I moved to the Bay Area in 1987 and some time soon thereafter I heard Bernie Ward
on KGO, a local news and talk AM radio station.
Back then, he was an "assignment reporter," doing stories for the evening news;
he also occasionally filled in for talk show hosts.
I was an instant fan of Bernie's from the first moment I heard him.
He was incredibly smart, articulate, and insightful.
Whenever anyone dared oppose him in a debate, he would verbally eviscerate them
and then bury their corpse under a pile of facts, all seemingly without effort.
And he was unabashedly liberal at a time when the L-word was considered an epithet.
He was my hero.
Eventually, KGO gave Bernie his own talk show in the 10 pm to 1 am time slot,
where he has methodically honed his verbal skills to perfection and become a
hero to every radio-listening liberal in the Bay Area.
To those of us on the left, AM talk radio is mostly a desolate wasteland
populated by the evil mindless minions of Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity,
Michael Savage, Dr. Laura, et cetera, et cetera, ad nauseam.
Bernie was a small but brilliant beacon of hope and comfort in a sea of darkness.
KGO used to run a wonderfully humorous ad for his show which proclaimed him to be
"The Lion of the Left."
For the past year or so, Bernie occasionally made enigmatic references
to something ominous hanging over his head.
He never went into any detail; it was all very mysterious, but he dropped little
hints here and there.
He said he had skeletons in his closet and that KGO would probably fire him some day.
I'm guessing most listeners were like me and just thought Bernie
was being melodramatic.
But we now know that he wasn't.
In hindsight, he was obviously trying to prepare his fanatically loyal fans for
what he feared would come.
All of us, however, were caught totally by surprise.
On Thursday, December 6, 2007 Bernie Ward was indicted by a federal grand jury
on two counts of child pornography.
If he's found guilty, his minimum sentence will be 10 years in prison.
The best coverage I've seen so far is the
article published on the front page of yesterday's San Francisco Chronicle.
According to the article, in December 2004 Bernie both downloaded and uploaded
child pornography on his computer and also discussed his activities in an
online chat room.
Unbeknownst to him at the time, the chat room was being monitored by authorities.
In early 2005, police searched his home and seized his computer.
Bernie's lawyer says that police found
"no evidence of child pornography or any other impropriety."
He concedes that Bernie
"downloaded a few images"
but maintains
"that he was simply doing research for a book on hypocrisy in America
and was not engaged in anything more."
How ironic.
We're asked to believe that exposing the evils of hypocrisy necessitated
being a hypocrite.
And that doing research on criminal activity required the commission of crimes.
Is this an extreme form of participatory journalism?
Or is it just irrational?
Should we be thankful that he wasn't writing a book about serial killers instead?
Actually, I can imagine how part of Bernie's story might be plausible.
First of all, Bernie's certainly earned the right to call himself a journalist:
he's won several awards over the years for his investigative news stories.
Secondly, during that 2004 time period in question, Bernie did in fact talk a
lot about how hypocritical Americans are.
I don't recall him ever saying on air that he was writing a book, but it's
conceivable that he was quietly doing research for one.
Also, it's understandable that a journalist investigating the slimy underworld
of child pornography would hang out in online chat rooms frequented by
child pornographers.
And I can certainly imagine situations where one would feel obliged
to accept a file offered by someone else in the chat room,
just to maintain one's cover.
Finally, having received such a file, wouldn't one of course glance at it
briefly before deleting it, just to get a better idea of exactly what kind
of despicable trash these people are trafficking in?
So far, these all strike me as fairly plausible events.
But, of course, one would be playing with fire, and a responsible journalist
would find out beforehand exactly what is and isn't permitted by the law.
It's conceivable that something like the above scenario might have happened.
But, even assuming we can justify all of the above, events unfortunately didn't
stop there, according to the Chronicle article.
Apparently, neither Bernie nor his lawyer dispute an additional allegation:
that Bernie knowingly sent child pornography to other people.
Well now, that changes things, doesn't it?
For starters, it would definitely be a felony violation of federal law.
And, even setting aside the law for a moment, is there any way to justify it?
Wouldn't it just be a grossly unethical and immoral act?
If true, doesn't it necessarily imply that Bernie Ward crossed over a line
into the no-man's land of actively trafficking in child pornography?
And doesn't that unarguably contribute to the suffering of children who are
victimized by that whole sordid industry?
I just don't see any way to avoid such a conclusion.
Of course, I'm engaging in speculation; we don't yet know all the facts
or even all the allegations.
For example, we don't even know if Bernie was really working on a book;
maybe that's just a fabricated attempt at an alibi.
And, because the indictment was sealed by the court, the prosecution has so far
been uncharacteristically quiet about its case
— typically by now they would have begun a high-profile media blitz
to decide matters in the court of public opinion and prejudice the jury pool.
It's entirely possible that we'll never know all the facts,
that only Bernie will ever know for sure what he did and why he did it.
Rumors are currently circulating that his lawyer is trying to negotiate a plea
bargain for a reduced prison sentence.
One way or another, the massive rough-hewn wheels of our highly-flawed
system of "justice" will methodically, mercilessly, bureaucratically grind out
a verdict on Bernie Ward.
With any luck, truth will play some part in that verdict.
Bernie's currently out of jail on a $250,000 bail bond.
He hasn't been hosting his radio show and it's hard to imagine that he ever will.
No matter how this mess ultimately turns out,
let's face it, it's likely that Bernie's radio career is over.
Whatever did or didn't happen, and whatever happens now, it's a sad tragedy in the
life of an individual man and a huge blow to liberal self-esteem in the Bay Area.
Bernie, we'll miss you.
I sincerely wish you happiness in your future life.
Followup (12/10/2007):
The three-count indictment has been unsealed and is available
here.
If I understand it correctly, it alleges one count of possession
and two counts of distribution.
Followup (12/11/2007):
Bernie's family and friends have set up a
Support Bernie Ward website to provide up-to-date information
and accept donations for his legal defense fund.
Followup (12/15/2007):
An online petition has been set up, demanding that the prosecution
"drop the charges and put Bernie Ward back on the air."
It admits that Bernie
"pulled about 30 images of child pornography from various online
sources and transmitted one image via e-mail to a person representing herself
as an adult woman"
and then goes on to say:
The federal government's investigation of Bernie Ward has lasted three years.
It began with the seizure of every computer in his family's home and has now
culminated in an indictment on multiple charges of possession and transmission
of child pornography....
Three years.
What does that say?
If the Justice Department honestly believed it had a child predator on its hands,
does anyone doubt that it would have taken decisive steps to remove that person
from society?
Followup (12/31/2007):
There's now a
web page encouraging people to contact Citadel Broadcasting
(the owners of KGO) and demand that they put Bernie back on the air.
On that page you'll find the following statement:
The Department of Justice acknowledges that Bernie was doing
research for a book...
Yesterday I emailed Bernie and asked if this is true —
has the DOJ actually acknowledged that his activities were part of
doing journalistic research?
Today I got the following reply:
In a meeting with my lawyers, the DOJ lawyer said they would accept the claim
I was doing this for a book; they would accept the claim it was research
and not entertainment; and they would acknowledge I had no criminal record
and that there was nothing on my computer.
But it didn't matter and was irrelevant
to the statute, which says if you look, you broke the law.
Thank you for your
note and I hope when you update your blog you will encourage anyone who can
to contribute to the defense fund.
They are using my tax dollars against me
and I will fight as long as I can, but I won't put my family's
economic well being
into jeopardy.
And I'm sure they know that.
You can donate to Bernie's defense fund at
firstgiving.com/SupportBernieWard.
