CBS - CBS NEWSMAN CRITICIZES TV COVERAGE OF "DIRTY BOMB" SCARE

CBS NEWSMAN CRITICIZES TV COVERAGE OF "DIRTY BOMB" SCARE

Veteran CBS newsman Bob Orr, whose beat is transportation and homeland security, has criticized broadcast coverage of a warning made on a website that seven "dirty bombs" -- conventional bombs with nuclear material inside designed to contaminate an area -- would be detonated outside seven football stadiums this weekend. Despite official assurances to the NFL from intelligence analysts that the threat was "non-credible," the matter was leaked to CNN, where, said Orr, "it created quite a sensation." Given the manner in which the cable news network covered the matter, wrote Orr on the CBS blog Public Eye, viewers might have "thought al Qaeda was massing at goal posts from the Meadowlands to the Oakland Coliseum ready to storm the fields and strike a blow at another sacred American institution." Other media outlets followed with similar reports. The story, Orr wrote, proved to be irresistible. "It the kind of sexy elements that get news directors to crank up team coverage -- big crowds, dirty bombs, football, and a 'warning' from the government. What it was missing was some substance and restraint from media outlets which let hype trump context."

20/10/2006