All Blog Posts from Public Eye

It seems bloggers weren’t so happy with my observation that they had been “strangely silent” about documents released regarding Joel Hinrichs’ suicide. Hinrichs, you may remember, was the young man who blew himself up not far from a packed University of Oklahoma football game on October 2nd and set off a rash of terrorism theories in the blogosphere. Given all the attention paid to the story at that time, I did think it odd that nobody seemed eager to follow up on some of the information that had been publicly released.

Well, now they have, at least some of them. Michelle Malkin, who spearheaded the original collection of theories and discussion, has generously stepped up to the plate, despite the inconvenience. Here’s how she put her efforts to comb through some 350 pages of unsealed court documents:

“It would have been nice if an MSM outlet with boundless time, resources, and manpower -- say, CBS News -- had made the unsealed documents available to the public. But they didn't. So I spent several hours scanning and uploading as many of the records as I could.”

Michelle has made 94 pages available on her website as a public service. She does a tremendous amount of work for one person, but neither she nor anyone else should be under the illusion that CBS News has some unlimited amount of “time, resources and manpower” available.

Michelle then takes me to task for daring to suggest bloggers update their stories:

“Ververs does not say whether he or anyone else at his hallowed news network actually obtained or read the court records. If he hasn't done so, isn't his uninformed push for bloggers to ‘correct’ themselves, well, strange?”

I’ll give Michelle this, the word “correct” was not the best choice for the sentiment I wanted to convey. My point was, quite simply, that after all the provocative and downright scary theories of a terrorist plot to blow up a football stadium – some that included reported incidents at other universities, it would be appropriate to update those theories when new information became available.

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A good many bloggers had no problems theorizing about the intentions, motivations and connections of Joel Hinrichs in the days after he blew himself up outside of a University of Oklahoma football game. But they have been strangely silent since FBI documents relating to the incident were made public last week. The young man was clearly troubled and had a dangerous fondness for explosives, but the evidence doesn’t appear to go beyond that.



It may seem anti-climactic given all the talk about a possible connection between Hinrichs and terrorism, but those who engaged in that discussion should acknowledge this. After all, isn’t it just that accountability they demand of the MSM?

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Wall Street Journal reporters Ryan Chittum and Joe Hagen dive into the story and speculation surrounding the apparent suicide of Joel Hinrichs III outside the crowded University of Okalahoma football stadium on October 1st. (Hat tip to NRO’s Spruiell) The WSJ reporters describe some factors that have caused bloggers and some smaller media outlets to continue to buzz about the incident:

“Adding to community concern was the revelation that two days before he blew himself up, Mr. Hinrichs visited a feed store and inquired about buying ammonium nitrate -- the same chemical Timothy McVeigh put in the bomb he used in 1995 to blow up the Alfred P. Murrah federal building in Oklahoma City, 20 miles to the north. …



To that unsettling set of facts, blogs and local Oklahoma TV stations added several apparent inaccuracies, including: that Mr. Hinrichs was a Muslim and visited the mosque frequently; that he tried to enter the stadium twice but was rebuffed; that he had a one-way airplane ticket to Algeria; that there were nails in the bomb and that Islamic extremist literature was found in his apartment.



None of these claims are true: Mr. Hinrichs's family, university officials and the Federal Bureau of Investigation say Mr. Hinrichs suffered from depression, and the explosion was an isolated event.”

Earlier we noted the lack of MSM coverage of this story and commented it was worth airing whatever the facts may be. By putting to rest some of the rumors that have been circulating, the Journal story shows exactly why it was worth looking into. The article notes that the FBI investigation is nearly complete and acknowledges that not all skeptics will be put off by “any disputing of their claims.”



But it’s a step toward putting much of the conspiracy talk to rest. And an example of how MSM organizations have more to gain in engaging such stories than ignoring them and letting them fester.

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Has there been more happening at the University of Oklahoma than hazing and all-nighters? The blogosphere, led by Michelle Malkin, has been chronicling the suspicious explosion at the University of Oklahoma just over a week ago, and wondering why the big media doesn’t appear interested.



According to most reports, Joel Hinrichs III was a young man with a history of depression who used a homemade explosive device to commit suicide just 100 yards or so from the school’s football stadium, which was filled with over 80,000 people at the time. Officials were quick to call the incident a suicide, but rumors and reports of Hinrichs’ attempts to buy large quantities of ammonium nitrate and ties to the Muslim community have raised a lot of questions and the answers thus far are not forthcoming.



The Oklahoma Daily, OU’s independent campus paper, lays blame on the FBI today for the confusion:

Remember, the FBI has commandeered this investigation. In doing so and by not telling anyone anything, they are only allowing the events of Oct. 2 to be misinterpreted over and over by people who are firm in believing something that is false and terribly dangerous.


For example, unsubstantiated claims that Hinrichs had been frequenting the Norman mosque have managed to seep onto television news broadcasts even though everyone we have contacted at the mosque says Hinrichs was never seen there.


So who is lying? Inherently, people should perceive the unfounded news broadcasts as the liars, but that doesn’t always happen. And even if only one person sees and believes such a report there or online, word of mouth can transmit that “truth” to hundreds or thousands within a matter of days.
Which is why it is undeniably the duty of the FBI to break its unctuous vow of silence and talk to somebody. The longer the feds delay in doing so, the more they become equally responsible for misinformed social reactions as the hacks who started these rumors in the first place.

Many, Malkin included, have wondered where the MSM is on this story. As the Oklahoma Daily editorial notes, local television has covered it and a quick Google search turns up (sometimes conflicting) reports in local and regional newspapers but no major media outlets appear to have picked up the story yet. We asked CBS News national editor Bill Felling, who told us the network is looking into the story. Let’s hope so, it’s one worth airing, whatever the facts are.

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