Activist's Handbook by Randy Shaw

Author:Randy Shaw
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780520274051
Publisher: University of California Press

Using Investigative Reporters

In today’s media environment, “investigative reporting” often means getting the scoop on the latest celebrity to enter rehab or photos of a movie star in the corner of a restaurant kissing someone other than their romantic partner. Celebrity investigative journalism now dominates a field whose exposés about defective products and political corruption once inspired many to become journalists, and that uncovered facts impacting people’s lives. But thanks to fierce competition for “breaking news” and to online sources churning through stories at breakneck speed, serious investigative reporting is on the rebound. Activists should consider using investigative reporters to help achieve their goals.

My own experience working with the nationally acclaimed Center for Investigative Reporting (CIR) has led me to conclude that investigative journalists can have such a powerful impact on social change efforts that organizations should always consider calling upon them. I learned firsthand of the value of investigative journalism during the Tenderloin Housing Clinic’s battle with the late Guenter Kaussen, a man characterized in various news reports as “the world’s largest slumlord.” This battle began with a small Tenderloin press conference, grew to an international story that received coverage on both West German national television stations and on CBS’s 60 Minutes, and ended with Kaussen’s suicide as his real estate empire slid into bankruptcy.

Although there is a certain glamour and excitement that come from such big-time coverage, attracting the likes of 60 Minutes to the story didn’t yield any special victories for Tenderloin residents or help accomplish any strategic goals. The intense local coverage, however, apparently inspired the German television coverage, all of which contributed to the downfall of Kaussen and the improvement of conditions for his tenants in the Tenderloin, which was our goal. The genesis and development of the story is instructive.

Known as the “German Howard Hughes” for his secretive business practices and his estimated $500 million fortune, Kaussen was Germany’s largest apartment owner when the Clinic began its fight with him in 1983. He also had significant holdings in Vancouver and Atlanta and owned twenty-three large apartment buildings in San Francisco, including fourteen properties containing more than 1,100 apartment units in the Tenderloin neighborhood. I became involved with Kaussen after Cambodian tenants living in one of his buildings contacted me. Kaussen’s management company had issued eviction notices for nonpayment of rent to many of the Cambodian families. However, all of the families had paid their rent and had the receipts to prove it. The Clinic and some Cambodian tenants held a press conference and rally in front of the apartment building to demand that Kaussen rescind the eviction notices. There was certainly nothing innovative about this strategy, but as a protest by Cambodian tenants—widely but falsely viewed as afraid to fight for their rights—the event had enough of an angle to attract one television reporter.

When I saw the TV crew (more intimidating to wrongdoers than print reporters wielding mere notebooks), I assumed we would win a quick victory: management would withdraw the notices and apologize for the error, and the tenants would go on with their lives.

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