Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco isn’t a fan of so-called keyboard warriors — at least when it comes to the case against the parents of Cabazon infant Emmanuel Haro.
Those self-styled reporters were spreading false information, he says.
The sheriff, at times critical of the mainstream press, paused during a recent press conference to castigate the online sleuths and citizen journalists.
“I just want to thank all of you, especially the normal, mainstream media for your attention to this,” Bianco said. “Not so much for social media and for keyboard warriors who, quite honestly, sometimes hamper and prevent us from a good investigation.”
The case of missing 7-month-old Emmanuel drew national attention after his mother, Rebecca Haro, initially claimed the boy was kidnapped in a violent assault. But law enforcement discovered inconsistencies in Rebecca and husband Jake Haro’s story; they have both been charged with murder.
While investigators worked behind the scenes, online commentators quickly speculated about law enforcement activities, who could be involved in the baby’s disappearance, and whether the remains of the baby had been found.
Rumors did spread that Emmanuel’s remains had been discovered in Lake Perris — prompting a post on the recreation area’s Facebook page to assure the public that it was “entirely false, unsubstantiated, and not supported by any credible evidence or official reports.”
When Emmanuel’s father was seen in jail clothes with law enforcement in the Moreno Valley Badlands, rumors immediately swirled that Emmanuel’s remains had been found.
No, officials said, they had not.
Reports that a jailed Jake Haro had confessed to killing his son to a planted “inmate” circulated online — another claim authorities debunked.
“That’s not true,” Riverside County District attorney Mike Hestrin said during that Aug. 27 press conference. “There’s no confession made in jail. …
“This is what happens when you’ve got all these folks out there online and these keyboard warriors,” the district attorney said. “You get a lot of misinformation.”
Authorities stressed that due to the ongoing nature of the investigation — Emmanuel’s remains have not been found and his parents’ trial is still ahead — there is information and evidence that cannot be publicly discussed.
“I’m not allowed to prove my case in the court of public opinion, so there’s a lot we can’t say in terms of the facts and the evidence,” Hestrin said. “For that, you will have to come to the court.”
San Bernardino County Sheriff Shannon Dicus acknowledged the role the media overall played in assisting with the investigation.
“I want to thank all of you in the media for covering this, specifically the parents’ initial statements to the public while we were trying to find Emmanuel,” he said. “They became critical as we continued through this investigation.”
While officials lamented the role non-traditional news sources played in the media fervor surrounding the Haro family case, there are benefits to an expanded and equalized media, even if it comes with some mistakes, said Daniela Gerson, a journalist and journalism professor at California State University, Northridge.
“It used to be that you needed a printing press to publish, or you needed a broadcast or a way to get words out,” Gerson said. “Now anyone can broadcast and that has been incredible in democratizing media and making access available to people getting stories out covering marginalized communities that are often not covered.”
While immediacy can be a positive aspect of online and social-media reporting, the nature of livestreaming and not filtering information through other people or channels can lead to mistakes, Gerson said.
“Citizen media is fantastic at doing that — and then sometimes something shouldn’t be livestreamed, and there isn’t somebody to say this shouldn’t be happening and there isn’t a rule of ethics that determines what is of quality that should be put out there,” Gerson said.
Content can be posted without going through any editing or verification process that traditional media organizations have in place. In a landscape where shocking coverage generates clicks, figuring out the truth in a sea of information can be difficult for the public.
“There’s been fantastic elements of the advent of what’s often called citizen journalism, but with it has also come challenges and the biggest challenge is in authentication and lacking a gatekeeper who determines whether or not something is ready to reach a broader audience,” Gerson said.
Citizen journalists certainly had a scoop or two.
A TikTok page, with the username russsjademedia, was the first to break news of the arrest of Rebecca and Jake Haro via livestream. The people running the page camped out near the Haro residence when authorities arrived. The page has since been made private.
When online journalist Ahmed Bellozo made the trip to Yucaipa, where Emmanuel Haro had been reported missing, and began reporting on the case for his followers, the story was just that — the case of a missing child.
But as the case evolved, Bellozo’s coverage became more complex. His work on the Haro case is an example of citizen journalism, news reported by members of the public rather than traditionally trained journalists.
Bellozo has been involved with searches for Emmanuel. He attended court proceedings. He interviewed people who showed up at the Haros’ residence to demand answers in the case. He reports on information he receives from his sources.
Bellozo runs a news page focused on the Inland Empire called On the Tira. From the start of the Emmanuel Haro investigation, Bellozo has been updating his followers: 288,000 on Instagram, and 350,000 on TikTok; they frequently thank him for his updates.
At the Aug. 27 press conference, Bellozo asked authorities if they knew the location of Emmanuel’s body, expressing his interest in joining searches, saying that it would help him get some rest.
“ ‘Get some rest’ – there should be no one out there looking for baby Emmanuel except for us, because all you’re going to do is complicate things in the future,” Bianco said.
Bellozo noted that he and other online news creators “are in a new wave of journalism” that authorities should embrace “instead of alienating us.”
He says he will continue his live reporting. He feels a responsibility to Emmanuel and wants to report on the court proceedings.
He understands the frustrations surrounding misinformation and says he has worked to combat that.
“I totally wholeheartedly agree with that, because they’ve frustrated even me when people are out there putting false information about heads and dumpsters and Perris Lake and places that have nothing to do with the actual investigation,” Bellozo said.
Bellozo is, in his own words, “journal-tainment,” combining information with humor and relatability as he talks to and interacts with his audience. He differentiates his work for On the Tira from general social-media content creation, citing his dedication to live reporting, going to scenes and working to verify information.
“I coined that phrase there because I am a journalist and I am entertainment at the same time,” he said. “And sometimes there’s a fine line for me, but I try to treat each case accordingly.
“The community knows that if it comes from my page it’s been vetted, verified, at least to the best of my intent and if not, if something comes up, then I would retract my statement as I did this past weekend when I got one vital piece of information very, very wrong regarding the Emmanuel Haro case when I stated that we had found the body,” he said.
He said he does not want to post rumors or misinformation.
“Most thought we found him and so I jumped the gun a little bit without actually knowing, and since (then) I’ve learned that — the very, very seriousness and the quick repercussions of stating false information — and I immediately retracted my statement within minutes,” Bellozo said.
But with his large audience, many had already discussed and reposted the claim.