IP: What's New for Jun 14, 2002

[Dave Farber <dave () farber net>]

------ Forwarded Message
From: "What's New" <whatsnew () aps org>
: What's New for Jun 14, 2002

2. DIRTY STORY: IF YOU CAN'T CLASSIFY IT, CREATE A NEW HEADLINE.
On Sunday, FBI screw ups prior to 9/11 were on every talk show.
By Monday, congressional committees were fighting over who would
get to hear the first public testimony from FBI whistle-blower
Coleen Rowley.  The White House urgently needed an intelligence
success.  So what are news managers for?  On Tuesday, it was
announced that Abdullah al-Muhajir, described as the key figure
in a plot to explode a dirty bomb in Washington, DC, had been
arrested at O'Hare International Airport.  Failures of the FBI
vanished from the news.  Lucky timing?  Not exactly.  Muhajir, a
US citizen, had been arrested a month earlier, and was secretly
held in a military prison, without charges, until he was needed.
The media did the rest, feeding on the public's exaggerated fear
of radiation   even pictures of mushroom clouds.  President Bush
was shown on television explaining that "Padilla is a bad guy."
It's probably true, but then, that's why we have trials isn't it?

------ End of Forwarded Message

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