Is it my breath? or the travails of alternative advocacy journalism.
Sometimes I feel like the Rodney Dangerfield of alternative advocacy journalism. I just don’t get no respect, especially from drug reform foes (for some reason). The two big stories I'm working on this week are the marijuana initiatives in Colorado and Nevada, where big fights are brewing. Here is a list of people or organizations involved in trying to defeat the initiatives who either refused to talk to me or failed to respond to repeated calls about their efforts:
The Denver DEA—their public information officer is out of town this week, and I must go through him.
Colorado Lt. Gov. Jane Norton's office—they recommended I talk to other opponents.
Rob McGuire of Stop Amendment 44—three calls went unreturned.
The Delta/Montrose County Drug Task Force—I'm still waiting for that return call.
Las Vegas Police Lt. Stan Olsen—didn’t respond to two calls.
The Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce—no response to two calls.
The North Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce—no response to one call.
The Reno Sparks Chamber of Commerce—no response to two calls.
The spokesman for Nevada Communities Against Marijuana—no phone number listed on the web site, no response to two email requests.
I would like to incorporate what they say into my articles, I really would. But I can't make 'em talk to me. Sometimes when this occurs, I grab a quote from some publication they deemed talk-worthy. Other times, I just say "fuck 'em;" they get to spew their bullshit in enough venues already. Plus, I usually know what they're going to say anyway. Still, even advocacy journalism strives for balance--if it wants to be good advocacy journalism--and if I had my druthers, I'd be talking to these folks.
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If it makes you feel any better
Phil,
I seem to get a similar response most of the time. My latest experience was while performing followup after I was recently invited to participate in a graduate-level, university focus group on drugs, education and the workforce. One of the women invited claimed to have interned at the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP). She stated that one of the things she learned at ONDCP was that more than 50% of the marijuana in the US is laced with things like PCP and cocaine. Total balony, of course -- so I called her out on it. She wouldn't/couldn't substantiate her claims, but she stuck by her assertion vehemently even as others found it extremely hard to believe (personal experience?). I called ONDCP and left lots of messages that were never returned. Then, I called one day and the receptionist put me directly through to the gentleman I was leaving messages with...perhaps he was expecting another call. He told me that he knew who I was and that he simply wasn't going to talk to me. Does ONDCP actually teach this to their employees and interns? We'll never know, and that's the way they like it. I figure their lies and refusal to acknowledge the truth will be their undoing. Perhaps we should build a section of the website that simply lists all the people who refuse to talk with us about various things...the public might find that interesting.
David A. Guard
Associate Director
DRCNet
it's the rush they get from bullying....
all of the above mentioned persons/organizations will probably NEVER talk to an informed and intelligent person who knows that they are not telling the truth; if you were calling to get information (they're take on it anyway) for a campaign against legalization of mj I'm sure they would talk all day to you, probably mail you a bunch of brochures.
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