SOUTHERN ILLINOIS—It’s been proven time and again that when light is shined on cockroaches, those nasty critters scatter.
From Gaege Bethune’s Twitter page…which is full of interesting Tweets.
The same is often said about human critters, too.
And then, there are those human critters who, after they scatter, in their attempts to salvage their efforts to continue living in their darkness, they lash out.
Such as what happened after Monica Zukas’ radio show last night, Reality Check on WGGH radio, Marion.
Thus far today, chickenshit people who are apparently attempting to cover over for the fact that Gaege C. Bethune, 19, of Saline County, was the topic of Zukas’ show as it pertains to the death of Pravin Varughese have been harassing Zukas with threats of “lawsuits for slander and libel.”
On this show (featured here at the SoundCloud embed) is merely Zukas talking to an informed mother from West Frankfort, who overheard her teen talking to others in his room about the possibility that Bethune, who was reportedly one of the last people to see Varughese alive, might have more information about Varughese’s death.
Well, here’s a little primer for those few cockroaches who are trying to muffle Monica: It’s a pretty sure bet Monica would WELCOME such a thing…because once someone in the media is sued for such nonsense, that gives the defendant SUBPOENA POWER. And that means that in order to defend herself, Monica Zukas could fire back with subpoenas for everything Bethune and anyone around him was involved in during the weeks and even months leading up to Varughese’s death, throughout the night it occurred, and even every moment AFTER it. Bear in mind…the Varugheses have science and a knowledgeable attorney on their side. Zukas would likely be perfectly happy to turn over whatever she obtains via SUBPOENA to them.
So here’s the caution: BE CAREFUL what you threaten the media with. We’re afforded a few more protections than other citizens, because of our RIGHT to get information out to the public, especially when something as screwed up as Pravin Varughese’s or Molly Young’s death is concerned, the “investigators” tasked with finding out the truth aren’t doing it, and those of us in the media take that mantel upon ourselves. It is our RIGHT, under the First Amendment, to not only investigate, but to disseminate information derived from any investigation to the public who PAYS THE WAY OF THE “INVESTIGATORS,” EVEN IN BOTCHED INVESTIGATIONS. We will do it, and we will fight for our right TO do it.