With silver prices going down, down, down, now might finally be the time for the “movers and shakers” in the mining and precious metals communities to call a major press conference to make their case and actually defend themselves from the years-long assault on their businesses.
As the saying goes, “desperate times call for desperate measures.” (Although a press conference outlining concerns about a “travesty of justice” that is affecting hundreds of businesses and millions of investors doesn’t seem that radical an action to me).
Regardless, we have now probably reached the surreal point where miners would be better off buying gold and silver on the “open market” instead of digging it out of the ground themselves.
This is just one point that might be hammered home in a press conference that - in a fair and sane world - would lead the nightly news and justify a 90-point headline on Drudge
Excluding the couple thousand people who might read websites like this, 99.9 percent of the world’s population is probably unaware of allegations that the gold and silver pricing markets are rigged.
What do representatives of groups who want to raise awareness about a neglected (or ignored) point of view typically do to help rectify such situations? They call a press conference!
The more “heavy hitters” or influential people you can have at your press conference the better. Organizers could/should recruit any and all sympathetic figures or allies - the more impressive their resumes the better - they can find to “sit on the podium” at said conference.
It goes without saying that they should make sure they invite the right journalists and opinion-makers to attend. They should invite those who have been “unfriendly” to their cause as well as those who might be more inclined to listen with an open mind to their appeal.
The greater cross-section of journalists who attend such an event the greater the possibility at least some of the gathered journalists will give this event prominent coverage.
Heavily promoting such a news conference would be important. News organizations who either didn’t show up or who send a reporter but do not fairly report speakers’ arguments would risk either being “scooped” or open themselves up to accusations of bias.
More often than not “media bias” is reflected in what press “gate keepers” decide NOT to run.
Indeed, if one of the charges being leveled by those speaking on the podium is that the mainstream media has been practicing “malpractice” by ignoring such a story, the lack of fair coverage at a “major news conference” would provide even more evidence to support this assertion.
Such planned “news events” typically have a goal or specific purpose and often are used to announce a future course of action.
First, however, organizers must simply present their case (arguments, evidence, hunches). They should decry the fact that to date the press corps, politicians and regulators have done nothing to investigate or publicize their concerns (thus the need for this press conference).
Then they might also outline the steps their group has decided to take to address or rectify this alleged wrong. This, in the parlance of editors or journalists, provides the “news hook.”
“Today, we are announcing that we are filing a class action lawsuit ... “Today we are asking the attorney general (Congress) to launch an investigation into ...” “Today we are announcing that our companies will no longer do business with the COMEX ...” “Today we are announcing that our companies will no longer sell our product at prices that have been illegally established ...”. Or, better yet, all of the above.
Speakers can present papers, studies, charts, historical analysis and comments to support their contentions. They can make available this information as well as experts the press can interview.
They can also produce a handout they distribute to reporters with “suggested questions” reporters could ask officials within those organizations who are - or might be - conspiring to suppress precious metals prices.
Yes, this means that speakers would be requesting that reporters and news organizations actually demand that officials from, say, The Fed, Treasury, the White House and “bullion banks” go on the record and reply to the group’s allegations or suspicions.
“Humor us if nothing else” might be one theme of the press conference.
The press should be strongly encouraged to perform their own investigations to either prove or disprove the group’s allegations. After this, follow up and see if any news organizations actually performed independent journalism.
To me, holding a major press conference is a no-brainer. If your industry’s “story” is not being told by “enterprising journalists” or your requests for coverage have been repeatedly ignored, you deliver the press corps the news on a platter.
Again, emphasize the fact you felt you HAD to call a news conference to voice your concerns because this topic is NOT getting any mention on the nightly news or in in-depth stories in newspapers or magazines.
Nothing, however, is keeping miners (and/or others adversely impacted by price manipulation) from hosting a high-profile event that hopefully will allow their point of view to finally (at least this one time) to get reported regardless of the inclination of the “gate-keepers” of the “free press” to dismiss/ignore/censor their group’s evidence, opinions or conclusions.
Indeed, one reason the the press corps might argue that there is “no story here” is because leaders of this industry have, to date, failed to make any public, “on-the- record” allegations. If nothing else, a press conference would immediately end this “excuse.”
Of course it’s entirely possible such an event will be ignored or the comments of speakers will be buried by the influential news media. Call the press conference anyway.
Question: If the mining industry’s position still fails to obtain any significant coverage would the industry not be right where it was before its leaders hosted such a press event? That is, what’s the down-side?
I’m sure organizers of such a possible press conference might fear “retaliation” from the “Powers that Be” who are running the price suppression program.
If this “fear” doesn’t make one’s blood run cold in a “free country,” I don’t know what will.
It’s certainly possible those who are being accused of malfeasance will not be amused by anyone trying to alter the “status quo” system. How about this? If these actors do retaliate in any way, document it. Record or publicize the threats. Feature this development in your next press conference.
One goal of holding such a press conference might be to shame the press corps into doing its job. Or, if nothing else, to show how the press is demonstratably not interested in covering an on-going activity that has affected and will affect millions of people.
If there is a story that needs to be told - that is not reaching the wider audience such a story deserves - miners could do whatever they have to do to tell the story themselves.
At the conclusion of the press conference, event organizers should distribute press releases to every news organization that attended or did not attend. They could also have their most compelling spokesperson(s) write “guest op eds” on the topic and submit these to every major and minor paper in the nation if need be.
Such a press conference should be the “launching point” for a new, high-profile public relations assault. In other words, this should be the start of an on-going campaign to shed light on a topic that has for too long remained in the dark of public opinion.
To date, mining executives have been a perfect target for the multi-pronged assault to protect the U.S. dollar as the reserve currency.
“Don’t worry. These guys ain’t going to fight back,” must be the consensus of those rigging the price markets.
The game changes, however, if miners organize themselves and, with their backs squarely against the wall, utter just one word.
“Enough.”
If they need a pep talk to summon their will, someone in the mining community might remind their peers that the truth usually prevails in the end.
So far, however, a serious search for the truth has not taken place. A major press conference could be the obvious place to start for those who want to change a corrupt, unfair and industry-killing status quo.
***
Bill Rice, Jr. is managing editor of The Montgomery Independent. He can be reached by email at bill@montgomeryindependent.com
About the author
