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Home Front: Politix
9/11 conspiracy theorists dog TV reporters
2007-11-07
Local 9/11 conspiracy theorists are targeting TV news reporters, already leading to at least one confrontation with a FOX 25 reporter who grabbed a poster in an incident caught on camera and posted on YouTube.

“We will be protesting as the presidential election gets heated,” said Mark O’Connor of the group Boston 9/11 Truth. “No newscaster is safe if they’re live on the street.”

FOX 25 political editor Joe Battenfeld has had run-ins with members of the so-called 9/11 truth groups - who claim the terror attacks were a government setup - in Boston and New Hampshire. During Hillary Clinton’s Boston visit last month, Battenfeld and O’Connor clashed outside Symphony Hall. As Battenfeld faced the camera, O’Connor stood behind him, prompting Battenfeld to grab his “Expose the 9/11 coverup” poster and demand, “Can you not stand behind me?”

O’Connor, 30, a Dorchester man who works for a structural engineer company, caught the exchange on video, and posted the clip he dubbed “FOX 25’s Political Editor Joe Battenfeld Gone Wild” on YouTube. O’Connor taunts Battenfeld, repeatedly asking him his name and telling him, “You’re going to be a star on YouTube.”

Battenfeld said he tries to ignore hecklers. “That’s the chance you take when you do a live shot now. People have a right to stand on a sidewalk holding a sign, no matter how offensive their views may be to some, so there’s really nothing you can do about it,” he said.
A distaste of his own medicine ...
It was O’Connor’s first encounter with Battenfeld but may not be his last. If he runs into Battenfeld, O’Connor says, he won’t threaten him but will “stand behind him” when he’s on the air.

At a John Edwards rally in New Hampshire in August, Justin Martell, 20, founder of Student Scholars for 9/11 Truth, approached Battenfeld after angry Edwards supporters challenged his low crowd estimate. With a camera in tow, Martell badgered him with questions, but Battenfeld wasn’t doing interviews. “I’m the reporter,” Battenfeld said.
"And you're a peasant!" he added.
“I’m not going to make it my prerogative to go after Joe Battenfeld,” said Martell, whose YouTube video of the Edwards event has fetched nearly 6,000 hits. “But if I see him at an event, I will approach him and get him again.”

During Barack ObamaÂ’s Boston Common rally, OÂ’Connor trotted his poster behind NECN reporter Alison King. Former President Bill Clinton told a 9/11 heckler to shut up at a speech last month.
Posted by:Delphi

#2  Good. Maybe it will dawn on some of these reporters that the only thing that separates them from the "Truthers" is a small degree of ideological intensity.

Maybe. But I'm not going to be holding my breath waiting for them to see the light.
Posted by: Dave D.   2007-11-07 18:19  

#1  Not one of these POS will be found protesting outside a mosque.
Posted by: Icerigger   2007-11-07 17:29  

00:00