples Temple to commit “revolutionary suicide.” He had trained them before with his "white nights." To test his congregation's loyalty, he would serve them punch and announce it was poisoned, even though it wasn't. Jones told the people that dying was their only way to leave behind racism and oppression. Essentially, they would die for "the cause." Jones' cause.

November 18th, 1978 wasn't a practice.

Nurses prepared a vat of cyanide-laced Flavor-Aid. The Jonestown guards surrounded the perimeter of the main pavilion, where Jones gathered his members for their final loyalty test. They carried bows and arrows, guns and knives

Babies, young people, middle-aged people and elderly people were forced to drink the potion. Jones and his top aides died of gunshot wounds. All together, 913 Temple members perished.

Tim Reiterman, a San Francisco Chronicle reporter at the time, survived the Kaituma airstrip attack and captured photos of the violence aftermath. Two days later, in a Washington D.C. hospital, he handwrote articles and dictated them over the phone to the Chronicle. Later, he wrote a book about Jones and the People’s Temple called “Raven: The Untold Story The Rev. Jim Jones and His People.” Reiterman spent more than three years working on his book and conducted more than 800 interviews.

The media lost three reporters before the Jonestown tragedy. In the aftermath of the mass murder-suicide, news stations, newspapers and magazines sent reporters down to Guyana. Aerial photos of the pavilion surrounded with more than 900 bodies pervaded the news. After November 18th 1978, there was lots of coverage on the Peoples Temple and Jonestown, including analysis pieces intended to help the public grasp how and why such an atrocity could occur.

The post-Jonestown media coverage helped to spur a cult awareness movement. According to Gallup polls, Jonestown was an event that many remembered like Kennedy's assassination.

Many docudramas and "quickie" books came out in the early 1980s. During the past several years, several documentaries have come out and created a renewed interest in the Peoples Temple and Jonestown for generations who did not live through the tragedy.

-My secondary sources and interviewees conclude that the New West Magazine expose and the Ryan delegation's investigation of Jonestown were the two most pivotal moments in the media coverage of the Peoples Temple.
Secondary sources: 1,2,3,4. Primary sources 4,10.