It was easy to sympathize with Richard Jewell, victim a decade ago of FBI bungling which led to his being falsely suspected in the Atlanta Olympics bombing. It’s not so easy to sympathize with his legal posture since then, which would be easily mistaken for an effort to vacuum the pockets of every media organization within reach. (Mark Fitzgerald, “Sob On Someone Else’s Shoulder, Richard Jewell”, Editor and Publisher, Jul. 25).
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It’s about time someone tries to hold the media responsible for the accuracy of the information that they convey.
Do you really believe, Jim, that the AJC should be responsible for accurately reporting that Jewell was the focus of the FBI’s investigation?
Because that’s what the article’s about.
The real fault in this case lies with the Dept. of Justice and the FBI.
It wasn’t just the reports themselves that the media knowningly acted as teh stooge for the FBI, but it was the media circus. The media made a feeding frenzy of their own swarming of this poor guy’s life, with hundreds of reporters, media vans, and helicopters stationed around his home. They didn’t just report the ‘facts’ as they uncritically accepted them, they stalked him in a manner that would be immediatly subject to judicial protection had it been anyone else but someone waving press credentials.
When they are afforded special rights by the constitution they should exercise a commensurate level of self restraint lest we become subject to a tyrany of the media.
“The real fault in this case lies with the Dept. of Justice and the FBI.”
Not entirely. While the FBI interviewed Jewell it was the media which stated that Jewell was the “focus” of the investigation. The difference from being the “focus” to merely being interviewed is quite vast.
In fact the FBI specifcally told the media that Jewell was just one of several witnesses being interviewed and he was never a serious suspect. Obviously, someone in the media wanted to create some hype so they intentionally distorted the investigation of Jewell.