The Media Covering One of Their Own Patricia Hearst was kidnapped from her apartment in Berkley, California on February 4th, 1974. Patricia was engaged to Steven Weed, and was a full-time student at UCLA. Hearst was the daughter of a largely known newspaper writer, Randolph Hearst. She was abducted by the Symbionese Liberation Army, otherwise known as the SLA (Orth). The SLA did things that would bring them great media coverage, and the abduction of Patricia Hearst did just that. Patty was held in captivity against her will for fifty-seven days, where she was abused, raped, and locked in a closet. The SLA demanded that her family, who was very wealthy, distribute large amounts of money in the form of a food donation to the poor (Bancroft). Due to her family’s high status in the newspaper industry, as well as being very wealthy, her kidnapping brought about …show more content…
A couple of the members were attempting to steal ammunition from the store when they were confronted by a store employee. This employee was a former police officer, and he was trained in loss prevention. During the confrontation between the two, the getaway van that was sitting outside began firing rounds into the storefront. Who was behind the gun? It is revealed that Patricia is behind the gun and is spotted driving the getaway van when leaving the store (Bancroft). The Federal Bureau of Investagations (FBI) at this point had been closely following the SLA, and after this robbery, they followed the getaway van and found the SLA’s safe house. The FBI would soon raid the house, and arrest several members of the SLA but to no avail on the search for Patty. The media was busy running photos of the SLA members, the security tapes from the Hibernia Bank, and most importantly, the scene where Patty reveals that she is now known as Tania and has joined the SLA. Patty is arrested on September 18, 1975 and the trial was set to begin in February (Patty