San Francisco Examiner Launches Days of Darkness: November 1978; Three Part Series is Prelude to City Hall Photo Exhibit.

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 5, 1998--On Sunday, November 8, the San Francisco Examiner launches a three-part series Days of Darkness: November 1978.

The series marks the twenty-year anniversary of Jonestown -- modern history's worst mass murder-suicide, which claimed the lives of more than 900 men, women and children. In addition to the series, The Examiner will sponsor a photo exhibit at City Hall (located in the Veterans Building) opening November 12. The exhibition displays photographs taken by the late Greg Robinson, an Examiner photographer who was shot and killed by members of Reverend Jim Jones' Peoples Temple. Robinson and reporter Tim Reiterman had been covering Congressman Leo Ryan's fact-finding tour of the Peoples Temple in Guyana. Ryan and three others were also killed in an airstrip ambush.

Days of Darkness: November 1978, written by reporter Larry Hatfield with Kathy Seligman, Gregory Lewis, Eric Brazil and Judy Canter, examines the demise of the Rev. Jim Jones' Peoples Temple from a legitimate and nurturing social movement to a paranoid and abusive cult. Hatfield notes that Jonestown was originally established as "a utopian dream, free of racism, a haven for justice," making its decline and morbid end all the more shocking. Adding to the horror, nine days after the Jonestown massacre, San Francisco would suffer another blow with the assassinations of Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk.

Of the series, Executive Editor Phil Bronstein says, "The Examiner owes it to its readers, and to the memory of our photographer, Greg Robinson, to publish a series that goes far beyond a recollection of what happened. What we hope to do in these stories," he continues, "is raise and answer key questions that still haunt us all about Rev. Jim Jones and the tragedy that befell his followers -- and all San Franciscans -- two decades ago."

Day One -- Sunday, November 8 What Led to the Jonestown Massacre and Could It Happen Again?

Twenty years after Reverend Jim Jones exhorted his followers to die for him, people would like to know more about who the cult members were and how they became so blindly devoted to Jones. Hatfield also contemplates whether or not the mass murder-suicide could have been prevented had California Congressman Leo Ryan canceled his visit to Guyana. Twenty years later, have we learned our lesson? Cult experts and academicians reference Waco and Heaven's Gate in support of their fears that we have not.

Day Two -- Monday, November 9 The City Hall Murders

Nine days after Jonestown, San Francisco suffers another blow when Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk are murdered at City Hall.

Day Three -- Tuesday, November 10 Commemorating Examiner Photographer Greg Robinson

Greg Robinson was killed by Peoples Temple members while on assignment in Guyana. He was among the reporters and photographers accompanying Leo Ryan, in his attempt to expose Jim Jones' Peoples Temple as a harmful cult, who were ambushed by cult members as they attempted to board a departing plane. Robinson's family attempts to keep his memory alive by sustaining the scholarship that bears his name.

Writer Larry Hatfield was a reporter at The Examiner in November 1978, arming him with first-hand experience of how the tragedies affected San Francisco. Bronstein comments, "This was an event that had a profound effect on our politics, our culture and our collective state of mind," Bronstein added, "The Examiner was in the thick of it then, and we intend to continue that tradition."

In memory of Robinson, The Examiner founded the Greg Robinson Scholarship at San Francisco State University to encourage aspiring photojournalists. It is the largest photojournalism scholarship program in the United States.

Photographs from Jonestown, Robinson's earlier work and from scholarship recipients are on exhibit November 12 - December 11 on the 4th floor of the Veterans Building at 401 Van Ness Avenue. Admission is free. Viewing hours are Monday through Friday 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. The exhibit is presented by the Art Commission Gallery, a program of the San Francisco Art Commission. Veterans Building exhibitions are funded in part by the Grants for the Arts program of the San Francisco Hotel Tax Fund.

The entire series can be read on http://www.examiner.com.

Lee Guittar is the publisher of the San Francisco Examiner. Phil Bronstein is the executive editor.