{"id":28315,"date":"2013-06-16T00:18:53","date_gmt":"2013-06-16T00:18:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/alternativejonestown.com\/?page_id=28315"},"modified":"2016-03-06T23:35:46","modified_gmt":"2016-03-06T23:35:46","slug":"907-2","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/?page_id=28315","title":{"rendered":"Q907 Summary"},"content":{"rendered":"

Summary prepared by Fielding M. McGehee III. If you use this material, please credit The Jonestown Institute. Thank you.<\/strong><\/i><\/p>\n

To read the Tape Transcript, click here<\/a>. Listen to MP3<\/a>.
\nTo return to the Tape Index, click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

FBI Catalogue<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Identified Individuals Speaking<\/p>\n

FBI preliminary tape identification note: <\/strong>None<\/p>\n

Date cues on tape:<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0mid-April 1978 (eight months after publication of New West<\/em> article; references to head of Guyana Livestock Corporation date from this period as well)<\/p>\n

People named:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Public figures\/National and international names:<\/em>
\nDr. Peter Fernandes, head of Guyana Livestock Board
\nRev. Sun Myung Moon, head of Unification Church
\nCharles Garry, Temple attorney<\/p>\n

Temple adversaries; members of Concerned Relatives:<\/em>
\nGrace Stoen
\nTim Stoen
\nWalter \u201cSmitty\u201d Jones (by reference)<\/p>\n

Temple members:<\/em>
\nSandy Bradshaw (speaks)<\/strong><\/p>\n

Jonestown residents:<\/em>
\nMarceline Jones
\nMike Prokes
\nJohn Victor Stoen (by reference)<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

Bible verses cited:<\/strong> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0None<\/p>\n

Summary:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Temple member Sandy Bradshaw talks to a broadcast reporter about making a television documentary about Peoples Temple.<\/p>\n

The reporter \u2013 who is never addressed by name during the 30-minute telephone conversation \u2013 has been a friend of the Temple and of Jim Jones since its Redwood Valley days. By his own admission, he has purposefully distanced himself from investigating the allegations raised in the New West<\/em> article some eight months prior to this call. As a result, he has also heard little about the scope of the Jonestown agricultural project, although he is audibly impressed when Bradshaw talks about the facilities, the acreage in cultivation, and the population that the community supports.<\/p>\n

Bradshaw wants not only editorial control over the project \u2013 she wants to approve ground rules for the documentary \u201cin writing\u201d before they start, she wants to review the final script before it airs \u2013 but also control over the logistics of the filming, such as the length of time it would take and the make-up of the television crew which would go to Jonestown. She dismisses questions about some aspects of the Temple\u2019s recent history \u2013 such as the allegations raised in New West<\/em> \u2013 as absurd, and asserts that pursuing them would dignify the questions themselves. Instead, as she indicates repeatedly, the final work is to be about the \u201cselfless\u201d work Jim Jones has done and how that work reflects the strength of his own character and integrity.<\/p>\n

The major difference in the approach that Bradshaw wants to steer the documentary and the off-the-cuff ideas that the reporter might have for it, is in how to address the negative publicity Jonestown has received. Bradshaw wants the documentary to show how happy and healthy everyone in the community is; the reporter wants unfettered access to Jim Jones, to random Jonestown residents, and even to John Victor Stoen, the subject of the child custody suit which now underlies all discussion of the Temple.<\/p>\n

The reality that the two parties are talking about different completed works becomes most apparent near the end of the conversation, even if the two people don\u2019t realize it \u2013 or at least spell it out \u2013 themselves. Bradshaw wants to commission a professionally-shot (and vetted) propaganda piece, the costs of which the Temple will underwrite. The newsman wants to do a five-part news special, culminating with a half-hour interview with Jones, to run on his station. This becomes obvious when Bradshaw starts talking about the financial aspects of the proposal, and the reporter replies that money isn\u2019t the issue, that what he needs to do is clear the idea with the station.<\/p>\n

For all the experience and ability the Temple supposedly had in wooing the media and cultivating its contacts so that stories about it would be favorable, the phone call reveals an approach in press relations which is both na\u00efve and heavy-handed. Bradshaw reminds the reporter that they have always stood for freedom of the press, suggesting that that support should give them some deference. She dismisses Temple critics as \u201cdissenters and liars\u201d whose backgrounds should be investigated to reveal their real motives. Jim Jones\u2019 version of the circumstances of John Victor Stoen\u2019s paternity might seem like adultery to the rest of the world, she tacitly acknowledges, \u201cunless you\u2019re a leader of thousands of people who look up to you and who you know will be hurt, unless you make this sacrifice.\u201d\u00a0 Finally, even as she denigrates the other media outlets, she butters up the reporter over and over. \u201cJim has\u00a0 spoken of your sensitivity over the years,\u201d she says early in the conversation, \u201cand I can remember repeatedly hearing him speak of you with fondness.\u201d She reinforces the point \u2013 and the reason for it \u2013 later. \u201cI think he believes that you would be sensitive enough to present his honesty in an objective way.\u201d<\/p>\n

Whatever negotiations followed from this conversation, no Bay Area reporters or camera crews went down to the Jonestown project, and the documentary that Bradshaw envisioned was never made.<\/p>\n

FBI Summary:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Date of transcription: 6\/19\/79<\/p>\n

In connection with the Federal Bureau of Investigation\u2019s investigation into the assassination of U.S. Congressman LEO J. RYAN at Port Kaituma, Guyana, South America, on November 18, 1978, a tape recording was obtained. This tape recording was located in Jonestown, Guyana, South America, and was turned over to U.S. Officials in Guyana and subsequently transported to the United States.<\/p>\n

On June 11, 1979, Special Agent (name deleted) reviewed the tape number 1B10241. This tape was found to contain the following: A call from SANDY BRADSHAW of the Temple to a television newsman friend of JIM JONES soliciting a television documentary on the Temple.<\/p>\n

Differences with FBI Summary:<\/strong><\/p>\n

The summary is accurate and meets the FBI\u2019s purposes.<\/p>\n

Tape originally posted January 2013<\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Summary prepared by Fielding M. McGehee III. If you use this material, please credit The Jonestown Institute. Thank you. To read the Tape Transcript, click here. Listen to MP3. To return to the Tape Index, click here. FBI Catalogue\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Identified Individuals Speaking FBI preliminary tape identification note: None Date cues on tape:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0mid-April 1978 (eight months after […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"parent":27996,"menu_order":600,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-28315","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/28315","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=28315"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/28315\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":66584,"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/28315\/revisions\/66584"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/27996"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=28315"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}