Guests: Roy Peter Clark – Journalism Expert Poynter Institute
Joe Navarro – Retired FBI Counter Terrorism Agent/Supervisor
The American News Media Out of Control.
Repeatedly stumbling in the wake of the Boston Bomb Blasts…
Tonight, 48 hours later, the cable networks continue they’re sensational around the clock coverage –
By midafternoon today the KefMedia was soo confused and desperate for NEWS…it collectively wandered from reports a young man could be seen on surveillance leaving a bag at the scene of the second explosion…to what the anchors and reporters sold as double and triple confirmed that A SUSPECT IS IN CUSTODY…THAT HE’S BEING BROUGHT RIGHT NOW TO THE FEDERAL COURTHOUSE-!!!!!!
None of which was true…
And as they worked themselves into a feeding frenzy through the afternoon, one by one news organizations, including the Associated Press, confirmed an arrest…CNN and FOX were running huge banners declaring “suspect in custody”.
The LONE VOICE through it all was MSNBC…NBC’s news channel…where a lot of grey hair…and veteran reports doubted and questioned the suspect claims saying it just wasn’t true.
Just like the arab man tackled as suspicious running away from the first bomb…. described variously as a suspect or a person of interest… we were told he was being detained at the hospital…some reported he was badly burned…others said he had leg injuries…the druge report drugged that one up…quickly grabbed by the new york post…and injected, world wide into the fox news machine.
The man allowed his house to be searched… and he was eliminated police say as having any link other than being a victim of the bombings
There were other dead ends reported with authority and attributed to “sources” – the dark skinned man in a hoodie with a backpack or a bag.
Perhaps thats the man in stories still to be confirmed by the fbi, who is supposed to be caught on video dropping a black bag at bomb site number two…
Or maybe not.
IN fact, the only thing that’s changed since Monday…they’re running commercials now… and still they’re playing over and over and over those horrible videos of the attacks, some say, playing directly into the hands of the terrorists.
The media’s role in terror is key… yet its rarely discussed or debated…
Looking for Evidence of terror’s dependence on the news media??? Here’s some…
Long before the internet and 24 hour cable news…In the decades of Irish terror attacks in the UK an FBI analysis discovered a pattern of bombings on Thursdays…why?
It turned out that Friday in the UK was coupon day and hence the biggest day of the week for newspaper sales. It turned out the Irish terrorists were setting off their bombs on Thursdays to get the big news coverage in Friday’s newspapers.
Our first guest is Roy Peter Clark… a mentor to many including myself… Roy is vice president and senior scholar at the Poynter Institute in st Petersburg, he has written 15 books on writing and journalism – his “Writing Tools: 50 essential Strategies for Every writer” has been podcasted over a million times.
Good Afternoon Roy and thanks so much for joining us….
Q+A
INTRO JOE –
Joining us by phone is my second guest, Joe Navaro… the FBI came to him as he worked as a young police officer in Miami…at 23 years old he become one of the FBI’s youngest agents…for the next 25 years he served as an agent and supervisor in counter intelligence and counter terrorism … he was literally a spy catcher… Today he’s a human behavior expert in much demand around the world… welcome joe… thanks for coming on with us
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