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Investing 101 - Jun 11, 2004 - Printable Version
- Is Dateline Losing Credibility Over StockGate Story Delays?
by Mark Faulk
It's been called the biggest financial scandal in the history of the world, with incurred losses estimated by some experts at well over $1 trillion dollars. It's a scandal that involves over 1,200 offshore hedge funds, over 150 US brokers, and has already bankrupted over 7,000 US companies in the past six years. According to many of the lawsuits filed to date, the crooks include terrorist groups and organized crime syndicates. Sources say that this scandal, which involves an intricate system of selling electronic counterfeit shares of stock in an effort to destroy the market value of small publicly traded companies by utilizing a method known as "naked short selling", will eventually implicate almost every major broker in America, all of the governing bodies that oversee trading, and will extend into Canada and Europe. Amazingly, the SEC has admitted it had been "observing" naked short selling for six years, but up to now has done absolutely nothing to put a halt to it. As The Faulking Truth has written about and followed this story over the past few months, one nagging question has remained: where is the national press coverage on this issue? Aside from a few recent articles in national newspapers, which have barely scratched the surface of this worldwide scandal, why has this been largely ignored by the mainstream media? Why hasn't one of the major network investigative shows put together an in depth expose' to blow this scandal wide open?
Incredibly, we have confirmed that Dateline has done that very thing. According to sources involved with the story, NBC's flagship news program has filmed over 100 hours of explosive footage on the "StockGate" scandal, which includes evidence that will "blow the roof off this scandal". There is only one problem. Originally scheduled to air in January or early February, they have postponed the show repeatedly, and now plan to air it "sometime in August". Even more incredibly, we have learned that they have signed an exclusivity contract with the two law firms that have filed the class action lawsuits that deal with the naked shorting scandal, in effect suppressing the public release of even more information about the scandal.
After publicly speaking out about the scandal early on, attorneys John O'Quinn (of the Houston law firm of O’Quinn, Laminack and Pirtle), and Wes Christian (of Christian, Smith, Wukoson and Jewell) have been uncharacteristically quiet for the past few months. That's because Dateline has kept a muzzle on the two attorneys until the "StockGate" segment airs. However, lead attorney Wes Christian has filmed over twenty hours of exclusive interviews for the Dateline segment. Although exclusivity contracts involving the media aren't unusual, this situation is a bit different. This scandal is ongoing, and in fact seems to be accelerating in the past couple of months, even after new NASD regulations supposedly aimed at putting a halt to the corruption went into affect on April 1st.
The shelving of this important expose' by Dateline NBC raises some very important moral and ethical issues, in this writer's opinion. If in fact they have collected information that would help to put a stop to the massive criminal activity that is robbing American companies and their stockholders of literally hundreds of millions of dollars every day, aren't they at the very least morally obligated to release that information in a timely fashion? And since they have postponed the show for the last four months, shouldn't they release attorneys O'Quinn and Christian from their exclusivity contract, so that they can disseminate information that might be vital in helping the victimized companies, their shareholders, and the various governing bodies put to end this ongoing corruption? And if in fact the money being stolen from honest Americans is being used to fund terrorism and organized crime, then shouldn't Dateline immediately make public any information that could help put an end to those insidious activities? Dateline declined to respond to repeated emails inquiries for this article.
The question remains: why has Dateline been so slow to expose this monumental ongoing scandal, even as the corruption continues? There is some debate on that point. Some sources believe that they have "caved in to political pressure from the Right, who see this as a political time bomb for the Bush Administration", while C. Austin Burrell, who has provided litigation and research support to O'Quinn and Christian in their lawsuits, believes that Dateline has it's own political and journalistic agenda, and plans to air the show in August to coincide with the Democratic Convention. The scheduled August air date concerns Burrell as well. "August is a dead month, with half of all people on vacation, and the other half not paying attention. It is not an appropriate month to release a piece with such a business focus."
Still others close to the story say it is the complexity and constantly evolving nature of the story that makes it difficult to edit and air. "Complex and constantly evolving" is an understatement. However, this writer for The Faulking Truth has managed to gather pertinent information and write relevant articles on the topic, and in all honesty, I'm just a guy with a computer and a cell phone who does this in his spare time. Dateline, on the other hand, is, well, Dateline. According to Burrell, "This is not a difficult story, and it needs to get out there now. Dateline has made an important time commitment to this topic, and we simply want to see the payoff for the victims."
Regardless of the reason, the time for full disclosure is now. Dateline NBC owes it to the American people to release what information they have immediately, and if necessary, air a follow-up segment as the story continues to develop. As the Associated Press and rival CBS show 60 Minutes recently pointed out, "In one month, NBC's signature newsmagazine devoted some five hours of programming to the season finale of 'The Apprentice' and the series finales of 'Friends' and 'Frasier.' " If The Donald, Ross, Rachel, and Fraiser rate five hours of coverage in one month on what is supposed to be a major news show "bringing viewers compelling investigative reports", then surely the "biggest financial scandal in the history of the world" is worth a segment or two.
Tell Dateline what you think about this article:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3303518/
or email them at Dateline@NBC.com.
For a detailed overview of the stock market scandal, read:
"Financial Terrorism In America"
http://www.faulkingtruth.com/article/?Investing101&1001
More articles on Stockgate:
"Stockgate- A Call To Arms"
http://www.faulkingtruth.com/article/?Commentary&1006
"The Berlin Connection?"
http://www.faulkingtruth.com/article/?Investing101&1004
"Is Canada Robbing America Blind?"
http://www.faulkingtruth.com/article/?Commentary&1001
Editor's note: If you would like to help us spread the word about this scandal, send us an email at info@faulkingtruth.com, asking to be added to our "Stockgate activist list". We will email you only when we have new articles dealing with this issue. Please link the articles everywhere you can, post them on stock message boards, and send them to the appropriate public entities. To enact positive change requires positive action.
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