NY Mayor Asks Media for Accuracy
By David Bauder
AP Television Writer
Friday, Sept. 14, 2001; 11:36 a.m. EDTNEW YORK –– Mayor Rudolph Giuliani asked the news media to be more careful reporting about the World Trade Center rescue operation Friday, saying wrong information is raising false hopes and endangering workers.
"Some of it can be very dangerous and emotionally damaging," he said.
He cited false reports that a potential survivor had been in contact with people by cell phone, and that 10 or 15 people were trapped alive in a store.
Media outlets reported Thursday that five firefighters trapped since Tuesday had been rescued from the trade center rubble. It later turned out that only two who were trapped in an air pocket for several hours Thursday were found alive.
Not only does false information play with the emotions of people with missing friends and relatives, it can send rescue workers on dangerous, fruitless chases, he said. He urged news organizations not to report such details until confirmed by police and FBI.
"If we could all be a little more patient and verify information before we put it out, we won't raise people's hopes unnecessarily," Giuliani said.
CNN anchorwoman Paula Zahn, responding on the air to Giuliani's request, noted that it has been difficult to get accurate information out of the rescue site.
"We're all trying to heed this advice," she said. "Unfortunately, everybody is being given conflicting information."
ABC, CBS, NBC and the cable networks were into their fourth day of exclusive devotion to the story on Friday. News executives say they're keeping in mind television's role as a national gathering place in times of emergency.
Network news chiefs uniformly expressed pride in how their profession has performed this week.
"There's really been a careful approach to the story that combines aggressiveness in getting information out with the awareness that we should not be speculating and we should not be alarming people," said CBS News President Andrew Heyward.
NBC is being careful in its wording to not equate Islam with extremism even if some of the religion's believers masterminded the attack, network news President Neal Shapiro said.
Until Giuliani announced Thursday that 4,763 people were missing at the World Trade Center, networks had generally been careful not to guess on the number of casualties. An exception: network reports that as many as 800 people died at the Pentagon; the estimate is now 190. There were also widely varying reports on the number of body bags brought to the World Trade Center site.
News organizations also made different decisions when confronted with video depicting victims jumping from the World Trade Center to certain deaths; CBS showed it, ABC refused.
"It was not some sort of gratuitous, individual tragedy where we were exploiting someone's personal pain for some kind of sensational purpose," Heyward said. "Quite the opposite. This was absolutely germane to the context of the story and vividly conveyed the sheer horror in a way that was journalistically appropriate."
Offered the same video, "without any hesitation we turned it down," said ABC News President David Westin. "I don't believe that showing actual human beings leaping to their deaths was helpful."
CNN showed images of things falling from the World Trade Center, but they weren't necessarily identifiable as humans, CNN Chairman Walter Isaacson said. NBC showed footage of a body falling once and decided not to anymore. The same was true at Fox News Channel.
"I don't think it's an easy call," NBC's Shapiro said. "I don't condemn anybody who chose to run it."
At least two networks were planning specials to help children cope. Peter Jennings will anchor a one-hour ABC special for youngsters Saturday morning, and Nickelodeon will present "Nick News: Kids, Terrorism and the American Spirit" with Linda Ellerbee on Sunday night.
© Copyright 2001 The Associated Press