Facebook helps man prove innocence

Brian Banks a former high school prep star, served a five year jail sentence. He served time for kidnapping, and rape charges. He spent five years in jail, because he took a plea deal, rather than going to trial and potentially face a forty-one year prison sentence. Banks played high school football at Long Beach Poly High School, and was recruited by the University of Southern California.

Once, Brian Banks completed his time in Jail, he was contacted by his accuser on facebook. Originally, his accuser requested him as a friend, and naturally he refused. Later they would agree to meet each other, along with Brian Banks private investigator. Wanetta Gibson(the accuser) agreed to have the meeting recorded. During the meeting, Wanetta confessed that Brian Banks did not rape, or kidnap her. Through this meeting, Brian Banks was able to be acquitted for any wrong doing. He plans to receive payment for his time he served, by the state of California.

Brian Banks crying after being acquitted.

Banks claims that he has forgiven Wanetta Gibson. He is hoping to tryout for an NFL team at sometime. Had I been in Brian Banks shoes, I would have tried to sue the State of California  for no less than ten million dollars. Because, Brian Banks very well could have signed lucrative contracts in the NFL, had he not went to jail. Looks like facebook has helped cleared Banks's name.

Journalism Dead in Mexico

Though U.S. media experiences its own share of news cover-ups and fact muddling, the freedom of speech here looms brightly over the state of news reporting of our neighbors below the border. On May 13, the family-run newspaper El Mañana of Nuevo Laredo, Mexico officially declared that it would cease to report any crime activity regarding the violent war that has exploded between the Sinaloa Cartel and the Zeta Cartel in their region. This decision is the result of a gunman attack on the newspaper headquarters on May 11. An exploding device was detonated beside the building and the parking lot and building exterior was shot at. Though the damage was minimal, El Mañana interpreted the attack as a looming threat from the Sinaloa cartel. The gang was allegedly demanding the newspaper to cover its takeover of Zeta territory, which would make their group appear powerful and the Zetas seem weak. Following these demands would have been dangerous, as the Zetas could not have approved of such demeaning exposure and would have likely attacked El Mañana ‘s staff itself. Many Mexican papers have ceased to publish news about organized crime groups from their areas, but El Mañana is the first to stop publishing any such stories and to declare it publicly.


The Zeta cartel fiercely monitors the newspapers that publish stories about them. Though in many repressive countries, citizen journalism and social media can come to replace print media and provide news to citizens and outsiders, the Zeta cartel squishes this possibility as well. On September 24 of last year, María Elizabeth Macías Castro, a reporter for a local paper called Primera Hora, was murdered in Nuevo Laredo. The Zeta cartel uncovered the organized crime news she posted on her Twitter account and the website Nuevo Laredo en vivo and chose to take her out. Castro posted under the pseudonym “La NenaDLaredo”, but through unknown means the Zetas managed to learn her true identity. They left a note near the gory crime scene that read: "Ok. Nuevo Laredo Live and social media, I am the Girl from Laredo and I am here because of my reports and yours... ZZZZ." The ‘Z’s are the signature of the Zeta cartel.

When the seemingly anonymous world of the social media fails to protect reporter identity, where can a country as repressed by organized crime as Mexico turn? It cannot rely on its journalists, whose lives are so threatened they are forced to stop reporting news that matter. It cannot rely on citizen or witness journalism, because its people are powerless against the cartel takeover. It appears that for the time being Mexican journalism is truly dead.