Countering Censorship with Sunshine: Hosts Ambushed After Call Dump

by Garret Ean | Jan 12, 2013 | 8 comments

In early October of last year, Chalk the Police Day was celebrated internationally. Readers of this blog may remember the story of a particularly pushy bureaucrat who called the police on chalkers — only to have police join the fun!

I’ve seen Andy a few times since this encounter. He was present at the opening of the pedestrian North Bridge and also at a recent city council committee meeting that I had attended. He’s never taken the opportunity to apologize for his behavior. Even if you accidentally bump someone or their property, the courteous thing to do is to square up on the mistake. So when I heard Andy would be on WKBK’s Talkback this morning, I tuned in.

I listened as a friend call in about the video and asked if Andy had anything to say about it. He chose to say nothing beyond that he had “learned from it” and was moving on. I decided to call in and hold his feet to the fire. The audio will be available once the show’s podcast is posted. After I prompt Andy to reflect on the video and consider apologizing, my call is hung up on. Hearing the radio after the call, the hosts imply that some people ‘harass’ city officials. Derrick J called in soon after that, and asked why the hosts were characterizing others as harassing, when it was the Parks and Recreation director who had engaged in unprivileged physical contact.

Why do you think it’s appropriate to act in an official capacity while intentionally concealing your identity badge?

At that, Cynthia responded, “I don’t want to talk about this”, and he was hung up on. I called in shortly after that, and should have been recording, because my approximately 10-20 second call was not just hung up on, but dumped, meaning it was erased from broadcast. Listening to the radio, you would hear the seconds before my call, and the seconds immediately after. (more…)