2 August 2007

Alert

Newspaper editor gunned down in Oakland


Incident details

Chauncey Bailey

editor(s)

killed
(CPJ/IFEX) - The following is a CPJ press release:

U.S. editor gunned down in Oakland

New York, August 2, 2007 - U.S. journalist Chauncey Bailey was shot to death this morning on a street in downtown Oakland. The Committee to Protect Journalists expressed alarm and called on local authorities today to conduct a prompt and vigorous investigation into his murder.

Around 7:30 a.m., an unidentified assailant dressed in black clothes approached Bailey, editor of the weekly paper Oakland Post, while he was on his way to work, according to press reports and CPJ interviews. The gunman shot Bailey multiple times at close range before fleeing on foot, Oakland police spokesman Roland Holmgren told CPJ. Bailey was pronounced dead at the scene.

Holmgren told CPJ that investigators believe Bailey's shooting was not a random act. "He was apparently targeted," Holmgren said. Investigators have not established a motive but are looking at Bailey's journalism as a possibility, he said. John Bowens, advertising director at the Oakland Post, said that colleagues at the paper "had no idea what the motive could be," the San Francisco Chronicle reported.

Bailey, 58, a veteran television and print journalist in California's Bay Area, had covered a variety of issues including city politics and crime, Holmgren said. He had been named editor of the Oakland Post in June. Bailey was an assertive reporter who was respected by his peers, the police spokesman said. Bailey had previously worked as a reporter for the Oakland Tribune, covering African American issues, according to press reports.

"We are deeply troubled by the murder of Chauncey Bailey and we urge the local authorities to conduct a complete and vigorous investigation into his death," said CPJ Executive Director Joel Simon. "The killing of journalists in the U.S. is rare and is certainly alarming."

CPJ will continue to investigate all possible links between Bailey's slaying and his journalistic work.

Few journalists haven been killed in the line of duty in the United States in recent years, CPJ research shows. In 2001, freelance photographer William Biggart was killed in the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center, and Robert Stevens, a photo editor at The Sun, died of inhalation anthrax in Boca Raton, Fla.

The last targeted assassination of a journalist occurred in 1993 when radio reporter Dona St. Plite, a Miami radio reporter of Haitian descent, was gunned down at a benefit. The period from 1976 to 1993 saw a total of 12 journalist killings. A 1993 CPJ report, Silenced: The Unsolved Murders of Immigrant Journalists in the United States, found that in all but one case, the victims were immigrant journalists working in languages other than English. Most received little or no national media attention.

CPJ is a New York-based, independent, nonprofit organization that works to safeguard press freedom around the world.



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Updates to this story

Four years after the crime, two men get life sentences for Chauncey Bailey's murder 30 August 2011 Lack of police transparency in Chauncey Bailey case hindered freedom of information, says RSF 4 August 2011 RSF concerned over possible postponement of Bailey trial 21 May 2010 Trial of suspected perpetrator of Chauncey Bailey's murder begins 26 May 2009 New evidence in murder case of "Oakland Post" reporter Chauncey Bailey implicates Yusuf Bey IV 9 March 2009 Murder of Chauncey Bailey could have been avoided, says RSF 22 December 2008 New investigation into Chauncey Bailey murder to take place 5 November 2008 Bay Area journalists find more troubling irregularities in Chauncey Bailey murder investigation 29 October 2008 One year after journalist Chauncey Bailey's murder, impunity prevails; RSF launches petition calling for justice 1 August 2008 "Oakland Post" publisher target of murder plot amid complications in probe of editor's murder 31 January 2008 Suspect confesses to Oakland editor's murder 7 August 2007

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