Press: Caught By the Camera

The man on the screen seemed distinctly ill at ease. Puffing on Marlboros, his eyes darting nervously between camera and interviewer, he vowed to launch terrorist attacks against Americans at home and abroad. That was not all; he labeled Ronald Reagan "enemy No. 1," implying that the President of the U.S. is a prime target for assassination.

Until last week, Americans had seen Mohammed Abul Abbas Zaidan, better known as Abul Abbas, only in a few still photographs and snippets of TV footage. The accused plotter behind last fall's hijacking of the Achille Lauro and hence a suspect in the murder of cruise ship Passenger Leon Klinghoffer, Abbas is on most-wanted lists in the U.S., Italy and Israel. Suddenly, however, the elusive Palestinian showed up on American television last week. In exchange for the exclusive 3 1/2-min. interview, NBC News executives agreed not to disclose Abbas' whereabouts, an arrangement that stirred up almost as much debate among U.S. officials and journalists as the larger issue of whether a hardened terrorist like Abbas should be allowed to use American television as a platform to air his deadly views.

"Obviously, terrorism thrives on this kind of publicity," said Charles Redman, a State Department spokesman. Robert Oakley, head of the State Department's counterterrorism office, called NBC's decision to keep Abbas' location secret "reprehensible" and accused the network of becoming, in effect, the terrorist's "accomplice."

There is nothing novel about a news organization acceding to ground rules in pursuit of a story, and that includes pledging not to disclose details of where interviews took place. Most reporters also seem to shy away from any definitive prohibition on interviewing fugitives, even those wanted for murder. "We as journalists don't see ourselves as an extension of any law- enforcement agency," says John Seigenthaler, editorial page editor of USA Today. "What the journalist has to consider is whether the information to be gained is so vital that it tips the scale in favor of granting protection to a fugitive."

In the view of many editors, including Seigenthaler, the Abbas interview did not pass that test. Abbas uttered only predictable propaganda, offering little that was new or surprising. "I didn't see anything that was remarkable or enlightening," says George Cotliar, managing editor of the Los Angeles Times. Comments Karen Elliott House, foreign editor of the Wall Street Journal: "We are not in the business of spreading propaganda but in the business of analyzing why things happen and what they mean. I don't see (the interview) as a great journalistic coup."