During August, during the emergence of “Sound of Freedom” as the year's unexpected hit movie, many American and international media outlets cried foul because an alleged investor in the film, Fabián Marta, was accused of being an “accomplice” to kidnapping.
The media, which had already baselessly criticized “Sound of Freedom” for being “extreme right-wing” and promoting the QAnon conspiracy theory, took advantage of the situation to attack the film produced by Eduardo Verástegui and starring Jim Caviezel.
However, the vast majority of media outlets ignored the main facts about this case. The first is that Marta was only a small-scale crowdfunding donor for the film.
As Verástegui himself explained, the man is just one of the 6,600 donors who put money into the marketing campaign.
But, beyond this critical detail, the media ignores another more relevant fact: on September 25, Fabián Marta’s charges for “kidnapping accessory” were withdrawn entirely.
It was not until this Wednesday, October 4, nine days later, that USA Today, one of the most critical outlets against “Sound of Freedom,” reported that there was never a kidnapping.
“Marta was arrested in St. Louis in July and charged by the Missouri Circuit Court as an accessory to kidnapping. On September 25, the circuit court released a memorandum noting that a grand jury had determined there was insufficient evidence to obtain a conviction,” reads the outlet, which corrected the original story about the accusation against Martha.
In reality, the original complaint states that Marta only provided accommodation to a woman in a dispute with a relative over custody involving two minors.
Fabián Marta himself had celebrated on X (formerly Twitter) that it was proven that the accusation against him was unfounded. “Sound of Freedom is an important movie, go see it. As far as all the demons out there who are trying to tie me to some bullshit story, here you go. Grand jury could not indict. No crime was ever committed,” the small donor wrote.
Sound of Freedom is an important movie, go see it.
As far as all the demons out there who are trying to tie me to some bullshit story, here you go.
Grand jury could not indict. No crime was ever committed.#Godwins#Truthprevails#SoundOfFreedom pic.twitter.com/j2WkaG3Myx
— Fabian Marta (@FabianMarta) September 25, 2023
However, the damage is done. Just today, an independent Brazilian media outlet with just over 50,000 followers published the news that Fabián Marta was “arrested for child kidnapping,” all of this even though the innocence of the small donor was verified, who had practically no connection with the film.
The publication of this tweet from the media outlet Noticias Paralelas already has more than 700 thousand views on X (formerly Twitter).
🚨 Atenção: l Financiador do filme Som da Liberdade é preso por sequestro de criança. Fabian Marta foi acusado de sequestro infantil em julho, enquanto as postagens removidas do Facebook parecem mostrar a mesma pessoa revelando seu orgulho em financiar o filme. O nome de Fabian… pic.twitter.com/3Pr9x0PNj9
— Notícias Paralelas (@NP__Oficial) October 4, 2023
Media outlets such as Newsweek, Rolling Stone, Daily Beast and Deadline, all of which are powerful and highlighted the accusation against Marta, have not yet reported that the charges were dropped, nor have they updated their original news stories with an update of the facts. As such, Marta’s reputation is being undermined, directly damaging “Sound of Freedom,” a film that seeks to make child trafficking visible.
Nine days after the charges against Marta were dropped, only some American media published the news that the small-scale donor of “Sound of Freedom” had never committed a kidnapping. The international media, especially in Spanish, did not relay the news either, and erroneous information is still spreading that an investor in the film is involved in a child kidnapping. Misinformation about the case is widespread.
