Newtown Conspiracy Theory Professor Explains How Media 'Orchestrated' Sandy Hook Coverage

James Tracy, the Florida Atlantic University professor who has proclaimed a Sandy Hook shooting conspiracy theory, discussed on the “Guns and Butter” radio program Thursday his claim of a second gunman and the conflicting media reports on the tragic Dec. 14 event in Connecticut.

James Tracy’s Newtown conspiracy theory was outlined over a series of posts on his personal blog, Memoryholeblog.com. In the span of four posts, Tracy outlines the alleged Sandy Hook conspiracy, claiming the media portrayals of the event were not accurate and, in fact, constructed for a larger political agenda. Tracy believes the Sandy Hook shooting was exploited to move gun control legislation forward.

In his last blog update, Tracy outlines the media reports about Sandy Hook, from two months before the shooting through Dec. 14 and the fallout from the tragedy. Tracy cites various reports of contradictory information, from eyewitnesses claiming they saw more than one shadow to reports that police had more than one individual in custody. These reports were never followed up and Tracy believes President Barack Obama and his administration soon crafted the accepted timeline of Sandy Hook in order to push gun control despite all the unanswered questions and conflicting information.

Tracy has not backed off from his claims and has been on various radio programs to discuss his conspiracy theory. On Thursday he went on the “Guns and Butter” radio program on KPFA 94.1 in Berkeley, Calif. “Guns and Butter” is described as a program that “investigates the relationships among capitalism, militarism and politics” and “reports on who wins and who loses when the economic resources of civil society are diverted toward global corporatization, war, and the furtherance of a national security state.”

Host Bonnie Faulkner asked Tracy about the discrepancies in media coverage, in particular the notion that there was only one gunman, Adam Lanza. Faulkner describes reports that one suspect was placed in custody while another suspect was captured on camera running into the woods as they were being chased by The Associated Press.

Tracy responds, “Yes, that’s correct. That’s one of the especially disturbing, and forthright, things about the coverage. The aerial footage of the individual being pursued into the woods by the Newtown and Connecticut State Police as well as at least one individual, a student, who saw one of the suspects prone on the ground outside the school in the parking lot, just momentarily.

"Also, the initial report in the Hartford Courant, one of the local newspapers there, stated there were two gunmen, one was apprehended in the building and a second was somewhere else and had not been accounted for. This information was also captured audibly on the 911 dispatcher audio, the police encountering the suspects, the one outside in the parking and the other in the wooded area.

"In addition, there was a pedestrian, I believe of Newtown or Sandy Hook residence, who was interviewed by CBS News. … They ask this individual, ‘What did you see?’ and he said they brought a man out in handcuffs and took him to the patrol car and put him in the front seat of the patrol car, which is really rather special treatment for someone who is a suspect in such a grievous crime.”

This small interview on the day of the shooting is interesting to Tracy because it discusses information that was not reported on again nor is it mentioned in later reports. Tracy continues, “That clip … it’s available, you can find it on YouTube, there is a man behind him in a black trench coat with glasses, and he’s taking notes of what this individual is saying. So, based on that, it would seem to me, there is some degree of coordination and concern with regards to how the story is playing. Now I’m not sure if that man is with a federal agency, if he’s undercover state or local police or if he might be with the broadcast network. We don’t know."

In the hourlong interview, Tracy continues to give examples of conflicting media reports of Sandy Hook and how they were ultimately ignored for the sake of the larger narrative, the pushing of gun control legislation via a lone gunman theory. As a media critic, Tracy was interested in the Sandy Hook coverage because of the disparity among coverage from outlets such as CNN, Fox or CBS to other alternative, or local, reports.

Tracy believes the coverage was “orchestrated” and that these news outlets have the process down to a “formula.” Tracy says the media reports “go from accounts of the terror and the carnage, immediately to grieving. We defer to law enforcement authorities, to the government authorities for closure of the particular event. We don’t really look beyond. By ‘we’ I’m talking about the journalists. … They are not doing their job, or they are not being allowed to do their job by their editors or by the managers of these major outlets.”

This just a small sample of Tracy’s argument and it looks like he will not be finished discussing the Newtown conspiracy theory as he has yet to update his Sandy Hook timeline to discuss the larger political agenda surrounding the media’s coverage of the tragedy.

You can listen to the whole “Guns and Butter” segment here.