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CNN Live At Daybreak

Trashing Free Speech: California Controversy

Aired December 11, 2002 - 05:46   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Students at UC Berkeley launched the free speech movement of the '60s. Well now Berkeley's new mayor has confessed to trashing free speech, literally, just steps from the birthplace of that movement.
Here's CNN's Rusty Dornin with more on the controversy in California.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RUSTY DORNIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): There's rarely a dull moment at a Berkeley City Council meeting. This time it's the swearing in of the new mayor, Tom Bates.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Resign.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Resign.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Resign.

DORNIN: Bates, a veteran politician, got caught doing something that might send chills through just about any Berkeleyite, throwing away free speech. The UC Berkeley newspaper, "The Daily Cal," had endorsed his opponent. Bates was campaigning on campus when these students spotted him taking matters into his own hands.

ANDREA IRVIN, EYEWITNESS: He walked around like the backside of this kiosk. And at the time, there were a few hundred papers in each of these. So he grabbed like a large stack of them from this area and then walked it over to a trash can right over here.

DORNIN: When a student reporter confronted Bates a day later, he denied taking the papers.

RONG-GONG LIN II, NEWSPAPER EDITOR: It's -- there's a sense of terrible irony that he would have stolen these papers and attempted to sensor free speech just a few feet from the birthplace of the Free Speech Movement. I mean it's just -- it's shameful and disgraceful.

DORNIN: Bates later admitted to police he took the papers, saying he was stressed from the campaign. Then, as he was sworn in, he said his mea culpas.

MAYOR TOM BATES, BERKELEY, CALIFORNIA: I made a serious mistake in throwing away the newspapers of "The Daily Californian." And for what I did was irrational and wrong.

DORNIN: An act of contrition good enough for supporters. But the case has been turned over to local prosecutors.

(on camera): You might say what's the crime in stealing a free newspaper? Well the staff at the paper says it may be free, but it does have value. The district attorney says the case is pending.

(voice-over): Few places could the theft of student newspapers raise such ire; but this isn't any place, this is Berkeley.

BRUCE CAIN, PROFESSOR: Politics are so intense in Berkeley and people get so wrapped up on it. If you think about it, it's not surprising that somebody would do something that's so over the top.

DORNIN: Bates says despite the controversy, he won't resign.

Rusty Dornin, CNN, Berkeley, California.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com






Aired December 11, 2002 - 05:46   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Students at UC Berkeley launched the free speech movement of the '60s. Well now Berkeley's new mayor has confessed to trashing free speech, literally, just steps from the birthplace of that movement.
Here's CNN's Rusty Dornin with more on the controversy in California.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RUSTY DORNIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): There's rarely a dull moment at a Berkeley City Council meeting. This time it's the swearing in of the new mayor, Tom Bates.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Resign.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Resign.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Resign.

DORNIN: Bates, a veteran politician, got caught doing something that might send chills through just about any Berkeleyite, throwing away free speech. The UC Berkeley newspaper, "The Daily Cal," had endorsed his opponent. Bates was campaigning on campus when these students spotted him taking matters into his own hands.

ANDREA IRVIN, EYEWITNESS: He walked around like the backside of this kiosk. And at the time, there were a few hundred papers in each of these. So he grabbed like a large stack of them from this area and then walked it over to a trash can right over here.

DORNIN: When a student reporter confronted Bates a day later, he denied taking the papers.

RONG-GONG LIN II, NEWSPAPER EDITOR: It's -- there's a sense of terrible irony that he would have stolen these papers and attempted to sensor free speech just a few feet from the birthplace of the Free Speech Movement. I mean it's just -- it's shameful and disgraceful.

DORNIN: Bates later admitted to police he took the papers, saying he was stressed from the campaign. Then, as he was sworn in, he said his mea culpas.

MAYOR TOM BATES, BERKELEY, CALIFORNIA: I made a serious mistake in throwing away the newspapers of "The Daily Californian." And for what I did was irrational and wrong.

DORNIN: An act of contrition good enough for supporters. But the case has been turned over to local prosecutors.

(on camera): You might say what's the crime in stealing a free newspaper? Well the staff at the paper says it may be free, but it does have value. The district attorney says the case is pending.

(voice-over): Few places could the theft of student newspapers raise such ire; but this isn't any place, this is Berkeley.

BRUCE CAIN, PROFESSOR: Politics are so intense in Berkeley and people get so wrapped up on it. If you think about it, it's not surprising that somebody would do something that's so over the top.

DORNIN: Bates says despite the controversy, he won't resign.

Rusty Dornin, CNN, Berkeley, California.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com