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When the windows were broken Downtown late 5/30 and early 6/1—and very few reporters were there—I was astonished at the headlines everywhere the next day about protests of thousands of people erupting in violence. 1/?
The protest had been over for hours. Even the cruise was over. What was left was maybe 100 people Downtown, with, IDK, 10 or 20 breaking windows? ... 2/?
That misreporting creates strong fear among everyone who wasn't there. Fear created by people who weren't there.
It opens the door to the federal police being called here to help with our "out-of-control" city ... 3/?
It opens the door to the federal police being called here to help with our "out-of-control" city ... 3/?
So if I could just implore reporters to stay for the whole event (or as much of it as they can without getting hurt), and to report, truly what they see and understand, it's going to be important. ... 4/?
I know a lot of reporters aren't from here. They're stopping through in a mid-size market on their way to a bigger gig. But it's everyone who keeps living here after they're gone who deals with the consequences. ... 5/?
Talking to my family, it's hard for me to convince people who care about me why I have to go out there, and why I feel like I have to stay out there and live-stream. But that's it. Really that's it. Overblown fears of protest violence breed police crackdowns. ... 6/?
So let's do our part, reporters, and bother to see the truth and tell the truth in these coming weeks and months. Get the first-day headline right. Don't wait until hours after the paper's in the stands or the broadcast has aired to roll it back online. ... 7/?
It's so much harder to get things right if you didn't see it yourself, but you're scrambling to have something because it turned out to be a big deal. I've been there. ... 8/?
The day after the broken windows and fire Downtown, I was live-streaming the empty streets that were being cleaned up, because I wanted people to know everything was still there. It was all pretty much back to normal—with some boards on windows. .... 9/?
Those morning live-streams got maybe 20 views, while the ones from the previous night got thousands. ... 10/11
Who wants to sit around and watch a peaceful morning in Albuquerque? 11/11