The Value of Investigative Journalism

Chauncey Bailey, Jr. - 1949-2007.
Three men associated with Oakland's 'Your Black Muslim Bakery' have been indicted for the July 8, 2007 murder of Chauncey Bailey, Jr. Bailey, editor of the Oakland Post and other San Francisco Bay Area publications that covered African-American issues was walking to work on the morning he was fatally shot.
At the time he had been working on a story about the bakery's finances. No stranger to investigation, the bakery had long been the subject of several journalistic investigations related to business conduct and several alleged crimes, including sexual abuse.
According to reporters Josh Richman and Mary Fricker of The Chauncey Bailey Project the law caught up with the bakery.
The article reads in part:

Until recently, Devaughndre Broussard was the only Your Black Muslim Bakery associate ever charged with murder, despite a decades-long trail of eight bodies authorities say they have linked to the organization or its founding Bey family.
Now, Broussard and two others are charged not only with the August 2007 killing of Oakland Post editor Chauncey Bailey, slain amid his investigation of the bakery, but in two other killings as well.
Broussard, a bakery handyman; Yusuf Ali Bey IV, the bakery’s last CEO; and Antoine Mackey, a bakery associate are charged with the July 8, 2007 killing of Odell Roberson Jr.; Broussard told prosecutors Bey IV had ordered him to kill Roberson because Roberson’s nephew had killed Bey’s elder brother in a botched carjacking in 2005, and Mackey helped lure Roberson to his doom.

The hope of justice that family members feel in light of recent developments is still faint. Unfortunately, nothing will bring back those who were killed.
Perhaps the public outcry for justice was sparked by Bailey's death. There was so much outrage in the community. Even here in Northern California, the shock was palpable for fellow journalists, members of the African-American community, and beyond.
I like to think that Bailey's good will and professional journalistic manner, aided by the ceaseless efforts of news colleagues who felt both a professional and personal sense of loss, pushed the wheels of justice just to keep them turning. And turn they did because in the legal processes surrounding Bailey's murder, other murders - other shallowly buried bodies- were uncovered and victims of other bakery-related crimes stepped forward.
It's important to remember that much of what has happened to bring the truth to light has been the result of committed investigative reporting; journalists who know how to dig for information that benefits everyone, even as it threatens their own well-being and the well-being of those they love.
This is something to think long and hard about... Journalists are not perfect. We know that from typos and misquoted phrases, but they are to be respected and appreciated for bringing the news of important events to our attention whether we like it or not.
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