The Arsonist Next Door | 3: The Big Scoop
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Who is James Hibbard and what is his role at the Phoenix New Times?
In January of 2001, James Hibbard is 28 years old, a reporter at the Phoenix New Times, an alternative weekly newspaper. He's sitting in a conference room attached to a bustling newsroom surrounded by editors and senior staff.
If you're picturing something like from a movie where everyone kind of gathers in an office and they shut the door and hunker over this letter like it's from the Zodiac Killer, that's pretty much what it was like. They're crowded around a table, reading a letter. At the top of the letter was, Thou shall not desecrate God's creation.
What is the significance of the threatening letter from the Coalition to Save the Preserves?
It's the same greeting that CSP, the coalition to save the preserves, has used to open some of their threatening letters left at the arson sites. but this one is addressed directly to James.
And in the letter, he talked about trying to call the New Times after reading Burn, Baby, Burn, and he couldn't get through.
James recently published an article about the arsons with the headline Burn, Baby, Burn, and it's caught the attention of CSP. The letter ends with a peculiar sign-off.
In like a ghost, out like a ghost, happy hunting. It felt a bit unreal.
James' boss outlines their next mission. Let's get this motherfucker on the phone. From Sony Music Entertainment and Novel, I'm Sam Anderson. You're listening to The Arsonist Next Door. Episode 3, The Big Scoop.
To understand how James Hibbard found himself in that conference room, surrounded by editors holding a letter from a self-avowed arsonist group, you have to understand a little bit about the Phoenix New Times and what it was like to work there. We're liberal. Go fuck yourself.
That was the vibe.
That's how James describes the culture of the paper in the early 2000s.
It was a bit of a rabble-rousing, controversial paper. It was like this counterweight to the city's conservative daily paper, the Arizona Republic.
It was popular with the more left-leaning types in Phoenix.
I remember being at a party when I first moved there, and I was trying to make friends, and I struck up a conversation with this guy, and when he found out where I worked, he was like, oh, that's a very liberal publication, and then turned around and walked away.
It's his first job as a reporter, and he's having a blast. He's on the counterculture beat.
I would cover, like, the world's loudest car radio convention, or profile a 14-year-old kid who was in a street gang, or I would do a story on the Scottsdale prostitution scene, and then do a story about this subculture where people were suspending themselves from meat hooks.
Just as James is getting into the flow of his new job, the arson spree hits the headlines.
But this guy was public enemy number one. He was like the roadrunner zipping around the Arizona desert.
By this time, there's a 40-person multi-agency task force with millions of dollars at their disposal. They're conducting mass surveillance. The preserves are crawling with undercover agents. And yet, these houses are still going up in flames. And the only evidence they've got are a couple of notes just taunting them.
The arsonists had already been covered in the Daily Paper and the other publications a ton.
Everyone is reporting the story, but the New Times editors are looking to stir things up with a different angle. And that angle is that maybe these CSP guys have a point.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
Who is James Hibbard and what is his role at the Phoenix New Times?
1:11–1:46
2
What is the significance of the threatening letter from the Coalition to Save the Preserves?
1:46–5:44
3
How did the Phoenix New Times decide to cover the arson spree differently?
5:44–10:57
4
What was the reaction to James Hibbard's article 'Burn, Baby, Burn'?
10:57–15:28
5
How did James arrange an interview with the purported arsonist?
15:28–20:00
6
What was the atmosphere like during the in-person meeting at Patriot Square Park?
20:00–22:06
7
What insights did James gain from the arsonist about the motivations and methods behind the fires?
22:06–24:41
8
How did James perceive the arsonist's attitude and the risk involved in the fires?
24:41–37:47