Journalists for Mumia has just recieved word that the Dec.6 Today Show is set to feature the newly discovered crime scene photos, and a pre-taped interview of Mumia's lead attorney, Robert R. Bryan.
Today Show Update: Mumia's lawyer and new photos set to appear
By Abu-Jamal-News.com
Journalists for Mumia has just recieved word that the Dec.6 Today Show is set to feature the newly discovered crime scene photos, and a pre-taped interview of Mumia's lead attorney, Robert R. Bryan.
Today Show Update: Mumia's lawyer and new photos set to appear
by Journalists for Mumia, Abu-Jamal-News.com)
-----Download "Murdered by Mumia?" flyer: http://www.abu-jamal-news.com/flyerMBM.pdf
Journalists for Mumia just received word that:
1)The Dec. 6 Today Show (at 7:40 am) will be featuring the newly discovered crime scene photos taken by Pedro Polakoff. This is certainly good news. It is impossible to tell at this point, whether the photos will be presented fairly, but this is certainly a victory at some level, since, for over a year now, Journalists for Mumia and others have been working to publicize these photos, and to get the mainstream media to simply acknowledge them. It seems that today's article by Reuters news service, covering yesterday's "Murdered by Mumia?" press conference, was the "straw that broke the camel's back" since this serves to give the photos much more credibility in the eyes of the mainstream media. Of course, none of this would have been possible without the hard work of Mumia supporters all around the world, and particularly with the recent campaign to "ensure fairness" on The Today Show, these photos will finaly be recognized. It has been a pleasure working with so many folks in coalition on this campaign, and we'd like to thank the many supporters who have applied pressure to the mainstream media during this "newsworthy" week. --Of course, we will still have to see if the photos, and they key facts about them, are fairly represented.
2)The show will also feature a new interview with Mumia's lead attorney Robert R. Bryan, which was taped yesterday in San Francisco, to be featured on the Dec. 6 show at approximately 7:40 am. I just spoke to Mr. Bryan this Wednesday evening and he was concerned about being taped before-hand, because this allows the producers to potentially distort what he said. However, he consulted with Mumia about it and they mutually decided that "something is better than nothing," and to therefore go ahead with the interview, in hopes of getting a more balanced program. For more from Bryan, please see his official letter sent this evening
The NYC Free Mumia Coalition still urges supporters to picket at The Today Show in the morning at 7:15 AM. Suzanne Ross, of the NYC coalition says that "we are picketing to challenge the lies they're writing about Mumia's case, and to stand in solidarit with Mumia." They will be passing out an educational flyer confronting the "evidence" against Mumia listed on the "Murdered By Mumia" website. See FreeMumia.com
There will also be a mass-demonstration in Philadelphia on Saturday, Dec. 8: http://freemumia.com/dec82007.html
STATEMENT FROM ROBERT R. BRYAN:
Dear Friends:
My office was notified this afternoon that NBC's "Today Show" will air a segment on the case at 7:40 am (EST) tomorrow, December 6. Even though the focus will be on the book “Murdered By Mumia”, it should include a small portion of a taped interview with me. We have no control over what will be aired. One can only hope that it will include some of my more powerful comments. All Mumia and I ask is to be treated fairly and honestly.
I have read portions of the new book. It is replete with half-truths and distortions. Sadly there is an absence of concern for the true facts and that the trial was riddled by racism and fraud. Rather, the book’s focus is on vengeance, seeing Mumia die at the hands of the executioner irrespective of the truth. I do not intend to let that happen.
We continue to await a decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, Philadelphia. My goal remains to win a new and fair trial for Mumia. I will not rest until he is freed by a jury. I intend to see Mumia go home to his family.
Thank you for your concern in this quest for justice.
With best wishes,
Robert R. Bryan
Law Offices of Robert R. Bryan
2088 Union Street, Suite 4
San Francisco, California 94123
Lead counsel for Mumia Abu-Jamal
PRESS RELEASE FROM NYC:
Free Mumia Abu-Jamal Coalition (NYC)
Box 16 College Station
New York, NY 10030
Hotline: (212) 330-8029
December 5, 2007
For Immediate Release:
Contact: Suzanne Ross (917) 584-2135
Justin Lumumba (347) 267-8259
Picket to Be At NBC’s Today Show, December 6,
for Innocent Man on Death Row
The New York Post’s typically inflammatory language promotes confrontation outside NBC’s Today Show on December 6 with their fabricated story (12/3/07) that the Free Mumia Abu-Jamal Coalition (NYC) is “threatening to storm the streets of Rockefeller Center.” The Free Mumia Abu-Jamal Coalition (NYC) has called for a picket across the street from NBC on December 6 as part of a campaign to demand equal time on the Today Show, which is scheduled to host Maureen Faulkner and Michael Smerconish on that day to promote their new book, Murdered by Mumia.
In writing an article highlighting the scheduled picket at NBC, the Post never contacted the Free Mumia Abu-Jamal Coalition but, instead, provided yet another platform for Maureen Faulkner to express her desire for vengeance. Faulkner is the widow of Office Daniel Faulkner, who was killed on the night of December 9, 1981; his murder was a crime for which Mumia Abu-Jamal was convicted in a highly controversial trial. Amnesty International (AI), in a 2000 report, stated that the trial “failed to meet minimum standards safeguarding the fairness of legal proceedings” and that numerous factors “render the verdict and sentence fundamentally unsound.” AI called for a new and fair trial. Michael Smerconish is a Philadelphia talk show host, long allied with the Fraternal Order of Police and its campaign for the execution of Jamal.
Pam Africa and Cortnee Anderson of International Concerned Family and Friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal spoke last Friday with Jaclyn Levine, who is producing the December 6 program. They presented information dealing with the importance, in the interest of fairness and accuracy, of getting “equal time” on the Today Show. Levine promised to get back to them, but has yet to do so.
Press reviews of the book have already referred to Jamal, an author of five published books and a recipient of hundreds of honors and awards, including Honorary Citizenship of Paris in 2004, as a “thug.” Given ABC’s widely denounced 20-20 “hatchet job” of Jamal in 1998, Jamal supporters anticipate a similar presentation on the Today Show. Faulkner played a key role in the 20-20 program, as well, working closely with the Fraternal Order of Police, as the producer of that show acknowledged in writing. In several interviews in the past week, Faulkner has stated unequivocally that she wants to see Jamal dead, nothing short of that, and has given a hint of the distortions and lies that are to come by stating that he had "a jury of his own choosing." Racial bias on the part of the prosecutor in the selection of the jury is a critical issue being given serious consideration by the Third Circuit Court of Appeals, where Jamal’s case is current being reviewed. If racial bias is judged by this federal court as present in the selection of the jury, Jamal would be granted a new trial.
Journalistic fairness and accuracy call for “equal time” for those who have information that refutes the view that will be aired when Faulkner and Smerconish are on the show.
The Free Mumia Abu-Jamal Coalition will have a picket across the street from NBC in support of Jamal, in support of evidence that challenges what Faulkner and Smerconish regularly promulgate, and in support of fair media that allows the public to hear important information rather than only a very biased and distorted picture in a campaign for executing someone regardless of guilt or innocence.
For additional information see: www.freemumia.com or www.journalistsformumia.com
By Abu-Jamal-News.com http://freemumia.com
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Original: Today Show Update: Mumia's lawyer and new photos set to appear