Tim Reiterman, survivor of airstrip attack, tells story of the Jonestown mass murders
By Tim Reiterman
When Tim Reiterman set out to tell the story of the 40th anniversary of the Jonestown mass murders and suicides, he didn’t want to retread territory he’d covered with previous anniversary stories, or rely solely on his own harrowing experiences in the South American jungle.
Instead, Reiterman, global environment team editor based in San Francisco, mainly focused on those he hadn’t interviewed before, including the adopted black son of the Rev. Jim Jones. He also focused on those who grew up in the Peoples Temple, or joined as teenagers. These survivors, due to happenstance or their own efforts, were all away from the Jonestown community in Guyana when Jones ordered his followers – starting with the young children – to drink flavored poison.
The order that ended 900 lives came after a California congressman, temple defectors and journalists including Reiterman were ambushed on a nearby airstrip. The Nov. 18, 1978 attack killed Rep. Leo Ryan, D-San Mateo, as well as Reiterman’s photojournalist colleague at the San Francisco Examiner, and three others. Reiterman was wounded in the attack, but went on to shoot photos of the bloody aftermath and write a detailed account two days later.
The bodies of five people, including Rep. Leo J. Ryan, D-Calif., lie on the airstrip at Port Kaituma, Guyana, after an ambush by members of the Peoples Temple cult, Nov. 18, 1978. This photo was made by then-San Francisco Examiner journalist Tim Reiterman, who had been wounded in the attack. – Tim Reiterman / San Francisco Examiner via AP
A vat containing a drink laced with deadly poison sits on a walkway at People’s Temple in Jonestown, Guyana, surrounded by bodies on Nov. 20, 1978, two days after the mass suicides and killings at the site. – AP Photo / Frank Johnston, Pool
Rev. Jim Jones, founder of the Peoples Temple sect, appears in Jonestown, Guyana, Nov. 1978, shortly before U.S. Rep. Leo Ryan and four members of his party, including photographer Greg Robinson, were slain by members of the sect. – AP Photo / Greg Robinson, San Francisco Examiner
Bodies lie in the Peoples Temple compound after the mass suicide and killings in Jonestown, Guyana, November 1978. – AP Photo / Frank Johnston, Pool
Congressman Leo J. Ryan, D-Calif., appears in Guyana, Nov. 18, 1978, with the blood on his shirt after he was attacked by a member of the Peoples Temple sect. This is believed to be the next to last frame San Francisco Examiner photographer Greg Robinson made before he, Ryan and three others were killed in an ambush at the Port Kaituma airstrip. – AP Photo / Greg Robinson, San Francisco Examiner
An aerial view of the Peoples Temple compound in Jonestown, Guyana, in November 1978, after the bodies had been removed following the Nov. 18 mass suicide and killings of more than 900 people. – AP PHOTO
Reiterman’s approach to the 40th anniversary provided an unparalleled look into the massacre through the eyes of survivors who had to go on grieving close family members and forge new lives back in the United States. It also allowed Reiterman the opportunity to explain the tragedy and put the Peoples Temple in context for readers and viewers who might only know its broad outlines, if that. The all-formats package Reiterman wrote and helped coordinate – with assistance from staffers in all formats throughout the AP – wins this week’s Best of the Week.
VIDEO: Jonestown survivor John Cobb describes losing 11 family members in the mass suicide and murders of more than 900 people on Nov. 18, 1978 in Guyana. Read more here: https://t.co/OkxAvjCkZwhttps://t.co/7YnjKpUgom
The package included profiles of six survivors along with photos and a video interview conducted by Terry Chea and produced by Marshall Ritzel with John Cobb,who was born into temple life and lost 11 relatives. Eric Risberg anchored the photo package,with portraits by him,Jeff Chiu and Brynn Anderson in Miami. Editor at Large Jerry Schwartz edited the text piece and an abridged version. Katie Oyan,the West Region’s enterprise editor,helped coordinate all elements and get the stories and visuals to the wire and handsomely displayed on APNews. She worked with Reiterman to format and secure usage of his 1978 account for the San Francisco Examiner, written while he was recovering from his wounds at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland.
Jim Jones Jr., the adopted son of deceased Rev. Jim Jones, speaks at Evergreen Cemetery in Oakland, Calif., Sunday, Nov. 18, 2018, for the 40th anniversary of the Jonestown mass killings and suicides in Guyana. – AP Photo / Tim Reiterman
Former Peoples Temple member Jim Jones Jr. places bleached rocks around the edges of the Jonestown victims memorial in the Evergreen Cemetery in Oakland, Calif., Oct. 25, 2018. At lower right is the name of Rev. Jim Jones, deceased leader of the Peoples Temple, who adopted Jim Jr. – AP Photo / Eric Risberg
Former Peoples Temple member Jim Jones Jr. places bleached rocks around the edges of the Jonestown victim memorial in the Evergreen Cemetery in Oakland, Calif., Oct. 25, 2018. – AP Photo / Eric Risberg
Jim Jones Jr. points to the names of family members on the Jonestown victim memorial in the Evergreen Cemetery in Oakland, Calif., Oct. 25, 2018. Ceremonies were held at the cemetery to mark 40 years since the mass killings and suicides of more than 900 Americans orchestrated by the Rev. Jim Jones at a jungle settlement in Guyana. The unclaimed or unidentified remains of more than 400 victims of the Nov. 18, 1978 Jonestown tragedy are buried at the cemetery. – AP Photo / Eric Risberg
Former Peoples Temple member Jim Jones Jr. speaks during an interview next to the Jonestown victims memorial in the Evergreen Cemetery in Oakland, Calif., Oct. 25, 2018. – AP Photo / Eric Risberg
Mike Touchette, a survivor of the Jonestown mass suicides and killings in Guyana, poses for a portrait in Miami Springs, Fla., Nov. 12, 2018. “We built a community out of nothing in four years,” recalled Touchette, now a 65-year-old grandfather who has worked for a Miami hydraulics company for nearly 30 years. “Being in Jonestown before Jim (Jones) got there was the best thing in my life.” – AP Photo / Brynn Anderson
Mike Touchette, a survivor of the Jonestown massacre in Guyana, poses for a portrait in Miami Springs, Fla., Nov. 12, 2018. – AP Photo / Brynn Anderson
Peoples Temple survivor Jordan Vilchez sits, March 5, 2018, at a memorial for victims of the 1978 mass suicide and killing at the site of the Jonestown settlement in Guyana. Vilchez returned to Jonestown for the first time in 40 years. – Kevin Kunishi via AP
Jordan Vilchez poses for a portrait in Richmond, Calif., Nov. 5, 2018. For years, Vilchez was ashamed of the part she played in the Peoples Temple, an idealistic group that imploded so terribly. “Everyone participated in it and because of that, it went as far as it did,” she said. – AP Photo / Jeff Chiu
Peoples Temple survivor Jordan Vilchez poses for a portrait in Richmond, Calif., Nov. 5, 2018. – AP Photo / Jeff Chiu
Former Peoples Temple member Eugene Smith poses for a photo in a park in San Francisco, Oct. 22, 2018. Smith recalls how his churchgoing mother bought into Jim Jones’ dream when Jones opened a new church in Fresno, Calif. She gave her house to the Peoples Temple and they moved to San Francisco, where Eugene ran a temple construction crew. He was just 14. – AP Photo / Eric Risberg
John Cobb looks at names of family members on the Jonestown Memorial while posing for photos at Evergreen Cemetery in Oakland, Calif., Nov. 5, 2018. Cobb was attending a San Francisco high school when he was allowed to join his best friends in Jonestown. There, as part of Rev. Jim Jones’ personal security detail, Cobb saw the once captivating minister strung out on drugs, afraid to venture anywhere for fear of his legal problems. – AP Photo / Jeff Chiu
John Cobb looks at names of family members on the Jonestown Memorial while posing for photos at Evergreen Cemetery in Oakland, Calif., Nov. 5, 2018. Cobb lost 11 relatives on the day of the 1978 mass suicides/killings, including his mother, youngest brother and four sisters. – AP Photo / Jeff Chiu
On a portable memorial wall honoring more than 300 children who were victims, Erica Harden of Sacramento, Calif., points out the names of six of her relatives who died in Jonestown, Guyana, as she attends a ceremony at Evergreen Cemetery in Oakland, Calif., Nov. 18, 2018, the 40th anniversary of the Jonestown mass killings and suicides. – AP Photo / Tim Reiterman
Digital News Producer Trenton Daniel interviewed Reiterman via Skype,using archival visuals to weave past and present together. West Desk staffer Annika Wolters edited a social promotion video that has been viewed more than 32,000 times.
The text story landed on nine front pages,including one newspaper that ran it and Reiterman’s 1978 account on the front page of its Sunday edition.
The package,as one judge noted,put the mass murder in clear,heartbreaking terms not only for audiences who remember it well,but also for readers and viewers who are not old enough to remember the tragedy. For telling a familiar story in a compelling,all-formats package, Reiterman wins this week’s Best of the Week award.
