BB-7-D29
Peoples Temple Press Release Regarding October 1978 Press Conference
PRESS CONFERENCE
Tuesday, October 3, 1978
10 A.M.
Peoples Temple
1859 Geary Blvd.
San Francisco, California
Contact: Laurie Efrein, 922-6418
Two of America’s leading investigators, Mark Lane and Donald Freed, have just returned from the Peoples Temple Agricultural Project at Jonestown, Guyana. Both are members of the Citizens Commission of Inquiry, who has conducted independent investigations in the United States for the past fifteen years. Mr. Lane is founder and Director of the organization. Mr. Lane and Mr. Freed are presently conducting an in-depth investigation of the conspiracy against the Peoples Temple church, and will give the first report on their explosive findings at the press conference.
Mark Lane is a former member of the New York State Legislature, and the author of several books, including Rush to Judgment, Executive Action, and Code Name Zorro. He is currently representing James Earl Ray in the Martin Luther King assassination case. He flew directly to Guyana following his appearance with Mr. Ray before the House Select Committee on Assassinations, met with government officials in the Guyanese capital, and also lived t Jonestown for several days. Donald Freed, the author of The Glass House Tapes, also recently spent several days at Jonestown, learning about the project and coordinating material for his investigation.
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BB-7-D31
List of media personnel present for press conference
KTVU-TV, Channel 2: Isabel Duron.
KPIX-TV, Channel 5: Maralee Beck, Gerd Rausch
KGO-TV, Channel 7: Steve Davis
KSFO: Bonnie Chastain
KPFA: Max Schwartz
KSAN: Larry Banley (?)
KCBS News radio, telephone interview expected with Deborah Chan (not at press conference)
KPOO: Terry Collins
Examiner: Bill Boldenweese (?? something like that)
Chronicle: Ralph Craig, John O’Hara
National Guardian: Morris Wright
Bay Guardian: Bob Levering
Sun Reporter: Peter Magnani
Progress: E. Cahill Maloney
Mass Response (newspaper?): Willie Hindmon
Barb: Bernard Bauer
Black Panther Paper: Jonina Abrom, Donald Cunningham
Free lance, or extra people: Nat Yanish, Ben Miller, Jesse James from the Temple Beautiful, a religious group in Chico
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BB-7-D30
[Editor’s note: This letter also appears at BB-7-D32]
Typed Transcription of Radio Broadcoasts
October 3, 1978
KSFO Radio 2pm news, woman reporter.
Transcription begins shortly after the news comentary begins…
KSFO: “…conspiracy theory in the assinations of both John Kennedy and Martin Luther King. Today when he presented a new theory of o conspiracy…
Mark Lane: “We have now completed independent investigation into the charges against Peoples Temple, Jim Jones and Jonestown, and we have concluded that there is no substance to those charges. That those charges are false, first of all. Secondly, our inquiry has led us to conclude that intelligence organizations and other organizations of the United States government have been involved in an effort to destroy Jonestown and the Peoples Temple and Jim Jones.
KSFO: “Lane said he is gathering proof of that conspiracy which will form the basis for a multi-milion dollar suit against the federal government and its various agencies on behalf of the Peoples Temple.”
KSFO made no mention of the press conference on their 3, 4, or 5pm news broadcasts.
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BB-7-D33
Report on Radio News Coverage of Press Conference
Tim Clancey did this from memory – not taped
KSAN Radio News Broadcast 10-3-78
The two guys who were at the press conference did the news spot on the radio. Though they played several excerpts from their tape of the conference, about the conspiracy and the plans to sue the various agencies of government responsible, their side comments were negative. They said Lane spent a lot of time trying to discredit [Ukiah Journal reporter] Kathy Hunter, and that several of the networks had been turned down on their requests to film the project. He also attacked Lane’s credibility as an investigator because of the Dean Cowden incident during the Congressional hearings. The parting comment was that, “Does this mean we’re supposed to believe that all the reporters who worked on this story are CIA agents?”