November 25, 2007
Glenn Beck is the latest CNN host to look for ratings on the border, with a November offensive in which he stirs up fears of a nation at war on its southern border. Border residents are firing back, setting up a back and forth that has led to hate mail and death threats for border officials and media.
On his show, titled Border Crisis: True Stories from the Border, Beck portrayed the border -- and in particular, the community of Laredo and Nuevo Laredo -- as an area out of control, with the Border Patrol under assault from criminals and government heavy-handedness and civilians at risk of rape, murder and kidnap.
Melinda Barrera, publisher of the Rio Grande Guardian, responded to him with her column, La Chancla. “I honestly do not believe that people in different parts of this country understand us. These people who are criticizing our border communities build fences in their own backyards to keep from knowing their neighbors and to insulate themselves from the crime in their communities. Our fences are often short and chain linked so we can see our neighbor and stand and talk with them and pass our delicious homemade food back and forth for each other to enjoy. We laugh with our neighbors. We live and learn and stand together with our neighbors. We know each other’s histories and we care deeply about each other’s children and jobs and homes and health. We don’t build walls like the Beck listeners do. They hide from life and we embrace it, and each other!” she wrote.
Beck then linked to her column on his website. The Guardian received more than 500,000 hits in a single day, the publication reported. Along with these came plenty of death threats and hate mail.
Laredo Mayor Raul Salinas spoke out against the coverage and defended his city as a guest on Beck’s show. After the show, in an interview with the Guardian, Salinas said “(Border city mayors) need to ignore (Beck) because they’re not going to win. They don't let you speak.”
As a result of his appearance on the show, Salinas told the Guardian, he has received more than 1,000 e-mails in the space of a week, some of which directly threaten him. He has said that he will seek legal action against some of the senders.
The Guardian also reports that U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Laredo, has been the target of hate mail after appearing on Beck’s show.
Beck -- who apparently never has been to the border -- has been invited by Salinas to visit.
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More Beck ... the CNN transcript of his show (see link above, about halfway through) had Sheriff Arvin West of Hudspeth County claiming that a KFOX-Channel 14 reporter was backed off a story in spring 2006 about the Mexican military protecting drug crossers .
"KFOX was real hot and heavy on this. And they -- as a matter of fact, they covered it a couple days after the incident that we had with the military. And there was military right on the border then right after the Mexican government said they were not allowed within three miles or three kilometers from the border. But actually the next -- a couple days later they caught them right there on the border and videoed them.
"Now, one of the reporters, the investigative reporters that worked for them, was told to back off because of threats and because of fear that they may do something to either the studio or the people at the studio," West said.
Elizabeth O'Hara, the news director at KFOX, said that wasn't so.
"We were on this story for months after we initially broke it. Ben (Swann) went to Houston to cover the sub-committee hearings and then I went to D.C. to cover the Senate hearing. Following that, we had reporters in the area and reported on subsequent developments for sometime afterward.
"As for our safety, there wasn’t an increase in security so much as in awareness. But we were never once threatened, and we never told anyone to back off coverage," O'Hara said.
But Ben Swann, who now works for KVIA-Channel 7 as a photographer and quality-control manager until he is free from a non-compete clause after leaving KFOX, said he was told to "back off until things cooled down." Swann left KFOX in a tense parting after he and station management could not agree on a new contract.
O'Hara, a reporter and anchor at the time, might not have known the extent of the conversations, Swann said.
"I was very proud of our coverage over the course of that incident, but it's no surprise to anyone that ... whether or not the military is involved or the Zetas, there's so much to be covered, and the natural story would be to follow those issues," Swann said. "And that's where I think the station got uncomfortable, especially dealing with cartels."
Then-News Director Dave Bennallack, now in Dayton, Oh., said that "we didn't tell anybody to back off coverage," but that Swann might be thinking of one story in particular. Bennallack said the station received a tip about a drug crossing route, but that it was in a very secluded area, and the tip was questionable.
"We talked about it for a while, how do it without putting our crew in danger, and I thought I don’t see a way to do it," Bennallack said. "Looking back, maybe it was overcautious, but I'd rather be overcautious."
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Not much love this week ... from a reader, "Kisses to KINT for their week long coverage on Immigration and Border Security. Exclusive inside look at the Immigration detention center, an interview with a woman held there who lost her baby while detained and had to keep it insider her body for a month because of inadequate medical attention. Taking us inside the center, border patrol academy and the border area of Ft. Hancock where drug runners run wild. Tierra de Nadie"
... But at least no hate this week (well, unless you count this letter to El Paso Inc).
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