FBI. CNN. ABC. U of M.
Media representatives, terrorism experts and law enforcement agents from across the country came together Thursday to discuss the intricacies of covering the war on international terrorism accurately and appropriately, as part of the three-day terrorism forum at The University of Memphis.
About 24 participants, including CNN’s Middle East correspondent Mike Boettcher and former FBI Deputy Assistant Director James Ingram, volleyed opinions for almost four hours Thursday morning about a myriad of touchy terrorism-related subjects facing the government and media. Although Jim Willis, holder of the Chair of Excellence in The U of M’s journalism department, has been organizing the forum since the spring, the terrorism attacks of Sept. 11 pushed the forum into reality and gave it an entirely new, entirely real and entirely controversial face.
Many participants voiced concerns about the information, or lack of information, the government is releasing to the media, and in turn, the quality of the information the media is releasing to the public.
The government’s tough decision to withhold or release sensitive and potentially dangerous information ruffles feathers in the media world almost every day. Many media personnel believe that the government should release all of the information it has, while others worry that continuous warnings may desensitize the public.
“The government is damned if they do, and damned if they don’t,” said Jim Redmond, chair of The U of M’s journalism department.
Even if media received all of the government’s available information, the media themselves must then decide what to publish and how to publish it.
“Translating data into useful information is one of the most difficult tasks there is,” said Richard Janikowski, chair and associate professor in the Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology at The U of M.
Media personnel themselves wrestle over how and what to publish.
“One of our primary aims must be to put the danger that exists in perspective — to give people the information they need to figure out how scared they should be,” said Charles Bernsen, assistant managing editor of the Commercial Appeal.
Ingram said debate over what to release reaches even the internal ranks of the government, and cited two college professors in Texas and Florida who are “in trouble” with their staffs for “speaking out” against the government’s decisions.
Representatives from local television stations discussed their treatment of the anthrax scares and constant government-issued warnings of future attacks.
“We had to report it because it’s out there,” said Michelle Robinson, anchorwoman for ABC-24/UPN-30. But, “we had a responsibility not to freak out the public,” she said.
The choice to run graphic and potentially offensive images, such as photos of people falling from the World Trade Center, incited much debate.
Some participants, mostly newspeople, urged the use of shocking graphics, saying bloody and traumatic images are necessary to bring home tragedy’s true horror.
Boettcher, who just returned from a month in the Middle East, said he worried the media “oversanitized” the terrorism attacks.
“It got to the point that it seemed like just two big buildings falling over,” Boettcher said of the coverage.
But some participants said gruesome images were overkill, that the bloodless photos of memorials, collapsing buildings and victims’ relatives were enough to bring the tragedy home.
“A photo of a leg lying in the rubble, that’s gross, but the story of the guy who stayed with his quadriplegic friend in Tower One, that’s heart-wrenching,” Bernsen said.
The Commercial Appeal received over 50 angry phone calls and letters to the editor after running a close-up photo on Sept. 12 of a man falling headfirst from the World Trade Center.
Anna Whalley, a social worker with the Shelby County Victims Assistance Center, said graphic images, particularly of bodies, only serve to “re-victimize” people affected by trauma.
Other participants in the morning session were Susan Brenner, associate dean and professor of law at the University of Dayton School of Law; Charles Bryant, regional director of the West Tennessee region of the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency; Marita Lewening of German Television ZDF, Europe’s largest broadcasting network; Bill Lunn, anchorman at ABC-24/UPN-30; Col. Ann Norwood, associate professor of psychiatry and associate chairman for the Department of Psychiatry at the Uniformed Services University of Health and Sciences in Bethesda, Md., and Linda Satter, reporter for the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
In an evening session, Boettcher discussed the war on terrorism. “We are in a war that will extend through our whole lifetime,” he said.
Boettcher said that this is an intelligence war, waged by several groups. “It’s a loose coalition of terrorist organizations ranging all over the world, even in the U.S.,” Boettcher said.
Brenner used the acronym CBERN (chemical, biological, explosive, radioactive and nuclear) to describe the five possible ways of inducing chaos and fear. She also discussed the importance of computers and the effect cyber-terrorism will have on Americans. Why computers? Brenner said it’s about the logistics.
“People involved in cyber-terrorism don’t have to bring and move explosives,” Brenner said. “They run less of a risk of being identified or apprehended.”
By using computers, terrorists can send computer viruses and worms to anyone with a PC. More importantly, terrorists use their computers to wire money to one another, and can even practice identity theft to fund the terrorist acts.
“It’s easy to them, because you have no idea who is doing this or where they are coming from,” Brenner said.
As far as civil liberties are concerned, Ingram claims that everything from phones to computers are being tapped for security purposes.
“Some of you will lose your freedom,” Ingram said. “This is going to be a long, sustained war. When you are asked to do something, you are going to have to stop and say ‘yes, I will.’”
Ingram advised listeners to take extra precautions when out in public and to always be aware. When asked about possible threats, Ingram said, “You want to know about threats, but you don’t need to know everything until the investigation is complete.”
