NCJ Number
88647
Date Published
Unknown
Length
361 pages
Annotation
Conference papers focus on police and media cooperation in the handling of terrorist incidents, the legal issues involved, and media self-regulation.
Abstract
The problems in police-media cooperation in the context of prolonged terrorist incidents lie both with the police and the media. The police are at fault for not being adequately prepared to manage terrorist incidents, including the control of media access to the crime scene and the dispensing of rapid, regular, accurate, and up-to-date information that is complete without compromising police operations. The media are seen to be at fault on occasions when they interfere with police negotiations with terrorists, report on police operations so as to jeopardize hostages' lives, overly dramatize a terrorist incident so as to encourage replication, or jeopardize the likelihood of a subsequent successful prosecution of the terrorists. It is generally agreed that the media should not be unnecessarily constrained in the reporting of terrorist incidents, since balanced and accurate reporting serve the public interest. Further, self-regulation by the media and controlled information access by the police are the recommended approaches for guiding press coverage of terrorist incidents. Another principal recommendation is for the police and media representatives to communicate about their respective concerns and possible guidelines for action prior to and following any terrorist incident. Included are guidelines for U.S. Government spokespersons during terrorist incidents and media guidelines. An extensive bibliography on terrorism and the mass media is provided. For individual entries, see NCJ 88648-54.