Cable "News" irresponsible coverage of NFL threat. Kudos to Olbermann!

[Ian David]

Cables devoted big coverage to bogus NFL threat, did not mention evidence of political motivation for prior threat announcements

Summary: CNN, Fox News, and MSNBC dedicated a considerable amount of airtime to a purported threat to NFL stadiums in seven cities, despite the fact that the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI both characterized the threat as not credible. Further, with one brief exception, at no point was there any reference on any of the three channels to evidence that the Bush administration has used terrorism-related announcements for political gain.

On October 18, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) notified seven U.S. cities -- out of "an abundance of caution" -- that the stadiums of their professional football teams had been named on a website as possible targets for radiological bomb attacks. Although the DHS and the FBI both characterized the threat as not credible, the three major cable-news networks -- CNN, Fox News, and MSNBC -- devoted substantial coverage to the story throughout the day, offering viewers repeated updates on the subject and conducting interviews with numerous terrorism experts. But largely absent from their coverage was any mention of evidence that the Bush administration has, in the past, used and timed terror-related announcements for political gain. The single exception came on the October 18 edition of CNN's The Situation Room, when Democratic strategist Paul Begala stated, "{I}t is interesting that these things always seem to spike right before an election," and went on to note Tom Ridge's 2005 comment that, as DHS secretary, he had regularly been pressured by administration officials to raise the terror threat level even though he did not believe that intelligence warranted it.

<snip>

Of the three major cable networks, CNN devoted the most airtime to the story. Indeed, The Situation Room aired seven segments on the stadium threat, including separate interviews with former inspector general for the DHS Clark Kent Ervin and Rep. Peter King (R-NY). The October 18 edition of CNN's Paula Zahn Now also featured a report on the story, as well as an interview with Ervin and security analyst Jim Walsh.

<snip>

Meanwhile, MSNBC also covered the purported stadium plot. The October 18 edition of Tucker featured a report from NBC News correspondent Pete Williams on the story, and Scarborough Country included an interview with terrorism expert Evan Kohlmann and a report from Daniel Garza, a reporter with NBC affiliate KNTV in the San Francisco Bay area.

On October 19, the FBI released an official statement describing the stadium plot as a "hoax," which CNN and the other two cable networks then reported.

But a Media Matters for America survey of the October 18 coverage listed above found only one instance in which a reporter or commentator broached the topic of whether politics might have played a role in the government's disclosure of the alleged threat. On The Situation Room, Begala directly questioned the timing of this news. "We're 19 days before an election," he said, "and they ... hyped this potential threat to the NFL, even though the reporting is that it's not credible." Begala went on to state, "{I}t is interesting that these things always seem to spike right before an election." He later brought up the fact that Ridge had said in 2005 "that he thinks there have been times when the White House exerted pressure, political pressure, on terrorism politics and terrorism press matters."

<snip>

The White House immediately "dismissed" Ridge's allegations, according to a May 12, 2005, article in the Chicago Tribune. But others raised the issue, and, on the October 6, 2005, edition of MSNBC's Countdown, host Keith Olbermann documented 13 "coincidences" -- instances characterized by "a political downturn for the administration, followed by a 'terror event' -- a change in alert status, an arrest, a warning." One such "coincidence" occurred on August 1, 2004, shortly after the Democratic national convention had concluded. That day, the DHS raised the alert level for financial institutions in New York and Washington, citing "unusually specific" intelligence. But less than a week later, it came to light that the information that led to the warning was actually "three or four years old," according to an August 3, 2004, New York Times article.

More:
http://mediamatters.org/items/200610190010


See also:


Olbermann: The Nexus of Politics and Terror
By: John Amato on Monday, August 14th, 2006 at 8:37 PM - PDT



KO-Nexus-of-terror.jpg Keith runs down the timeline from 2002 until the latest UK plot regarding the politicization of terror. Remember when Tom Ridge explained how the administration signaled terror alerts that he didn’t think should have been used?

Video-WMP
http://movies.crooksandliars.com/Countdown-Terror-Nexus-8-14-06.wmv
Video-QT-mp4 (link fixed)
http://movies.crooksandliars.com/Countdown-Terror-Nexus-8-14-06.mp4
(32 mg file 12 minutes-)

The piece speaks for itself.
http://www.crooksandliars.com/posts/2006/08/14/olbermann-the-nexus-of-politics-and-terror/



The Nexus of Politics and Terror
13:10
October 12, 2005
Keith Olbermann hit a home run with this segment on the politicization of terror alerts called "The Nexus of Politics and Terror."
YouTube Video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=az7yl-UnsQQ

[LynneSin]

1. This is exactly how I felt

If it wasn't three weeks before the election this threat would have NEVER made the news. A threat to NFL games targets a large audience and in fact two of the teams with homegames this weekend are in Ohio.

What really scares me though is the fact that the threat was mentioned and there could be a chance of copy-catters.

[MessiahRp]

2. While a stupid prank to pull in a MB flame war

I find it weird that they went and questioned a guy on an obscure message board out there for posting what were obviously not serious threats and then chose to publicize this when they had a ton of info on 9/11 from the CIAs report to intercepted intelligence like phone communications and even had someone in custody and there wasn't a single word of that out before it happened.

Not a single word of warning to the media.

Of course it was August 2001 and there was not an election coming up. Silly me, I keep thinking the government's job is to protect US not their JOBS.

Rp

[Ian David]

3. I can't find video or transcript of last night's coverage of the NFL joke

Anyone?

Anyone?

[Jacobin]

4. The administration who cried wolf

Now, no one will believe it when there is a credible threat. This ass hat administration needs to go.

[Ian David]

5. "Threat Fatigue." This is why so many kids die in college dorm fires

Drunken college kids pull the fire alarm so often, that eventually people start to ignore it.

And then, when there's a real fire, people die.

It's called "Threat Fatigue."


See:

threat fatigue (THRET fuh.teeg) n. Ignoring or downplaying possible threats because one has been subjected to constant warnings about those threats.

Example Citation:
Over all, the decision against a public alert represents a significant shift in the thinking of senior government officials over the last several months. Some officials said they had become concerned about the process after several public warnings were issued last fall based on hazy intelligence reports that offered no guidance on how anyone could respond.

They said they feared that such alerts might be causing "threat fatigue" among Americans, who have been bombarded by so many unspecific warnings that they no longer arouse much concern.
—Don Van Natta Jr, and David Johnston, "New F.B.I. Alert warns of threat tied to July 4," The New York Times, June 30, 2002

Earliest Citation:
Tales of soaring crime rates cause the old and frail to change their lifestyles to their own detriment, because no one points out that most violent crime occurs between male youths in the vicinity of licensed premises. All dogs of certain breeds are classed as potential mutilators, despite the innocence of most and appalling guilt elsewhere. At some point along the way between global warming, salmonella, Rottweilers, BSE, sewage in the sea, corgis, nitrates in water and supermarket trolleys in canals, danger degrades into farce.

I can't help but think that threat fatigue might partly account for the current 2 per cent showing of the Green Party in the opinion polls.
—Jeremy Burgess, "Danger? What danger?," New Scientist, October 19, 1991

Notes:
Of the several dozen media citations I found for "threat fatigue," all but five appeared since June 30, when the F.B.I. warning about a possible July 4 terrorist attack was leaked to the media. Interestingly, the phrase was previewed by Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge in an interview earlier in the month:

There's benefit to reminding America of the longtime implications of this challenge. A greater challenge is how we deal with the information we want to share with America, because there is a concern about threat fatigue.
—Tom Ridge, interview with Alexis Simendinger, "In Search of Secure Solutions," The National Journal, June 8, 2002


More:
http://www.wordspy.com/words/threatfatigue.asp

[AlCzervik]

6. Does anyone know who Evan Kohlmann is or what his background is?

he's mentioned in this piece and i've seen him many times as i'm sure all of you have.

[Ian David]

7. Evan F. Kohlmann - International Terrorism Consultant

Evan F. Kohlmann - International Terrorism Consultant
http://www.globalterroralert.com/

[radfringe]

8. resurrected from archive heaven

[Ian David]

9. Good find! Hey... can we get at least a couple more Recs for the thread?nt

[upi402]

10. Fox viewers shouldn't drive EVER!

Too stupid to be operating a heavy vehicle at speed - dangerous.
They gobbled that pap right up.