An unidentified mourner wipes away tears at Chauncey Bailey's funeral Aug. 8, 2007 (D. Ross Cameron/The Oakland Tribune)

An unidentified mourner wipes away tears at Chauncey Bailey's funeral Aug. 8, 2007 (D. Ross Cameron/The Oakland Tribune)

News Release

RENO-The Reynolds School of Journalism at the University of Nevada is endorsing the Chauncey Bailey Project, an investigative team of journalists continuing the work of slain Oakland Post Editor Chauncey Wendell Bailey Jr., and is urging journalism schools and students across the country to join the alliance.

“Censorship by assassination cannot be tolerated in a free country,” said Rosemary McCarthy, interim dean of the Reynolds School of Journalism. “The murder of journalist Chauncey Wendell Bailey Jr. is a tragedy for Mr. Bailey, his family and friends, and the Oakland community. This is a terrible threat to First Amendment freedoms everywhere.”

Last week, more than two dozen Bay Area reporters, photographers and editors from print, broadcast and electronic media launched the Chauncey Bailey Project. The investigative unit, which also includes local university journalism departments, will continue and expand Bailey’s probe of the Your Black Muslim Bakery. Bailey, 57, was shot and killed while walking to work Aug. 2. A 19-year-old handyman for Your Black Muslim Bakery, Devaughndre Broussard, confessed to police that he killed Bailey but now maintains he was pressured to do so by the bakery’s leader. Broussard has entered a not-guilty plea in court. Many questions about the possible motive for the killing have yet to be answered.

McCarthy said working with the Chauncey Bailey Project will be a valuable opportunity for Reynolds School of Journalism students — and for college students across the country — as students and professors experience the real-life application of media law, ethics, reporting and editing.

“We think journalism professors and students throughout the nation should raise their voices in support of the Bay Area journalism schools and professionals who are carrying on Mr. Bailey’s vitally important work,” McCarthy said. “We salute our Bay Area colleagues in the professional media and the classrooms and hope to join with their voices to reach out nationally in condemnation of violence to journalists who are serving the public.”

The Robert C. Maynard Institute for Journalism Education, which conducts a national editing program each summer at the Reynolds School of Journalism, is coordinating the project with New America Media. Robert J. Rosenthal, a veteran editor and investigative reporter, is leading the investigative team.

“We hope other journalism schools and their students will join us in this worthy crusade,” said Dori J. Maynard, president and CEO of the Maynard Institute. “We are drawing a line in the sand and letting the Oakland community, and the rest of the nation, know that journalists will not be intimidated by violence.”

For more information about the Chauncey Bailey Project or its collaborators, contact Dori J. Maynard of the Robert C. Maynard Institute for Journalism Education at (510) 684-3071.