How a Local Blog Broke the Kelly Thomas Story

The pretrial hearing for excessive force and murder charges filed against Officer Manuel Ramos and Cpl. Jay Cicinelli in the death of Kelly Thomas begins November 4, 2011. Thomas was a 37 year old schizophrenic drifter who was beaten to death by officers at a Fullerton, California, bus depot in July 2011 .

The charges came down after multiple headlines were made, not by local media, but by a local small-government blog in Fullerton called Friends for Fullerton's Future . The blog was the first to publish a horrific picture of Thomas in the hospital and a chilling video of the incident captured by a cell phone video camera.

"The picture was so horrific that the local news channels wouldn't show it and a lot of times they don't think there is much of a story there because they get the police version of the story," says Travis Kiger, a blogger at Friends for Fullerton's Future.

Kiger and Chris Thompson, also a blogger, sat down with Reason TV to talk about how the blog broke the story and what they think contributed to the international media attention.

Topics include: The lack of public information in the city of Fullerton; the decline of local media; reaction to charges filed by district attorney Tony Rackauckas; and how citizens can keep government accountable in their own cities.

Approximately 8:05 minutes.

Interview by Paul Detrick. Shot by Sharif Matar and Tracy Oppenheimer. Edited by Detrick

Related:

Cops Vs. Cameras: The Killing of Kelly Thomas & The Power of New Media

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