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.