The American Journalism Review features the Chauncey Bailey Project in its August/September issue, with senior writer Sherry Ricchiardi calling it “the biggest journalistic show of force since 1976.”
From AJR:
During the past 10 months, media professionals in the Bay Area have taken collaborative journalism to new heights as they produced more than 140 stories related to Your Black Muslim Bakery and Bailey’s assassination.
It’s the biggest journalistic show of force since 1976, when reporter Don Bolles’ car was blown up by a bomb while he was investigating organized crime in Phoenix. Journalists from all over the country gathered to continue Bolles’ work under the banner of the Arizona Project.
At the first anniversary of Bailey’s death, reporters continue to peel away layers of intrigue about a Bay Area crime family that for years confounded Oakland police and city officials. Leadership of Your Black Muslim Bakery, founded by Yusuf Ali Bey in 1971, has been implicated in such crimes as torture, murder and child rape.
As the project broke important stories, a one-for-all-and-all-for-one mentality took hold among the core group of reporters and news managers. “We’re competitive with each other until something like this befalls one of us,” says [Oakland Tribune reporter Josh] Richman, who has devoted large blocks of time to the investigation. “Then we work as a team to get to the truth.”
More recent news on the Chauncey Bailey Project:
>The National Association of Black Journalists has honored the project with its Best Practices Award, reports the Oakland Tribune:
“It is horrendous when a journalist is killed for reporting on a story that needs to be told,” said Barbara Ciara, president of the association. “This is really something that deserves to be honored, so it was an easy decision.”
>The trial of Devaundre Broussard, the bakery handyman charged with murder in the 2007 slaying who since recanted, has been postponed. From the Oakland Tribune:
Judge C. Don Clay granted the delay to allow Broussard’s attorney, LeRue Grim, more time to review evidence in the case. Clay set Sept. 19 for a hearing to set a trial date.
According to Grim, the secret police video released by the Chauncey Bailey Project on June 18 may exonerate his client. From KCBS:
Grim claims law enforcement videotape shows Devaughndre Broussard was ordered by Yusuf Bey IV, the leader of the now-defunct Your Black Muslim Bakery, to falsely confess to Bailey’s murder.
Watch the video or share it with others on Vimeo, YouTube or blip.tv.
See more stories by the Chauncey Bailey Project.
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