Transitions Magazine - Fall 2012 - Prescott College

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A Long Way from Prescott to Moscow By Larry Barker ’73 Ah, the life of an investigative reporter. Traveling the world in my journalistic quest, I’ve tracked down fugitive spies to Moscow, chased international swindlers through the back streets of London, and exposed vicious cop killers hiding out in Havana. I’ve been uncovering corruption, exposing government waste, and catching con men in the act for nearly four decades. So where did this seemingly glamorous career begin? At a tiny Prescott radio station churning out country and western tunes. Consider the times. It was the 1970s. Watergate was breaking wide open. The nation was wracked by political scandal. And enterprising kids across America wanted to don a trench coat to follow in the footsteps of Woodward and Bernstein. Never mind that journalism usually ranks as one of the least prestigious professions in America. I caught the journalism bug while at Prescott College. I loved the innovative outdoor educational experience, but for me there was one thing missing: journalism. I had the burning desire to be the next Mike Wallace but had zero experience to pull it off. Prescott College did not offer a single course in journalism, so I was on my own. What to do? Well, in true PC fashion, I made my own way. Hello, KYCA. My broadcast career began at the tiny radio station at a time when local Larry Barker with Ed Howard in Moscow news consisted of disc jockeys reading items ripped out of the local newspaper. But in 1972, change was in the air(waves). Prescott was about to be introduced to a new voice. I designed an independent study program and wangled a gig as KYCA’s first “ace reporter.” I had visions of Edward R. Murrow uncovering scandals and political intrigue. The reality, however, was a stumbling weekly newscast exposing science fairs and 4-H banquets along with a late-night shift spinning records. Well, you have to start somewhere. Fast-forward 20 years to a bitter cold February afternoon in Moscow’s Red Square. With the Kremlin looming as a backdrop, I’m strolling through a snow-covered Red Square with an international spy. Edward Lee Howard had a story to tell and I had the interview of a lifetime. In 1985 Ed Howard was working as an economist for the New Mexico Legislature in Santa Fe. No one knew that the CIA had recently fired Howard or that he had been selling national security secrets to the Soviet KGB. However, before the feds could arrest him for espionage, Howard fled the country and disappeared. The accused spy showed up in Moscow a year later and defected to the Soviet Union. I was working as an investigative reporter in Albuquerque. Ed Howard was a reporter’s dream interview, which I pursued for a decade. My dogged search for the fugitive spy paid off 10 years after Howard disappeared from his Santa Fe home. One day I received an email from Howard himself. He said, “Come to Russia and I’ll tell you my story.” Over the course of three days Howard discussed his life on the run. We talked in his spacious Moscow apartment, at his country dacha, and on a stroll through Red Square. In March 1995, “A Traitor Speaks: Ed Howard in Moscow” was broadcast in New Mexico as a weeklong series. The journey from Prescott to Moscow has been an adventure in continuing education. I obviously didn’t study journalism in college, so my training has been on the job, learning by doing. My first lessons came after graduation where the classroom was on Capitol Hill. I was hired as a staff assistant to U.S. Senator Tom Eagleton. Here I was, a kid right out of college, with a front row seat on the inner workings of government. During my two-year stint at the Senate I found time to sit in on the Watergate hearings, and when I wanted to attend President Nixon’s State of the Union address, I called the White House and asked the President’s Iron Springs Road, secretary, postfire, Rose 2013 Mary Woods, if she could spare an extra seat. She said no. In 1975 I moved to Albuquerque to pursue my dream profession. I still wanted Mike Wallace’s job. I papered local TV and radio stations with resumes, but no one wanted to hire a kid without a journalism degree or much experience. So I volunteered to do weekly news reports at a small Albuquerque FM radio station. One report in particular caught the attention of a local television news director. He eventually hired me as a full-time producer to work at the ABC television affiliate in Albuquerque. And so, in 1976 I graduated from radio to TV. Over the past 38 years, I’ve reported hundreds of news stories, crisscrossing New Mexico, digging for facts in search of the truth. Both my peers and professional organizations have honored my work. I’ve received 29 Rocky Mountain Emmys, a handful of regional Edward R. Murrow awards, and dozens of honors from the New Mexico Broadcasters’ Association, the New Mexico Associated Press Broadcasters, and the Albuquerque Press Club. My most memorable investigation turned into an international 16 Transitions Fall 2014
adventure. In 1971 three men murdered a New Mexico state policeman and then hijacked a TWA jet to Cuba. Thirty years later the fugitives were still hiding out in Havana, protected by the Cuban government. A photographer and I flew to Havana and tracked down the killers. One of them, Charlie Hill, agreed to talk. In a wide-ranging interview, Hill admitted taking part in the murder of Officer Robert Rosenbloom. The next day, the Cuban Interior Ministry ordered us out of the country. Our subsequent investigative report was later honored with a Rocky Mountain Emmy award. For the past decade I have worked at KRQE-TV, the CBS affiliate in Albuquerque. Our award-winning investigative team, which includes a fulltime producer and editor, produces about 25 investigative reports each year. We’ve tackled everything from schools that ignore safety violations to the illegal drugging of race horses. We’ve exposed flying saucer hoaxes, odometer rollbacks, pork barrel politics, emergency room wait times, fraudulent Native American jewelry sales, handicapped placard fraud, and political abuse of power. Our story ideas come from a variety of sources. There are phone calls, emails, and letters. In an average week we receive nearly one hundred tips. At any one time we may be working on two dozen active investigations. It’s a time-consuming job to check and verify each fact, set up interviews, write, and edit. Investigative projects are scheduled only when they are complete. Sometimes the process can take a matter of weeks. More often, however, we will spend many months investigating. Our mandate is simple: Be accurate. Be fair. Be clear. I love solving puzzles. Today it might be an unlicensed contractor ripping off unsuspecting homeowners. Tomorrow it may be a government boondoggle involving millions of dollars. It sure is a long way from Prescott to Moscow. “The journey from Prescott to Moscow has been an adventure in continuing education.” — Larry Barker ’73 Saint Basil’s Cathedral in Red Square, Moscow, Russia Transitions Fall 2014 17
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Transitions Magazine - Fall 2012 - Prescott College

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