American Atheists President Responds to ABC Nightline
From Ellen Johnson
July 1998
July 1998
Recently, the ABC program Nightline featured a story on the disappearance of the Murray-O'Hairs. I would like to respond to some of the claims made in that broadcast.
Some members expressed concerns because Nightline strongly suggested that I had prior knowledge of the transfer of money from our Trust Fund in Boonton, New Jersey, to San Antonio, Texas. Nightline also claimed that American Atheists refused to grant an interview with their reporter.
For the first year after the disappearance of the Murray-O'Hair family, American Atheists gave numerous interviews. We were struck by the fact that many of the media inquiries came from sources that had previously displayed little or no interest in the activities of our organization. Suddenly, Atheists and money were missing — and some media began a virtual feeding frenzy.
Nightline is one such program. To the best of our knowledge, Nightline has never approached American Atheists to discuss issues of concern to us. When we were in Washington, DC, in October, 1997 to picket the Promise Keepers, Nightline did a show on the "Solemn Assembly" staged by the PKs on the mall. They also invited Patricia Ireland of the National Organization of Women to discuss her organization's position. They didn't talk to us, despite coverage of our demonstration and "Defending the Wall" conference by other nationally prominent media such as the Washington Post. When Nightline reporter Valeric Williams first called me, I instinctively thought "Why should I give that show an interview?" Why should American Atheists provide ABC with millions of dollars in advertising revenues?" I asked a Nightline producer why the program had never given Atheists the time of day, and he could not answer me.
Contrary to the claim of Nightline, I did offer Valeric Williams an interview, but only if it were aired live so that I would have an opportunity to respond to any misinformation that was given. No, that was not possible. They only wanted me to give them a video-taped interview on my opinion on how Madalyn O'Hair sounded back in 1995 when I spoke with her on the phone in San Antonio. There would never be an opportunity for me to give our side of the story.
Ms. Williams wouldn't take "no" for an answer, though. She was quite forceful in demanding that I answer her questions. This is also the way she treated American Atheist Press editor Frank Zindler when she spoke with him on the phone.
Not satisfied with my refusal, Nightline decided to turn up the pressure.
After my initial contact with Valerie Williams, one day while taking my five-year old daughter to preschool, I noticed that a car was following me. I live on a country road. It is quite obvious when a car is parked up the street, facing my house, on the grass where cars don't belong. Trying not to let my young daughter know what was going on and how nervous I was, I managed to lose the car in the next town and tried to figure out what was happening.
I took my daughter to school and phoned the police from my car. They said to call them back when I got back to my town. As I pulled into a local elementary school parking lot to make that call, another car pulled in behind me and wouldn't move. Car number two now appeared to be following me. I dashed out of there and found a nearby police car on the side of the road, and quickly related my story to the officer concerning both vehicles. Within minutes the police apprehended the individuals in both cars, who then proceeded to identify themselves as reporters who wished to "interview" me. That's an odd way of asking for an interview! The officers suggested that they leave me alone. However, later the reporters gathered at the foot of my driveway and obtained the shot that Nightline selectively aired of me pulling into my driveway and garage.
Now, to the rest of the Nightline program. A private investigator hired by the San Antonio Express-News obtained Jon Murray's cell-phone records. The program and the investigator claimed that Jon Murray made several phone calls to me after phoning the Fleet Bank in Boonton, New Jersey. This fellow won't be winning any awards as a modern-day Sam Spade, though, since he can't even distinguish between incoming phone calls and outgoing phone calls on a cell phone bill. I don't recall Jon ever calling me from San Antonio. I called him. We were in the middle of discussing plans to picket the Pope in New York City (picketing was scheduled for October 4-7, 1995), and other business related to the organization. Never did Jon mention plans to wire money from Boonton to San Antonio. The phone conversations "revealed" by Nightline were old news, and as you know from your past issues of the Newsletter, I was in touch with the Murray-O'Hairs for a period while they were in San Antonio via cell phone trying to figure out what on earth was going on.
According to Nightline, "sources [emphasis mine] tell Nightline that Murray went to Boonton with another person." In fact, Jon never went to the Boonton Bank near my home. I had checked this out back in 1996. Jon went to the Newark branch, and later I even spoke to the woman at the bank that helped him - looking for helpful information. I did not know Jon intended to make that trip, nor was I aware at that time that he was even in New Jersey, or that he was transferring any money to San Antonio.
But what about the money? Longtime members will recall that years ago, American Atheists began a Trust Fund. The goal was to accumulate money from which investment interest would accrue in order to pay the operating expenses of the organization. For many years we appealed for donations, and the return envelope included in the monthly Membership Newsletter mailing had an address to a postal box here in New Jersey.
As a way of helping the national office, I had offered to send thank-you notes to individuals who donated over a certain amount to the Trust Fund. We had donations sent here to New Jersey. I recorded all of them and deposited the money in the bank now known as Fleet Bank. I did this for years. When money in the bank reached $10,000, it was transferred to a very high interest-bearing New Zealand account. The status of the account was regularly discussed during the business meetings of the annual National Conventions.
Nightline also suggested - without any corroborative evidence - that we never did anything to locate the missing family. In fact, we exerted great effort to obtain information about what might have taken place. I personally made hundreds of phone calls attempting to "backtrack" their movements. To this day, when I get an idea that I think might lead to some new information, I check it out. The fact of the matter is that past a certain point, there is no trail, no evidence. There are others who have searched for the O'Hairs as well, including professional investigators hired by the news media. They don't seem to be producing any hard findings either.
Another portion of the Nightline program featured an Austin, Texas, police officer who suggested that maybe we were hiding crucial information, and that we were not cooperating with the Austin police. In fact, the only question directed to us by the Austin Police Department was when they asked Mr. Spike Tyson at the GHQ if he knew what happened to the family. They never bothered to even give me a call. We were never informed of any "active" investigation by them into the disappearance of the family.
And what about the time-worn claim that we never filed a missing-persons report? Spike was informed that such a report could only be filed by next of kin. Other people have been told the same thing. I was told that without evidence of foul play one could not file a missing persons report.
There seemed to be two standards of journalism employed in the Nightline program. Those criticizing American Atheists or the Murray-O'Hairs were free and unchallenged when they made unsubstantiated (even outrageous) claims — such as the assertion that the organization had eight million dollars. The Nightline reporters didn't seem interested in asking for evidence about that. Incidentally, that was one thing that I asked Valeric Williams to please do if I couldn't be on the show live — ask for proof of the claims that people will make about the disappearance and the family. They didn't bother to check details about cellular phone billing — otherwise they might have learned that the bill listed incoming calls as outgoing calls. Nor did they look into the claim about the eight million dollars or the requirements for filing a missing persons report.
It has been my policy as President of American Atheists to be honest and forthright in discussing matters pertinent to the organization. Doing that requires that information always be checked for accuracy. American Atheists has also made it a policy that information should be provided to the membership directly through the Newsletter, and not in sound-bytes through the media. We have been scrupulously careful to separate rumor from substantiated fact, avoid libelous or inaccurate statements, and act in an ethical, professional, and principled fashion.
At the recent American Atheists National Convention, I said that as President I would not and could not "ask for your trust." All that I and the Officers and the Board of Directors can do is to ask for a fair opportunity to earn your trust as members of this organization.
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