Yesterday afternoon, El Paso News received a copy of a cease-and-desist demand letter issued to El Paso Matters, the El Paso Community Foundation and Bob Moore. The letter dated June 5, 2024, lists 17 examples of journalistic malfeasance by El Paso Matters and Bob Moore. The demand letter demands that Bob Moore retract a story he published and notify other outlets that republished his content about the retraction to avoid a lawsuit. The demand letter was sent from an attorney representing the family of Richard Halliday who disappeared from Fort Bliss in 2020. The Halliday’s have been seeking answers to the disappearance of their son, Richard Halliday who was recently declared dead by the Army. Since their son disappeared, the Halliday’s have been sending emails to the local news media asking for help in their son’s case.
Richard Halliday disappeared from the Fort Bliss barracks on July 23, 2020, according to a U.S. Army press release issued on January 19, 2022. Halliday was initially listed as Absent Without Official Leave (AWOL) by the Army. The Army did not notify the Halliday’s that their adopted son was missing until a little over a month after he disappeared.
On January 1, 2021, the Army’s Criminal Investigation Division (CID) took over the case investigating the disappearance of the Fort Bliss soldier. In a press conference in February 2021, the commander of Fort Bliss, Major General Sean Bernabe, acknowledged two mistakes Fort Bliss made in the case of the disappearance of Richard Halliday. The first was not promptly reporting he was missing to his parents and the second was the delay in asking the CID to investigate the disappearance.
The Halliday’s launched a Facebook page seeking information about their son’s disappearance on September 16, 2020.
After Halliday disappeared, several leads about his whereabouts reached the Halliday’s and investigators but many proved to be unreliable or wrong. On October 26, 2020, former reporter, Natassia Paloma, reported on KTSM that an “El Paso woman” had met a Fort Bliss soldier “that may know something about Halliday’s disappearance.”
The woman, who Paloma did not name in her report, told KTSM that on September 26, 2020, she had dinner with a Fort Bliss soldier who allegedly paid for their dinner using a credit card with the name Halliday on it. When the unnamed woman asked about it, she told KTSM that her date told her he was doing a favor for Richard Halliday by using his credit card to impede Army investigators in their search for Halliday because, according to the woman, Halliday “had fled to Cancun with his girlfriend.”
According to KTSM’s report, the Army’s CID told them they “are fully aware of the allegations and have conducted extensive investigative activity” into the allegation.
Two days before the September 26 incident reported by KTSM, the U.S. Army still believed that Halliday was alive because “there has been activity on his phone.” The Army also acknowledged that their initial timeline of Halliday’s disappearance was wrong because a soldier they interviewed “who claimed to have seen Halliday” on the day after Halliday disappeared “had lied during the interview.”
On April 26, 2024, the U.S. Army officially declared Richard Halliday dead. According to officials, Richard Halliday died on July 23, 2020, the day he disappeared. According to Task & Purpose, the Army informed the Halliday’s that Richard Halliday’s duty status was changed from missing to deceased.
A Board of Inquiry made the determination based on “the preponderous of evidence.”
However, Richard Halliday’s body has not been found and the date of his death was determined “because that was the last day when he was accounted for by his unit.”
Notwithstanding the Army’s status change for Richard Holiday, the Army’s “CID is still maintaining Pvt. Halliday as a missing person” and his case has been transferred to CID’s Cold Case Unit at Quantico, Virginia.
Task & Purpose, which is an online publication founded in 2014 focused on the military community, is the only source of independent reporting on the Halliday case that we have found. Other reporting on the case we found are reports of the missing soldier or can be traced back to El Paso Matters when additional details are released.
We need your support to keep delivering the news and information that is important to you. We are seeking to raise $5,000 to cover our costs through the end of the year. We would not be asking if we did not need your support.
El Paso Matters Reporting Feeds Local Media
One of the issues with El Paso’s local news media has been the reliance on El Paso Matters’ as the source of their reporting on local issues. The case of Richard Halliday is an example of how outlets like the El Paso Times have come to rely on El Paso Matters for their reporting. The El Paso Times reported on the declaration of his death on April 29. The El Paso Times’ report is credited to El Paso Matters’ report from April 26 and carries the same bylines, Robert Moore and Angela Kocherga in their report. The television news station, KDBC, also used El Paso Matters’ reporting as the source of its report on their report about the death of Richard Halliday.
Because the El Paso Times and KDBC relied on El Paso Matters for their report, independent reporting of the event is not possible. A Goggle search for reporting about the status change of Richard Halliday from missing to declared dead shows no other local El Paso sources offering original reporting on the event.
Because there is no independent reporting, any errors or omissions in El Paso Matters’ reporting, intentional or not, become part of the news narrative because Matters’ reporting on key issues is the source used by other news outlets removing independent fact checking from the news consumed by news consumers.
In the case of Richard Halliday, El Paso Matters, who is the subject of the cease-and-desist letter, has led the reporting into the case in El Paso.
El Paso Matters “Falsely Claiming” And “Misrepresenting” Key Events Alleges The Letter
The June 5 cease and desist letter issued by San Antonio-based Amsberry Law Firm lists 17 issues with El Paso Matters’ April 26, 2024 report that is the source of the reporting reported by other El Paso news outlets.
The issues alleged by the Halliday’s in their demand letter were included in the El Paso Times and KDBC reports.
The El Paso Matters April 26, 2024 report attributed to Bob Moore and Angela Kocherga references the Army’s board of inquiry. Matters’ report uses the CID report as its source for its facts. The 787 redacted page report alleges issues investigators found about Richard Halliday in the days leading to his disappearance. The two reporters for El Paso Matters relied on the government report without asking the Halliday’s for comment about the issues raised in the report. Because the Halliday’s have been vocal about their son’s disappearance frequently sending emails to news reporters, El Paso Matters’ lack of seeking comments is puzzling, at least, or an outright attempt to control the story’s narrative to the public.
Th El Paso Matters report states that Richard Halliday’s mother “has accused a number of El Paso officials and journalists of ‘interfering’” with her son’s disappearance, “including the authors [Bob Moore and Angela Korchega] of this story.”
The demand letter to Bob Moore, El Paso Matters and the El Paso Community Foundation lists 17 instances that allege El Paso Matters reporting on April 26, 2024 is wrong.
According to the demand letter, the article “made false and defamatory statements against the family of Fort Bliss soldier Richard Halliday.” The demand letter goes on to add that the statements made in the article “were intentional and disparaging.” The letter alleges that El Paso Community Foundation, El Paso Matters and Bob Moore know the report is “designed to affect the reputation of both the deceased soldier and his parents”.
We previously reported on the make up of El Paso Matters. As we reported El Paso Matters is a nonprofit owned by the El Paso Community Foundation. Although Bob Moore is credited with founding the online publication, he does not have sole control over the publication because it is governed by a board of directors who are directly controlled by the El Paso Community Foundation.
The Halliday’s demand letter states that El Paso Matters made several statements in their article that are “legally actionable.”
Among the 17 “false statements” include “that Richard Halliday was facing legal issues prior to his disappearance.” The letter states that the statement was made by El Paso Matters “despite evidence to the contrary.” It appears that the El Paso Matters sourced the statement from the CID report. Other allegations in the demand letter include the authors “misleading readers about the context” of a rifle possessed by Richard Halliday, and “implying intentional misconduct” by Halliday “in traveling to the border with a weapon.” The letter alleges that there is evidence disproving El Paso Matters’ reporting. This and other statements in the El Paso Matters report alleged by the letter as “false” seem to be sourced to the CID report.
The demand letter goes on to add that Moore “falsely” claimed that “Patricia Halliday has made allegations” about the Bob Moore’s interference “without providing evidence.” The El Paso Matters article reads that Patricia Halliday has accused “journalists” of “interfering” with her son’s case, “including” Bob Moore.
The demand letter states that Patricia Halliday “has provided evidence and written Bob Moore and El Paso Matters” with evidence and “received no response.” One of the 17 items in the demand letter states that the Halliday’s have made “at least 15” communication attempts to Bob Moore and have received “no response.”
The demand letter outlines several other allegations of Moore’s failure to accurately report about the case of Richard Halliday, including using “unreliable sources” even though the Halliday’s have provided Bob Moore with information “multiple times” and that Moore has “refuse to respond.” The El Paso Matters reporting on the case makes no mention of the Halliday’s attempts to contact Bob Moore while reporting that the Halliday’s have not provided evidence.
The demand letter also alleges that “El Paso Matters and Bob Moore are subjects of ongoing criminal investigations” for their interference of the Richard Halliday case.
The demand letter concludes with El Paso Matters and Bob Moore have reported on the case “with careless disregard for the truth.” It adds that Bob Moore “neglected to contact the family for comment before publishing the article,” even though the family “are the sole recipients” of notification of change of status for Richard Halliday.
The demand letter demands that El Paso Matters and Bob Moore “retract any published stories” within 30 days. The letter adds that El Paso Matters must notify other news outlets, like KDBC and El Paso Times, of the retractions. The letter also alleges that Bob Moore “engaged in unauthorized use of content from the family’s social media site, which constitutes infringement of intellectual property rights.”
IRS Complaints About El Paso Matters
Although the Army has officially declared Richard Halliday as deceased, it is important to note that a body has not been found and that the change of status was changed by an official review of the case based on a “preponderous of evidence.” Even with the change of status, CID continues to investigate the cold case as a missing person’s case.
The family of Richard Halliday first reached out to El Paso News on December 1, 2023. Since that time, they have been regularly sharing the results of their investigations and theories about what may have happened to their son with us and other news outlets.
On December 6, 2023 the family shared with us two undated letters addressed to the Director of the Audit Division of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). As a non-profit organization, the IRS ultimately is responsible for the non-profit status of El Paso Matters.
According to letter shared with us, the Halliday’s reported to the IRS that “multiple sources have now declared that El Paso Matters is functioning as a political attack machine rather than maintaining a neutral source.” Supporting a political party, individual or political policy violates the IRS’ rules for non-profits.
The letter to the IRS adds that “El Paso Matters relies heavily on unreliable or biased sources without proper fact-checking, contributing to the spread of misinformation,” and that the online publication crafts “sensational and misleading,” headlines including publishing “a story without providing necessary context or background,” leading to “skewed and unfair” representations.
The IRS does not release information about the complaints it receives.
However, as we previously reported, an IRS complaint was filed against El Paso Matters on August 31, 2022 accusing El Paso Matters of being “intentionally involved in political activism.” Because the IRS does not comment on complaints, El Paso Matters was forced to use our copy of the complaint to frame the IRS complaint as a “chilling effect” on journalism, although El Paso Matters was the sole target of the complaint.
El Paso Matters Lies About Source Of 2022 IRS Complaint
El Paso Matter’s reporting on the 2022 IRS complaint against it by Cindy Ramirez has been changed at least three times since it was originally published on September 8, 2022 without notifying readers that the article had been updated. In the first iterations of the article, El Paso Matters credited El Paso News, writing that the complaint came from “El Paso blogger Martin Paredes on his El Paso News website.” The next sentence in the report adds that “He did not say where he obtained” the complaint.
A few days later, the sentence was changed from “El Paso blogger” to “Florida-based blogger.” The dateline remained the same and there was no indication that the report had been changed. The change from “El Paso” to “Florida” has little material effect on the facts of the article.
However, another change materially changes the article by inserting an outright lie which appears to suggest that the complaint was orchestrated by an individual that El Paso Matters was reporting on to discredit them.
The original sentence in the article read, “He [Martín Paredes] did not say where he obtained the document.” That sentence was changed sometime before January 29, 2023 to read that “he told Channel 9-KTSM he received the complaint from Rosales’ lawyers.”
That never happened as we never communicated the source of the IRS complaint to KTSM, nor have we made public the source of the document we received. We can’t because the document was emailed to us anonymously. Additionally, El Paso News had not spoken to lawyers in the Rosales case about the IRS complaint.
El Paso Matter’s sentence change makes a factual statement without foundation falsely claiming a source that has no facts about the source of the complaint. The sentence adds inaccurate content that can only be designed to discredit the IRS complaint against El Paso Matters and Bob Moore.
Throughout the changes made by El Paso Matters to the article, the original byline remains as is the date of publication. More important is that there is nothing to let readers know that a material fact – which is a lie – was changed in the article to this date.
Without us publishing the dated screenshots, there is no way for a reader to know that the article was changed.
We have made numerous attempts to get comments from Bob Moore regarding the 2022 IRS complaint and the complaints by the Halliday’s about his journalism. Bob Moore and his reporters have repeatedly refused to respond to our requests for clarification on numerous stories and complaints, including refusing to speak to the Halliday’s as they allege in their demand letter.
Like the Halliday’s who have stated that they have attempted to communicate with Bob Moore to offer information for their stories, or to correct the record, or simply for comment about complaints against them, they have also refused to respond to us.
History Of Journalistic Malfeasance
In addition to the two IRS complaints, we are aware of, we have documented numerous cases of political interference by Bob Moore and El Paso Matters.
El Paso Matters improperly distorted facts for what appears to be for political purposes, violating IRS prohibitions on political activities by non-profits by improperly leaking campaign communications to other campaigns without reporting on the communication or using the online publication to control the public narratives through the improper use of headlines or incomplete reporting, among other instances we have reported.
The most recent case involved the arrest of a Socorro School Board member and his wife where El Paso Matters selectively chose to ignore certain facts about the case that did not fit the chosen narrative.
We published a recording of El Paso Matters reporter, Claudia Lorena Silva, acknowledging that Bob Moore was her “boss” and that El Paso Matter’s reporting isn’t the decision of the reporters, but rather Bob Moore decides what gets published and how.
Like in previous cases, we reached out to the reporter, Claudia Lorena Silva and copied Bob Moore in our email. As of this morning they have not responded to our May 10, 2024 request for comment.
Bob Moore refuses to respond to numerous questions asking for clarification for his actions as a journalist.
Again, we are asking Bob Moore for comment by sending him an email including this link to our latest reporting about him and El Paso Matters. We will update the article should he respond.
The Halliday’s demand letter states that they reserve the right to sue through the federal courts in either South Carolina where the family resides or in Texas where El Paso Matters and the El Paso Community Foundation are registered.
Richard Halliday picture montage courtesy of Ronna Weyland, Department of the Army Criminal Investigation Division, February 9, 2022.
