Mr. Yisrayl Hawkins,
I want to publicly respond to your mailer and comments made concerning media coverage of The House of Yahweh. Since my arrival in Abilene in August, it’s been a goal to provide coverage of and help people better understand The House of Yahweh. To date, that’s been impossible because we’ve been denied access to Yahweh property and been denied interview opportunities with leadership.
Because of restricted access to your leadership, the only stories we’re ever able to report could easily be considered negative: members in court, leadership convicted of charges, and incidents (fires) that occur on your property. We’d like to be able to tell the other stories; I know they’re out there. But without access, we can’t.
In your letter you make the following statements to which I’ve responded below:
“I am sure they are doing what they think they must do to sell their broadcasts and publications. But they truly are misleading the people, causing a lot of hatred and distrust. We tried to be open with them and allowed them interviews but they distorted the truth, told blatant lies, and many times slandered our members.”
We’re simply reporting what we’re told by the authorities and what happens in court. Without your response, we can only tell one side of the story. By nature, the story will come out negative. As I previously mentioned, we have not been allowed interviews.
“Since we know from past experience that we cannot trust the news media to be accurate and unbiased in its stories about The House of Yahweh, and since the evil reputation the media gave us is continuing, in order to sell their product, we decided to come directly to you.“
I presume you’re largely referring to people like Nancy Grace when you mention the media. Without a doubt, there are broadcasts that will sensationalize stories to sell their product. We do not do that. We take pride in reporting what we think people would want to know in an unbiased manner. Please don’t group our news operations in the same “media” category as Nancy Grace.
Your group is definitely of interest to Big Country residents. While sending out a mailer is a step in helping people understand what you stand for, I don’t think anything will help people better comprehend your group then allowing our journalists access to your property and leadership.
I looked forward to hearing from you and providing responsible, unbiased coverage of The House of Yahweh.
Sincerely,
Austin Kellerman
KTAB-KRBC News Director
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